Arts in Education

Students

HGSE Arts in Education Program
2007-2008 Student Profiles

Sara Ackerman joins the AIE program after spending the summer teaching reading in rural Malawi. Prior to her adventures overseas, she was a nursery school teacher and member of the Mikerline Haitian Dance Company. At HGSE, Sara continues to study dance and is working with the Boston Ballet/Citydance for course credit in the Field Experience Program.

Nick Appelbaum, a native New Yorker, comes to HGSE by way of England, where he earned his BA in modern history from Oxford and his MSc in international relations and history from the London School of Economics. Nick has a specific interest in museum education and multidisciplinary education.

Liz Byron has an academic background in elementary education and the visual arts, and has taught both subjects in rural Jamaica, Guatemala City, and the US. She has a keen interest in the use of arts teaching methods in the special education classroom and the impact of this type of learning experience on special needs kids. At HGSE, Liz interns at VSA (Very Special Arts).

Lynn Brown is on leave this year from her teaching job at the King Open School in Cambridge, studying at HGSE on a Conant Fellowship for public school teachers in Boston and Cambridge.

Jonas Cartano brings his extensive experience in band, choir and theater to the AIE program.  He previously held administrative positions at the Metropolitan Opera, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the New York Times Philharmonic. Jonas developed his talent as a choral musician through collaborations with the New York and Czech Philharmonics, the San Francisco and NHK Symphonies, the American Symphony Orchestra, and the Kronos Quartet. While at Harvard, Jonas will be singing with the Harvard University Choir and working as a Harvard College admissions interviewer, and as a high school a cappella teacher with the Bubs Foundation.

Claire Chafee, a playwright with an MFA from Brown University, has had productions of her own work in Boston, NYC, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. She has taught undergraduate and graduate creative writing workshops and is dedicated to teaching writing in diverse settings. Claire has been published in Alexander Street Press, 20th Century Women’s Drama, Best Women’s Play of 1993, The Actors Book of Gay and Lesbian Plays, and in HERE TO STAY: 5 Plays by The Women?s Project.

Amy Chou comes to Cambridge straight out of undergraduate studies in studio art at UCLA. This fall, in Karen Mapp’s course on family, school, and community partnerships, she’s been cultivating an interest in using the arts to encourage parental involvement in their children’s school work, especially in second-language learners. She has also been practicing grant writing for Jim Honan’s course on nonprofit management and studying museum education in Shari Tishman’s course, and in mid-November will volunteer with classmate Janet Shih on a Step Into Art, Inc., project at the Gardner Museum.

Arika Cohen, a second year part-time AIE student, continues to teach at the Cambridge Friends School. She exhibited two large oil paintings to the recent AIE show in the Gutman Gallery—one a sort of homage to Turner’s Slave Ship at the MFA in Boston, the other an underwater representation of an octopus in motion, inadvertently reminding some of the subtitle of Framing the Arts as Education, by AIE former cofounding director Jessica Hoffmann Davis. (“The Octopus Has a Good Day.”)

James Croft, our resident Shakespeare scholar, studied at Cambridge University in England before joining us here at Harvard. While here, he will be working with the Graduate School of Business choral group and working with students from Codman Academy in the Huntington Theatre education department.

Kendra Davis is fulfilling her desire to pursue an arts-focused life as a painter and sculptor.  She earned her BFA from the College of Fine Arts at the University of Oklahoma, where she was named Outstanding Senior.  Kendra views art as a way to encounter the world, and as an emotional and physical outlet; she plans to work toward a career in art therapy in an educational setting. At HGSE, Kendra participates in a painting class and enjoys learning about other artistic areas, such as dance and drama, from her classmates.

Regan Doody has worked in a variety of art-related capacities. After graduating from Wesleyan University with an art history major, she worked as a manager for an art gallery in San Francisco and taught art classes at the Addison Gallery. At HGSE, Regan is involved in a work-study position at the National Arts Learning Collaborative.

