Teaching

As a teacher, I aim to get students accustomed to thinking historically—to understanding that past events are weaved together into a fabric of causes and effects, that even structures that seem immutable change over time, and that our present, for better or worse, is the product of our past. In the classroom, I invite students to engage with primary sources to craft historical narratives on their own. The sources we discuss reflect a variety of perspectives and are not limited to texts, but also include artworks and music. I have taught a range of classes—from introductory surveys to advanced seminars--across different time periods and disciplines. Topics have included revolutions, religion, conspiracy theories, human rights, and political, scientific, and moral thought. Below is a selection of student feedback on my teaching.

Professor Schettini is honestly one of the best teachers I have ever had. He created a kind and comfortable atmosphere in class and was visibly invested in student learning throughout the semester. He came prepared with materials to help guide us through arguments, always took the time to speak to us after class and answer any questions, and created fun and organic discussions every single class. I’ve never felt more welcomed and supported than I have in his class (DRST 004 03, Spring 2024, Yale).
Professor Schettini is the single most dedicated and talented professor I have had in my first year at Yale. He prepares his lessons more thoroughly than I have seen other professors do, bringing in copies of documents he makes that provide roadmaps through the thinking of each philosopher we cover, not only allowing us to follow along more closely during section, but also giving us a phenomenal resource for review. On essays, he provides feedback that can be about half the length of the essay on the whole, where he develops your thinking more and connects it to other authors, simultaneously giving you the feedback you need to improve the next essay and essentially giving you a personal lesson on the topic of your choice. Finally, his openness to engage with students is unmatched. He seems to list all of his free time as open for office hours and he developed sincere relationships with each of his students, despite the fact that he taught not one but two sections of philosophy this semester. I am truly grateful I got to learn under Professor Schettini and thought that his method of teaching was the most effective I have experienced (DRST 004 03, Spring 2024, Yale).
Professor Schettini was the best professor anyone could ask for. His handouts are legendary and life-saving, and his commitment to office hours and ability to strike the balance between explaining philosophical concepts and guiding our discussion were much in the same (DRST 004 03, Spring 2024, Yale).
Professor Schettini is an incredibly effective instructor who has a clear vision for the class while allowing for discussion to evolve naturally. He always brings prepared materials and gives a succinct but effective summary of the thinker before allowing us the flesh out the nuances ourselves (DRST 004 03, Spring 2024, Yale).
Professor Schettini is a truly inspiring educator. He shows great patience in answering students’ questions and addressing their curiosities. He keeps a perfect balance between keeping the classroom student-oriented and making sure that we cover the important grounds of a text. In his section, everyone feels comfortable to speak and partake in the discussion because he makes everyone feel respected and seen. Talking to him during office hour is a great pleasure. He always seeks to make himself available to students whenever they need help or support in any shape or form. His office hour has been of immense help for me in grasping the text, developing my arguments for my paper, and exploring the implications of the texts we read beyond the scope of pure argumentation alone (DRST 004 03, Spring 2024, Yale).
Professor Schettini is one of the best instructors I have encountered at Yale. He is brilliant, articulate, and above all, caring. He cares about his students as people, gives detailed feedback, and makes complex concepts easier to understand. He is simply the best (DRST 004 03, Spring 2024, Yale).
Professor Schettini is undoubtedly one of the most amazing instructors I’ve had during my time at Yale. His care and love for his students is completely unparalleled (DRST 004 04, Spring 2024, Yale).
Dr. Schettini is truly a special professor, and he is universally beloved by his students. Dr. Schettini’s Bulldog Days lecture on Kierkegaard was so intellectually penetrating that he received a standing ovation. He creates handouts on each philosophical text that students from other philosophy sections beg to have. He is immensely dedicated, grades papers quickly, offers substantive feedback, and is always available for office hours (DRST 004 04, Spring 2024, Yale).
Professor Schettini is incredible; sharp, funny, cerebral, and cares deeply about the betterment of his students as both thinkers and people. He is always (and I mean, always) willing to spend countless hours in his office discussing a recent paper, class discussion, politics, history, or even how to navigate the personal and social challenges of college life (DRST 004 04, Spring 2024, Yale).
