New Full-Time Faculty for Fall 2025
Barnabas Crosby
Lecturer | Education Studies
Mr. Barnabas Crosby has always seen teaching as part of his craft.
“Even as a young playwright I had always wanted to teach on a college campus,” he said. “I knew that to be good at my craft, I needed to be able to teach it. So, teaching became a byproduct of wanting to strengthen my skills.”
Crosby has joined Kingsborough Community College as a full-time lecturer in the behavioral sciences department, where he’ll teach “Seminar and Practicum in Teacher Development” (EDC 9200) and “Children’s Literature and Language Arts in Childhood Education” (EDC 4200).
The Cleveland native first came to New York in 2004, returned in 2008, and has been here ever since. He began his career as a teaching artist and later became a classroom teacher in elementary special education through the New York City Teaching Fellows program.
He holds a bachelor of fine arts in playwriting and a master’s degree in theatre history from Ohio University and a master of science in elementary special education from Brooklyn College.
For Crosby, community college stood out because of the students. “What drew me to community college was the academic curiosity of the student and diverse age demographics,” he said. “Students here bring their lived experience to the learning environment because they have a more varied experience.”
In addition to teaching, Crosby has spent the past three years working in museums and exhibitions with young people in photography and public art. From 2021 to 2022, he was the Design Trust for Public Space Urbanism Photography Fellow, collaborating with the Grand Army Public Library, the Department of Probation, and the Museum of the City of New York to create public art with youth photographers.
Crosby finds teaching energizing. “Teaching allows me to explore thoughts and ideas with people and gather new information via their insights to expand my own understanding and extend curiosity.”
His teaching career hasn't followed a straight line. “There was a time earlier in my teaching career when I thought I’d left the classroom behind for good,” he admits. “After returning to the arts, I found myself working alongside educators in public arts spaces, where I was able to re-engage aspects of my classroom experience to support youth artists facing a range of developmental and learning challenges. These experiences led me to critically examine much of my teacher training and develop new approaches for engaging young learners.”
His students might be surprised to learn that he has been published in fashion magazines…as a model. But his focus remains on supporting students both inside and outside the classroom. “I hope to work to amplify student voices not just on campus, but throughout the Brooklyn community.”