Aislinn Doyle played on the best flag football team at Notre Dame, interned at the internationally renowned Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, and has worked with Pintamos Nuestro Mundo, an after school arts program at Centro Presente. Currently, she is working as a research assistant on the Culture of Thinking Project at Project Zero and as a coordinator with the Reading Buddies/Lectores y Amiguitos volunteer literacy program. Sheis also involved with the Harvard Outdoor Club and dance classes.

Djuneid Dulloo, born in Mauritius, had his first art class in 12th grade at the International School of Kenya, which led him to attend Massachusetts College of Art and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Djuneid founded an art program, “Unmasking Shadows,” that catered to the creative needs of street children living near the slums of Kibera in Nairobi. His paintings have also been part of a yearlong group show, The Awakening, which started in Bilbao, Spain, and will be traveling throughout Europe. A prolific contributor to the fall Gutman Gallery show at HGSE, Djuneid has been helping to direct activities of the AIE students’ extracurricular SLAP group –Studio for Learning Arts Through Practice.

LaurieAnn Dunn, originally from Hawaii, has been doing early childhood education work in Dorchester, Massachusetts, with low-income and predominantly immigrant communities. While at Harvard, she will be working with Bridges to Learning & Literacy as a tutor. A studio art major during her undergraduate days at Wellesley, LaurieAnn contributed a large oil painting titled Tulips to the recent AIE art show in Gutman Library.

Susan Foster, a second-year part-time student, continues to work in the education department of the Massachusetts history-based Commonwealth Museum. She is also helping the efforts of the arts-education nonprofit Step into Art, Inc., to introduce children to art museums.

Rhea Gibson, a graduate of the local Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, majored in music and sociology at Emory University in Atlanta. She began her career as a Teach for America corps member in a kindergarten classroom in 2003, and has been teaching the violin and cello to third and fifth grade students in Atlanta’s public schools.

Beth Gismondi earned her BA in art history and neuroscience from Wellesley College, and most recently completed a certificate program in children’s book illustration at Rhode Island School of Design. Currently, she works as a communications and curatorial assistant in the AIE office (with classmate Maggie Jacobstein) and interns in the art department of Candlewick Press, a children’s book publishing company. Beth is interested in using media as a way to promote creative thinking in children. 

Farah Griffin has a background is in educational theater. Shortly after graduating from the University of South Carolina, she worked with Saltworks Theatre Company in Pittsburgh. Farah also served as a reader for the Los Angeles Radio Reading Service, a news broadcast for people with visual and/or print impairments, and is currently working for VSA (Very Special Arts) of Massachusetts.

Liz Gruenfeld comes to Harvard from Seattle, where she has been working with a variety of community/international development education programs. Liz is interested in utilizing the arts to teach principles of community development and social and environmental justice. While here in Boston, she will be doing yoga, biking, taking walks along the beach, painting, and dancing (both Latin and Ballroom!).

Ashley Hensel-Browning has been teaching dance and designing curriculum to teach both math and dance at schools, with performance companies, and at various camps since her days at Hampshire College, where she graduated in June 2007. Ashley is interested learning more about policy, programming, and community development at HGSE. Meanwhile, she will also be dancing with Harvard Dance and ZoAsk Dance and working with Boston public schoolchildren in the Citydance project at Boston Ballet.

Amy Hettinger’s interest in vocal arts and music has led her to work as music teacher and children’s choir director in a rural parochial school. Amy will be working this year for the Fogg Museum at Harvard as the public programs assistant.

Maggie Jacobstein studied at McGill University before moving to New York City, where she began working for a number of different museums and arts-based non-profits. She is primarily interested in museum exhibition design and educational programming, and is working with  classmate Beth Gismondi as a communications & curatorial assistant in the AIE office.

Carissa Johnson completed her undergraduate degree in performance studies at Northwestern University. She has worked as a professional actor, dancer, director, and producer, and is co-founder of the Striding Lion InterArts Workshop, an interdisciplinary performance company that produced dance, music, visual art and theater events as well as outreach in schools. She is also a yoga instructor and while here at Harvard will be taking many yoga classes!