Glauco Schettini is one of the most caring and intelligent professors I’ve had at Yale. I went to office hours with one short question, and he let me stay for over an hour and talk through my entire essay outline with him. I’ve also never received such detailed feedback on papers. He really takes the time to think about what each student writes and connect it to other things. He’s always bringing up ideas we might be interested in, and has interesting interpretations of the texts while making clear that his readings are not universal and bringing in alternate ones for us to consider (DRST 004 04, Spring 2024, Yale).
Glauco was probably the greatest instructor I have ever worked with. He was kind, comforting, and intellectually strict (DRST 004 04, Spring 2024, Yale).
Schettini is genuinely one of the most helpful instructors I have had the pleasure to work with. He has a talent for conveying complex ideas in a digestible manner. His way of ordering information throughout the duration of a seminar is impressive. His amiable nature facilitates engagement. Amazing teacher. Anyone will be very lucky to be his student (DRST 004 04, Spring 2024, Yale).
Dr. Schettini is one of the best professors I have ever had. He is an incredible teacher who clearly cares a lot about his students. He is well organized, prepared, and deeply thoughtful. Our seminars are always enriching, and he has a great ability to take ahold of the discussion (when need be) to ensure that we get through the enormous amounts of material we need to cover (DRST 004 04, Spring 2024, Yale).
Professor Schettini is a professor that goes above and beyond to ensure that you as a student are growing and engaging with the material. His seminars are engaging and he is open to answer any question, big or small, to deepen our understanding of these difficult texts. Additionally, his flexible and open office hours and prompt email responses ensure that if you ever have any concerns or want to further your understanding (given we only get about a week for each work) you are able to. Schettini’s teaching style has made me an inquisitive learner and he, as a person, has made me feel seen and cared about as a student and an individual (DRST 004 04, Spring 2024, Yale).
Professor Schettini was wonderful; he devoted his time to his students in an unprecedented way. I had many long office hour conversations with him, and he always provided me with clear, detailed, and thoughtful feedback on my essays, which made me feel like every minute I put into writing and revising them was worth it and appreciated. He made handouts for our discussion sections that summarized the ideas of each philosopher, which was extraordinarily helpful, and guided our sessions in a way that was constructive and facilitative of both conversation and comprehension—not an easy feat (DRST 004 04, Spring 2024, Yale).
Professor Schettini is INCREDIBLE. … There is simply no words with which I can describe the sheer care and dedication with which Schettini has led every single seminar I attended. From the sheer quality of feedback every paper I submitted was provided with to the emotional intelligence with which he has treated every single one of his students, it is safe to say that Professor Schettini and his teaching style is by far the greatest reason behind my genuine excitement for attending the fall track of the Directed Studies program (DRST 005, Fall 2023, Yale).
Professor Schettini was excellent. He both encouraged fluent student-to-student discussion during section and provided his own textual insights with additional historical context in a manner that greatly augmented my content knowledge and helped set the weekly reading selection within the larger course tapestry. He focused our conversations through micro and macro viewpoints, enabling a fuller understanding of significance—we spent time discussing what core events meant for one specific individual and the society to which they contributed, and how said core event may explain today’s world/the field of history in general. In addition, he frequently offered office hours, including on non-essay weeks, that we were able to utilize to discuss past assignments or texts and clear up personal confusion; his generosity with his time, and advice in regard to how I as an individual could grow as a writer and thinker, were invaluable (DRST 005, Fall 2023, Yale).
Professor Schettini is fantastic; wicked smart, and incredibly precise in his analysis. He gives students in our section the mic most of the time, which lets the conversation breathe and flow naturally—something that many professors do not do. He also provides ample direction for our conversations, and always tries to make them as text-based as possible, which provides a nice balance between a student-led section and one led by an overbearing professor (DRST 005, Fall 2023, Yale).
I genuinely have no weaknesses to talk about—Professor Schettini was so wonderful both in office hours and in class. With my other professors in office hours, it was very much just them answering my questions, but with Professor Schettini we had great conversations apart from the things I had come to him for. I totally looked forward to going to this class, and Professor Schettini did a really good job of covering the most important parts of the texts that we read, as well as with creating an environment within class in which people felt comfortable to disagree (DRST 005, Fall 2023, Yale).
