BA in Mathematical Science, Kean University; MA in Instruction and Curriculum in Mathematics, Kean University
Stephen Crane
Assistant Professor of Physical Education and Health
BS, MAT, Montclair State University
David Cutts
Principal
BA, University of Warwick; MA, PhD, University of Miami
David Dowling
Operations Manager, Assistant Professor of Health and Physical Education
BS, Ithaca College; MA, Adelphi University
Mr. Dowling is a founding faculty member at BHSEC Newark. Since 2011, Mr. Dowling has taught and coached here at BHSEC. He has received his Bachelor’s Degree at Ithaca College in upstate New York, and his Master’s Degree from Adelphi University. Prior to teaching at BHSEC Newark he taught all levels of Physical Education and Health on Long Island. In addition to teaching, Mr. Dowling coaches the girls’ volleyball team and coordinates the athletic program. He is an avid sports fan and enjoys participating in outdoor activities. He resides with his wife and three children in Sussex County NJ.
Elizabeth Goetz
Assistant Professor of English
BA, University of Chicago; Ph.D. The Graduate Center, City University of New York
BFA in Dance Performance and PreK-12 dance education certification, Towson University; MFA in Dance, Montclair State University
Lara M. Friedman-Kats, born and raised in Central NJ, began her dance training at Kaye-Lynn Dance Studio in Edison. In 2008, Lara received the NJ Governor’s Award for Excellence in Dance. Ms. Friedman-Kats graduated with her BFA in Dance and PreK-12 certification from Towson University in 2013 and earned her Master of Fine Arts in Dance at Montclair State University. In 2011, she won the National Society of Arts and Letters (NSAL) regional competition for Art of the Solo and went on to compete and place nationally. She also received the Outstanding Achievement in Dance Education Award in 2013 from Towson University. Lara has performed with Dissonance Dance Theatre (DC), Deep Vision Dance Company (Baltimore), Deviated Theatre (DC), Mish-Mash Productions (NYC), Nikki Manx Dance Project (NJ), Kaleidoscope Dance Theatre/Sean McLeod Dance Experience (NYC), and most notably, Carolyn Dorfman Dance (NY/NJ) from 2015-2021. She also had her work adjudicated at the American College Dance Festival Association (now ACDA) in 2011. Lara was the long term leave replacement teaching dance at the Academy for Performing Arts in Scotch Plains from 2014-2015, Piscataway High School from 2021-2022, and Alexander Hamilton Preparatory Academy in 2022-2023. Ms. Friedman-Kats continues to teach both dance and fitness throughout studios, schools, and gyms in NJ. She served as adjunct professor teaching Modern II at DeSales University and Dance Appreciation at Montclair State University. To Lara, “Dance is a way of healing and finding acceptance within one’s own life. Socially charged work and personal experiences have motivated my creative endeavors. My mission is to bring awareness to the surface that which remains unseen or unspoken. Everyone has a story to tell- I tell mine through my body.”
Alison Mahone
Assistant Professor of Spanish
BA, Rutgers University; MEd, St. Peter’s University
Kamyar Malakuti
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
M.A. in Pure Mathematics, Kerman University, Iran; Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Dr. Malakuti was a lecturer in Ardabil University, Iran. After immigrating to the United States, he worked as a researcher at Simpotek, Inc. He also worked as part-time lecturer at Bergen Community College, Fairleigh Dickinson University Becton College of Arts and Sciences, and Fairleigh Dickinson University Silberman College of Business.
John Martin
Instructor of Health and Physical Education
BS, Montclair State University
Mr. Martin started teaching at Bard High School Early College in 2016. He achieved his Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and Health from Montclair State University. Mr. Martin teaches ninth grade Health and Physical Education as well as College Personal Health and College Personal Fitness. Additionally he coaches high school football, wrestling, and baseball.
Reynaldo Martinez
Assistant Professor of Spanish
Anand Mhatre
Assistant Professor of Biology
BSc, Queens’ University, PhD, McGill University
I teach College Biology and Medical Genetics at BHSEC-Newark. Previously, I taught and directed a research laboratory at New York University. My research focus is on inherited hearing loss, understanding its molecular-genetic cause, and developing gene-based therapeutics using both in vitro and in vivo models. My interests include probability, entrepreneurship and hockey.
Michael L. Murray
Assistant Professor of English
BA, George Mason University; MA, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; M.L.I.S., Rutgers University; A.M., PhD, University of Pennsylvania
David D. Oquendo
Assistant Professor of Visual Arts
BFA, Rutgers University-Newark; MFA, Montclair State University
Jazmin Puicon
Assistant Professor of History
BA, Union College; MA, New York University; PhD, Rutgers University
Jazmín Puicón is an Assistant Professor of History at Bard High School Early College in Newark, NJ. She is a historian of modern Latin America with a specialization in Women’s and Gender History. Her research focuses on popular democracy, Afro-Colombian women, and working-class culture in urban Colombia. Her writing examines how the working class in Cali, Colombia sustained families and communities by embracing popular democracy despite increased local and national political violence.