Eve Kagan has been acting professionally in theater, film, and television since she was 9 years old. This fall she played the title role in Stoneham Theater’s Gypsy. Eve graduated from Wesleyan University with a BA in religious studies. Her decision to apply to AIE program was “informed by moments of delight watching the arts give a voice to our youth.”

Lauren Kapalka has an extensive background in music, and has taught high school band, marching band, jazz band, piano, guitar, and musical composition. An accomplished oboist, she enjoys performing, and this year is a member of the MIT Wind Ensemble. At HGSE, she is interested in deepening her knowledge of music education and teaching methods.

Sarah Kasok grew up with the benefit of an arts-based curriculum, an experience that has fueled her desire to promote equitable funding and access to the arts in low-income communities. After college, she completed the Teach for America program and subsequently taught elementary school for three years in San Jose, California. Sarah now works with Bridge to Literacy, a tutorial program for Harvard staff, and enjoys running, practicing yoga, and playing soccer in her spare time.

Anna Keefe, a native of Toronto who studied interdisciplinary leadership at the University of New Brunswick, has coordinated a day camp in the Arctic Circle and volunteered in a rural nutrition centre [note Canadian spelling!] in the Dominican Republic. This fall, she has been enjoying an unusual course in the art of stage combat and helping to direct activities of the AIE students’ extracurricular SLAP group –Studio for Learning Arts Through Practice. 

Jillian Levine-Sisson has a long history in theatre. During her time at Kenyon College as a drama major, she had the opportunity to study abroad in London at the British American Drama Academy. Since then, she has worked at Arena Stage and Shakespeare Theatre Company, teaching hundreds of students in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia public school systems along the way. Jillian works in the HGSE Alumni Office and at the American Repertory Theatre, where she is coordinating school outreach for the upcoming production of Nijala Sun’s No Child….

Caitlin Lowans, artistic associate and director of education at Stoneham Theatre, is taking the time out of her busy schedule to attend HGSE. In between directing fellow AIEer Eve Kagan in Stoneham’s successful production of Gypsy, Caitlin teaches Introduction to Acting: Text! with elementary school kids at Stoneham and is directing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with 5th graders in East Boston. Caitlin hopes to develop a system of working as a director and a teacher through the AIE program.

Lauren Lukason graduated from the University of Alabama with a BA in Music Therapy. She has been working with her family’s music studio as an administrator and teaching Kindermusik, voice, piano, and theory for the past three years. Here at Harvard, Lauren will be singing with the Evensong & Adult Choir at the Christ Church, rowing, acting as an HGSE student ambassador, and working with the Commonwealth of Massacusetts Universal Pre-School Curriculum Development.

Nicole Macrini has been utilizing her background in music and the arts for the past several years as a high school English teacher in Brooklyn. As coordinator of student activities for the same school, she has been encouraging her students to form after school clubs and participate in community service organizations. At Harvard, Nikki will be working for Educators for Social Responsibility and playing for the WAKA Kickball team. She continues to explore an interest in the relationship between nonprofits, schools, and communities.

K. Tatiana Marshall is interested in how cultural and social contexts shape experience and how art can be used as a positive form of self-expression and communication as it relates to psychological development. She has been teaching at hospitals, schools, neighborhood centers, assisted living communities, and museums.

Sarah Martin attended Kenyon College in Ohio and the National Theatre Institute. A founding member of Orfco Group (a theater company in Boston) and assistant director for productions with Actors’ Shakespeare Project and Boston Theater Works, she is currently working for the Huntington Theater.

Kelly Mastracchio wants to bring art instruction and programming to special populations. She believes art can be a pathway to developing confidence, finding a method of expression, and learning other life skills. Kelly has taught high school English and worked for a performing arts organization at Duke and for All Kinds of Minds, an education institute. She is currently working as a graphic designer for American Repertory Theatre. She has also flown a Cessna airplane, operated a crane 150 feet above a port in Staten Island, and climbed Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.