I could not have asked God Himself for a better DS H&P [Directed Studies Historical & Political Thought] instructor this semester—what a blessing to have Professor Schettini teaching me! His lasting contributions to my intellectual development include but are not limited to: an awareness of the very specific kind of argument that can be made effectively in five pages (which is the attention span of the average lay reader anyways, so a career in journalism or public writing may find its foundations well-laid here); how to extend the implications of an argument, to understand how great ideas ramify and leave ripples; how to cut. (The last contribution is the least intellectual and by far the most important of the three.) Most importantly, Prof. Schettini acknowledged the challenges and in a sense the limits that a course like DS, with its breadth, imposes on an instructor, whose depth of prior knowledge cannot possibly hold steady across all the diverse texts. Teaching DS, then, from what I gather from what Prof. Schettini has said, most dramatically testifies to the academic cliche that teaching is a kind of learning. To hear him say that he learned from the class in the last section was rather touching; I’m glad, if only because to have taught him something, however unintentionally, is a small repayment for all the things that he taught me (DRST 005, Fall 2023, Yale).
Professor Schettini is honestly one of the best teachers I have had so far at Yale. He is obviously extremely knowledgeable; he is also clear and precise, and able to explain well even the most difficult concepts. His feedback on papers is always really helpful, plus he returns them at almost superhuman speed, which is great. Basically he is just an amazing teacher: very engaging, funny, smart, and helpful. I would love to take another class with him if possible (DRST 004, Spring 2023, Yale).
It was an immense privilege to have Professor Schettini this semester. He is an incredible professor, and I would definitely take another class with him if I had the opportunity. There are many things that I could say about Professor Schettini, but the first thing that comes to mind is that he is obviously passionate about what he teaches. The enthusiasm with which Professor Schettini approached each class inspired me to find more enjoyment in subject matter that didn’t particularly resonate with me. Second of all, Professor Schettini is truly dedicated to supporting his students in their intellectual endeavors. He returns papers incredibly promptly and gives extensive (and incredibly helpful) feedback. Additionally, he has a unique gift for breaking down complicated ideas so that his students can understand them (DRST 004, Spring 2023, Yale).
Professor Schettini taught this course very well. … He is very dedicated, intelligent, organized, and I was lucky to be in his class. He graded our papers within hours with full feedback, and always made time to discuss the material after class. His explanations are clear, logical, and grounded in the text, a style much needed in DS Phil. Moreover, he is a kind professor who is passionate about philosophy and what we read and cares not just about our grade but our education and appreciation of philosophy (DRST 004, Spring 2023, Yale).
I absolutely love this man! Professor Schettini explained things so clearly that I occasionally felt so silly having struggled with Kant for hours only for him to explain it in five minutes in a way I could easily understand. He is also a legend with grading. We got our papers back within three to four days and he had our finals graded within four hours of completion (note that we had a small class size). This man is the literal GOAT. Could not have been happier (DRST 004, Spring 2023, Yale).
Professor Schettini is a great professor! For a course as challenging and confusing as Spring DS Philosophy, he was incredibly helpful and clear. Our discussions in class were really interesting and informative. He provides great and exceptionally prompt feedback. I am so glad I took this course with him and definitely look forward to taking another course taught by him (DRST 004, Spring 2023, Yale).
Professor Schettini was an incredible professor who was kind, supportive, and a gifted explainer of complex ideas. He was able to ask questions that drew out our understanding and led us to more comprehensive understandings of the text. He challenged us just enough and gave us clear and informative guidance when needed. I would love to take another course by him in the future (DRST 004, Spring 2023, Yale).
It was a wonderful surprise to find myself in Professor Schettini’s class this semester for DS Philosophy. … I was thoroughly impressed by his ability … to relay the information and guide us towards a place of understanding with it. This fact becomes only more impressive given the complexity of the course material. On top of all this, Professor Schettini provided excellent and extremely timely (within 72-hours timely) feedback for all three of our papers. I highly recommend any student take a class with Professor Schettini at some point during their time at Yale (DRST 004, Spring 2023, Yale).
