Teaching Overview
Andy has been teaching courses in Russian literature, language, and culture to undergraduate and graduate students as well as adults for over fifteen years. He is member of the faculty of the Best Teachers Summer Institute, and his teaching has been featured on NPR, in the Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and in What the Best College Students Do by Ken Bain, international education expert and best-selling author ofWhat the Best College Teachers Do. Andy has a well thought-out teaching philosophy, and frequently develops courses that integrate the best practices of traditional college teaching with ground-breaking innovations that provide students with a transformative humanities education.
“Professor Kaufman lives up to his title in the way that everyone should—he is a professor, a teacher, an educator; someone who opens the gates of a different kind of knowledge to students who are searching to find a little bit more about themselves. For that, I am grateful.”
— from A tribute from the Z Society
in the words of your students, colleagues, and friends at the University of Virginia“Professor Kaufman taught me a new way to read. He showed me how to experience a book, how to engage, question, and actively participate in the work. By the end of a book, I’ve made decisions, learned lessons, lived the lives of each character and, frankly, it’s exhausting. As it should be. Kaufman inspires his students to foster such a deep relationship with literature that it becomes an integral part of our being. I will always be grateful to the man who showed me how to read at 22.”
— from A tribute from the Z Society
in the words of your students, colleagues, and friends at the University of Virginia