Arzu Mistry has worked with disadvantaged youth in Oakland, California, and Bangalore, India, and is interested in developing integrated models of education for the urban poor as part of her studies at HGSE. She is particularly focused on the connection between learning, art, and the environment. As an AIEer, Arzu is participating in a work-study with Project Zero’s “Making Learning Visible” project and a Field Experience Program internship with an arts integration school in Somerville. Arzu will also be participating in Odissi Dance and drawing classes during her year at Harvard.

Colleen Myers recently received her BA in English from Columbia University, where she worked as a director and producer for several student theatre groups. She is excited to return to her home state of Massachusetts to continue her explorations of the arts, delving deeper into the philosophy and pedagogy behind arts education.

Bridget O’Brien studied art history at the University of Notre Dame as an undergraduate, and earned her MA from Boston University in the same field. She has an extensive background in museum education, including work at the National Gallery of Ireland, the Art Institute of Chicago, and Reynolda House Museum of American Arts, the Fogg Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Bridget has incorporated this real-world experience into the classroom as well, by teaching AP art history at the Groton School. At HGSE, Bridget will be working with Fogg Museum’s Department of American Painting, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts.  

Genieve Lumsby Rankel majored in philosophy at Yale University, and taught math at the Professional Children’s School in NY for several years. (She has taught that same subject at the Buckingham, Brown, and Nichols School in Cambridge since her arrival as a part-time student at HGSE.) However, her lifelong passion is dance. Genieve’s multiple interests have inspired her to explore the integration of math and dance in the classroom. At HGSE, Genieve will be working on an independent study on the artistic and educational mission of Katherine Dunham.

Jodi Redmond has an impressive background in dance, as a performer, choreographer, and teaching artist. During her studies in AIE at HGSE, Jodi will continue to choreograph for the California Dance Institute, while exploring her other interests in photography and media.

Michael Rhee was born in Korea, raised in Hawaii, attended college in New York at Cornell University, and earned his MBA at the University of Hawaii. In 2002, he founded an English academy in Seoul, and has since worked as an affiliate to a design firm, traveling to Berlin on a frequent basis for exhibitions. Michael’s diverse interests and experiences have led him to AIE, where (not surprisingly) he pursues many activities, including membership in ALANA and APA, work on a Field Experience Program project, and an interest in film.

Holly Rollins returns to the academic world at HGSE after several years working in the aerial arts. After graduating with degrees in health education and dance from the University of Montana, Holly spent time performing with Cirque du Soleil, and more recently, with the National Institute of Circus Arts in Australia. She has also designed curriculum, taught movement improvisation to undergraduates, and choreographed several circus spectacles. At HGSE, Holly hopes to explore how movement can support learning.

Janet Shih is interested in visual art as a universal symbol system that connects people without the means of written and spoken words. She earned her BA in speech communications from San Francisco State University, and later traveled to the University of Cambridge to study art history.  Janet has worked in education as a college admissions counselor, a curator for the National Palace Museum in Taipei, and as an event coordinator for the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Janet plans to focus on curriculum development in art museums during her time at HGSE.

Tyrone Sutton comes to the AIE program with years of experience in music education and performance. Since earning his degree in music and teaching certification from Texas State University, Tyrone has worked extensively with choirs in schools and churches across Texas, and also with the Arts Education Partnership. He is an accomplished musician in piano, organ, and voice, and has performed at numerous national music venues, including the House of Blues in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Anaheim. Tyrone hopes to learn more about the role and effects of the arts in schools throughout his year at HGSE.

Andrea Tsang earned her BSc in Architecture from McGill University, where she came to realize the incredible range of connections between architecture and other disciplines. Through her experience working with Tim Horton Children’s Foundation Camp, Andrea gained an understanding of process as a valuable method of building self-awareness and self-confidence.  Andrea aspires to bring design education to a great number of youth and Canadian communities, and to encourage innovation and thinking through interdisciplinary approaches to learning. As an AIEer, she interns at the Institute of Contemporary Boston, assisting with teen programs.