Professor Schettini has a tremendous gift for teaching … He is a lucid explainer of complex concepts, a precise and penetrating instructor of writing, and a kind, devoted mentor. His feedback on my essays has incomparably benefitted my analytical writing. Furthermore, his academic work is prolific and innovative—hearing about his own scholarship was one of the most exciting parts of my Directed Studies experience last year (Daniel Zhang, Yale College ‘26).
Professor Schettini distinguishes himself in his pedagogical approach. Every class leaves me with a greater understanding of philosophical concepts and a broader appreciation for the thinkers we cover in the syllabus. Yet what strikes me most is Professor Schettini’s unique commitment to his students. He is constantly available for office hours, his paper feedback is comprehensive, and his class handouts are the envy of other philosophy sections (Zachary Stier Pan, Yale College ‘27).
Glauco Schettini is a professor whose excellence in teaching transcends any one field, and even surpasses the classroom, for he has not only served as our teacher, but as a friend and a mentor. His selfless devotion to his job, which he gives lovingly for the benefit of his students, is evident in his unfaltering availability and zealous demeanor (Gabriel Haley, Yale College ‘27).
Yale prides itself on hiring faculty who are both top-tier scholars and excellent teachers: Professor Schettini epitomizes this ideal. He is an extremely promising early-career historian who just signed an exciting book deal; he is also the most articulate and caring teacher I have encountered in my time at Yale. Through clear explanations and organized materials, he makes abstract and difficult ideas easier to understand, a skill that is rare and especially helpful for a first-year program like Directed Studies. He is an undeniably flexible teacher: he has taught across two DS tracks and far outside his own area of academic specialty. The fact that he teaches two sections of DS Philosophy this semester (totaling over 30 students) and still manages to be the most available of my professors is a testament to his effort and care as an educator (William Mahoney, Yale College ‘27).
The first time I stepped into Dr. Schettini’ s office, I expected to leave within 15 minutes. I had come with several very specific questions regarding my paper, hoping that by being direct I wouldn’t waste any of his time. However, as I sat down, Dr. Schettini did not ask me about my paper. Instead, he only asked me about myself. He spent over half an hour learning about me and finding ways in which we could connect. Not once did he look at his watch, seem impatient, or try to hurry our conversation. It was only at 6:35 pm, 35 minutes since I had stepped into his office, that we turned our attention to my paper; I left his office at 7:10. For 70 minutes, Dr. Schettini gave me his whole attention, mind, and mentorship. I left that meeting feeling more excited to be at Yale than I had been since I first got accepted. Dr. Schettini teaches 30+ students, yet he ensures that each and every one is only an email away from being his sole focus (Adam Buchsbaum, Yale College ‘27).
Everyday, Professor Schettini brings with him a certain joy and openness to class that I have never seen before in another professor or teacher. In light of that, attending his section always proves to be a uniquely engaging, fun experience, making the many challenging concepts of philosophy understandable and a pleasure to engage with (enough so to make me—a person who has no interest in philosophy—consider taking it next year). Beyond the classroom, his feedback on essays and responses to any question on philosophy in general are always comprehensive, comprehensible, and of the most polite variety. His commitment to being available to his students with office hours and ensuring they know the material is the stuff of legend and surpasses any other professor I have had this year (Remi Clark-Redstar, Yale College ‘27).
Professor Schettini is uniquely excellent. He masterfully balances serving as an educator, mentor, and interlocutor. Attending his section quite simply made me excited to arise on class days. The blend of student-to-student conversation he catalyzed and the provision of his own textual insights prompted my growth not just as a writer, reader or thinker, but as an understander, both of texts and others. Professor Schettini taught me how to listen by listening. He has consistently been singularly available, offering office hours on non-essay weeks, and meeting with both peers and myself in the early morning or late evening. He made it abundantly clear that he cared about me not just as a producer of essays or ideas, but as an organic person, and that he was interested in assisting my development as an organic person. His guidance was invaluably grounding during my freshman fall semester; from staying late one evening for over two hours to explain the conflict in the Middle East during a time when I felt particularly lost and confused, to offering assistance with major-path decision-making, I would not have been able to navigate the transition to Yale nearly as successfully without his counsel. Professor Schettini has served as an advisor from my first day as his student despite that role being outside of his scope of necessary duty, because Professor Schettini does not teach from a place of duty. He instructs passionately and compassionately (Sabbi Gale-Donnelly, Yale College ‘27).
