Gotkin will contribute to NYU's disability-centered research, teaching, and partnerships.
Following a national search, the NYU Center for Disability Studies (CDS) has hired scholar, organizer, and artist Kevin Gotkin as its inaugural Assistant Director.
Gotkin has been a member of the NYU community since 2007 when they began their undergraduate studies in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication (MCC). While completing their doctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania, Gotkin was adjunct faculty at NYU and served as CDS’s first part-time administrator. After receiving their Ph.D. in 2018, they were a Visiting Assistant Professor in MCC.
Following 4 years of cultural disability organizing outside academia, including leading the disability economic justice initiatives at the $125 million Covid relief initiative Creatives Rebuild New York, they returned to NYU as a Postdoctoral Fellow with CDS in September 2025 before transitioning into the Assistant Director position.
From 2016 until its sunset in 2019, Gotkin led Disability/Arts/NYC (DANT) alongside author, filmmaker, and activist Simi Linton. Working with the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, they catalyzed the ongoing Disability Forward Fund that has distributed millions of dollars in public funding for arts access initiatives across NYC. DANT also led 2 cohort-based trainings for artists and cultural workers that wove networks of disability experts into the city’s cultural ecosystem.
Drawing on this organizing background, Gotkin will support CDS Director Dr. Mara Mills’ current $1 million grant for the Access for Small Arts Partnerships (ASAP) project that is developing new models to address the urgent need for critical access labor at NYC’s small arts organizations.
It is an honor to join the NYU Center for Disability Studies at a critical juncture for all who build the anti-ableist futures we need. As CDS approaches its 10th anniversary as a Provostial Center in 2027, the time on the clock of the world says "cherishing disability is how we endure."
As Assistant Director, Gotkin will also contribute to CDS’s pedagogical leadership, including the University-wide undergraduate minor in Disability Studies. They have developed a new graduate seminar on “Disability, Access, and Aesthetics” that will help prepare students for ASAP-funded collaborations.
Gotkin’s research is focused on contemporary U.S. disability culture and artistry, which began when they were a participant in the “Art Inclusion: Disability, Design, Curation” gathering at UC Irvine in 2012. Their dissertation examined the cultural maintenance of ableism through U.S. civic rituals of endurance (the telethon, walkathon, danceathon, and hackathon).
From 2017 – 2022, they were an Artist-in-Residence with the Critical Design Lab led by Dr. Aimi Hamraie. Their work on crip nightlife has been recognized with a 2022 United States Artist Award and featured on The Kelly Clarkson Show.
Gotkin’s weekly newsletter, Crip News, is read by thousands of subscribers across 48 states and 70 countries.