I look on my time in Professor Schettini’ s class as the saving moment for my love of philosophy, which had been significantly declining. Let this stand as a testament to his professorial success! He has a BRILLIANT gift for being able to pinpoint what we as students may not be grasping (I mean the silly things—the “having the wrong definition of transcendental” type things) while expertly understanding and perspicuously communicating the high-level conversations of academia in a way that is intellectually stimulating for the range of interest and experience present in a class (Tori Cook, Yale College ‘26).
Professor Schettini is the kind of professor who always appreciates the puns you insert into otherwise very serious papers; the kind of professor who comes to class with colored maps, detailed timelines that render even the most confusing of Roman eras easily understandable, and sometimes donuts; the kind of professor whose office hours should be renamed office days, because there is not a day of the week or hour of the day that he will not help if we ask. All that is to say, Professor Schettini is one of a kind (Tina Li, Yale College ‘27).
Professor Schettini is a truly inspiring educator. The anticipation I feel each week before attending his class is unparalleled in my academic journey thus far. Professor Schettini’s unwavering dedication to his students, both inside and outside the classroom, is simply remarkable. He consistently encourages us to utilize his office hours for any academic inquiries or discussions about anything we are interested in. His approachability and willingness to engage with students on a personal level have left a lasting impression on me as well as other students. As an instructor in the Directed Studies program, he demonstrates what it means to teach by example. Amidst the hustle of my academic life and my egotistical preoccupation, his classes and conversations with him serve as a grounding reminder of the purpose of the Directed Studies program and even that of education: that we are not just throwing around fancy terms and theories laid down by people who lived hundreds of years before us, but engaging with actual human beings who are concerned about their time and their people. He brings the texts to life by exhibiting a level of attention and care to his students that parallels the dedication of the thinkers we read toward their own time. Professor Schettini is a true humanist, who sees and recognizes other human beings, and that, I believe, is in itself an extraordinary accomplishment in this conflictual and desensitizing world. He instills in his students a wonder for truth, a passion to partake in the tradition of intellectual enlightenment, a duty to scrutinize the world with a critical lens, and above all, a sincere concern for the immediate others around us and the broader sociohistorical reality we reside in. He epitomizes the very essence of liberal arts education (Ruoyu Zhou, Yale College ‘27).
I feel so incredibly lucky to be in Professor Schettini’s seminar … there is no professor who provides more special and rewarding learning opportunities as Professor Schettini. As I am confident that many of my classmates and other students have mentioned, Professor Schettini is deeply committed to each and every one of his students and their understanding of the material, in addition to their overall wellbeing. Professor Schettini will go to great lengths to ensure that his students feel satisfied with their mastery of the material—making himself, by far, more available than any other professor at Yale. In and out of the classroom, including his rapid email responses, Professor Schettini provides the most comprehensive answers to questions and explanations of concepts, no matter how complicated or extensive the material. Due to his ability to discuss intricate nuance yet also provide comprehensive overviews (a difficult balance to strike and trait that only few professors possess), his attention to detail when both receiving and responding to questions, and his obvious care in creating every single lesson, Professor Schettini is able to provide an unmatched and most fulfilling learning experience. I know that I will finish the semester with Professor Schettini with more knowledge and a deeper understanding of the most complicated texts and concepts than I would have had having been in any other professor’s section. This drives me to encourage every Yale student to do anything within their power to study under the amazing Professor Schettini—so please, ensure that Professor Schettini remains able to take students on the best intellectual journey of their lives (Anna Feldstein, Yale College ‘27).
I was a member of Professor Schettini’ s first class at Yale, a second-semester Directed Studies Philosophy seminar taught in 2023. He stood out to me because of his devotion to the craft of teaching and his open treatment of ideas in the classroom. Professor Schettini always made sure that we would leave each lesson with some deeper understanding of the texts we had surveyed, and, given the particularly challenging nature of modern epistemological philosophy, I felt he did this not adequately well, but exceptionally so. Furthermore, his calm yet firm demeanor contributed to an environment where all students were encouraged to speak their minds freely and openly, admitting when they either did not understand something or had a difference of opinion from the rest of the class. I never felt intimidated nor bored in Professor Schettini’ s class, a true feat given the daunting nature of the course material (William Barbee, Yale College ‘26).
Professor Schettini possesses a rare sort of generosity. It is clear to everyone that he prepares extensively to lead every class discussion. He is, moreover, incredibly enthusiastic to speak with anyone during his office hours. He genuinely does not care about how long one speaks to him for: He is willing to discuss philosophy for as long as one desires. That is a truly rare trait in a professor (Will Bramwell, Yale College ‘27).
I was more than lucky to have Professor Schettini as my Fall Historical and Political Thought professor. His class was marked by engaging discussion—our discussion on Augustine’ s City of God is still one of my favorites in all of DS so far—and genuine caring. He worked extra hard to make himself available to his students, which made the transition into college classes, especially DS classes, even more smooth. I remember once sending him a typo-filled, hard-to-understand email about a question I had on a reading, and receiving an extremely thoughtful and thorough response back. This type of support pushed me to become a better writer, speaker, and overall student (Marisa Bello, Yale College ‘27).
Out of all of the people whom I have had the pleasure to meet during my time here at Yale, I can say with confidence that not one has had a more tangible effect on both my academic journey and my personal development as Professor Glauco Schettini. What Professor Schettini offers to his students is his very eyes and ears—he sees our dignity and listens deeply to our thoughts, struggles, ideas. The ability to see and hear another human, to recognize that person for everything that he or she is—no matter what track you follow, this, I believe, is the only meaningful end of the study of the humanities. Professor Schettini, both as a professor and as a person, exemplifies this ability and teaches it in himself; the truest humanities education I have received here at Yale thus far has been knowing and learning from him (Mia Bauer, Yale College ‘27).
[Professor Schettini's] impressive academic output has not at all detracted from the experiences of his students. He is an eminently available professor. His students come first: their understanding of the class material, the development of their skills of argumentation, their well-being, and, most importantly, their desire to be heard by someone who cares. When I was applying for a program this summer, Professor Schettini advised me through the process of academic application writing. He would answer emails on the weekends, combing through multiple iterations of an essay, noting issues as broad as ill-developed paragraphs, or minute as miscapitalized titles. He had no academic or professional incentive to invest such time into me, one student among many (did I mention he volunteered to teach an extra DS Philosophy class, coming to the aid of the program in its need?). He acted out of an integrity of character, a conviction of duty, an uprightness of heart, all of which evince a true love for mentoring students whenever and however he is able (Kyle Ng, Yale College ‘27).
To whomever is reading this, I’d like to ask you: can you name an instructor from your undergraduate (or graduate) years who would spend unlimited time in office hours chatting about your paper, the class’s most recent reading, hot political topics of the day, what we did over the most recent break, or the social challenges of college life? Well, I most certainly can. Professor Schettini, under whom I’ve had the privilege of studying for two semesters in first-year Directed Studies, is the embodiment of an academic, a critical thinker, a mentor, and most of all, a compassionate friend. To say I’ve been fortunate to be in his classes is disgracefully understated; in fact, I attribute most of my growth this year as a historian, political theorist, and philosopher to Professor Schettini’ s guidance. Between his extensive, pages-long commentary on my papers, to lengthy office hours chats, to wildly intricate and nuanced DS seminars––Professor Glauco Schettini is the epitome of what DS looks for in an instructor. Beyond that, he is a dear friend of mine; Professor Schettini takes a particular interest in the betterment of his students, both academically and personally (Owen Tilman, Yale College ‘27).
Dr. Schettini recognizes that the material in spring-semester Philosophy is quite difficult, and he takes great care to ensure that each one of his many students are keeping up with the material. He expertly explains abstract concepts in class, while still giving his students space to engage with one another—a difficult task to accomplish in a mere hour. He has high standards for his students and, in turn, strives to do everything that he can to help us meet those standards. His regular office hours are always enlightening, and he answers every question that I have (even if class has long ended). Undoubtedly, all of Dr. Schettini’ s students are very lucky to get to learn from him (Chloe Budakian, Yale College ‘27).