She has received grants from the Mellon Foundation, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at New York University, and the International Education Fund Grant (Union College-NY) to conduct research in Colombia on oral history and political violence, highlighting the voices of Afro-Colombian women in the Cauca Valley as they fought for peace and community throughout the 20th century. She has presented papers and her work at conferences in the United States and abroad, including the International Conference on Women’s History in Bogotá, Colombia and the inaugural ALARI Conference on Afro-Latin American Studies at Harvard University.
At BHSEC-Newark, she currently teaches courses on the history of the United States from an Afro-Latinx perspective, the History of Modern Latin America, Year 1 Seminar, and Women’s and Gender Studies courses for 9th graders to Year2 students.
In addition, while at BHSEC-Newark, she has won grants for her courses (including the Engaged Liberal Arts and Science Grant from Bard College), was selected into the inaugural cohort for the New Jersey Department of Education’s Diverse Teachers for Diverse Schools initiative, is currently a fellow at the Open Society University Network’s Experiential Learning Institute and also a fellow at the Pulitzer Center’s Teacher Fellowship Program on Stories of Migration: Going Beyond the Headlines for the Spring 2021. She was previously a Teaching Fellow at the Honors College at Rutgers University – New Brunswick.
Gopakumar Ram
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Doctorate in Education (EdD): P-20 Community and Leadership: Murray State University, Kentucky
MSc Zoology: MG University, India
MEd, Educational Technology and Teacher Education: Bharathiyar University, India
Teaching Certification: Biology and Chemistry, NJED
Professional Teaching Certificate: Biology and Chemistry, Department of Education, Kentucky.
Professional Experience: 32 years of Teaching Experience from four different countries: India, Bhutan, Maldives, United States
Taught AP Biology, Dual Credit Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science, Anatomy and Physiology, HONS Biology and Hons Chemistry
Served as Science Department Chair for 16 years;
Served as Head of Various School Administrative Committees for 10 years in Bhutan
Shana Russell
Assistant Professor of English
BA, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University; MA, Simmons College; PhD, Rutgers University
Tiffany R. Sims
Department Chair of Mathematics and World Languages
BS, MS, New Jersey Institute of Technology; PhD, Rutgers University and University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Dr. Sims’s interests include robotics, sensorimotor integration, physical rehabilitation, and the development of outcome measures for movement disorders. She has taught 9th grade physics,Geometry, College Physics, Engineering, Bioengineering, and Bioinformatics. She is also the coach for the robotics team.
Betsy Wood
Assistant Professor of History
BA, Arkansas Tech University; MA, University of Arkansas; PhD, University of Chicago
Dr. Wood is an American historian with interests in the 19th century, labor and working-class history, and the history of slavery and capitalism. Her first book, Upon the Altar of Work: Child Labor & the Rise of a New American Sectionalism, was published by the University of Illinois Press in September 2020 as part of “The Working Class in American History” series. In this book, Dr. Wood shows how North-South conflict shaped legal, political, and ideological disagreements about child labor in America and bequeathed an enduring legacy of sectionalism to modern American capitalist society.
Dr. Wood has taught both history and English at the college and high school levels. She began her teaching career as a high school teacher in northwest Arkansas where she first fell in love with teaching. She went on to complete graduate degrees in English (MA) and History (PhD) before serving as a Visiting Lecturer in history at the University of New Hampshire and a Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Most recently, Dr. Wood was an Instructor of History at the Hudson County Community College in Jersey City where she has taught for 3 years.
As an academic, Dr. Wood has sought to make her teaching and scholarship accessible and useful to social justice movements and the public at large. She helped launch the Center for Innovation in Worker Organization at Rutgers University and has consulted for various worker justice organizations, including the National Domestic Workers Alliance and slavefreetrade. Dr. Wood has also written extensively for public audiences with op-eds in “The New York Times,” “The Washington Post,” “The Conversation,” and dozens of newspapers around the country. For two years, she also served as a writer and researcher at the Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank in Washington, D.C.
In her spare time, Dr. Wood enjoys poetry, songwriting, camping and hiking with her family, and collecting vintage objects. She’s also a big fan of animated film.
Biyuan Yang
Assistant Professor of Chinese
BA, China Central University of Nationalities; MS, University of Bridgeport; PhD, New York University
Juan Yu
Assistant Professor of Chinese
BA, Huanggang Normal University, China; MA, Durham University, England
Ms. Yu joined Bard High School Early College in 2017, having received her MA in TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages) from Durham University in Great Britain, BA in English Literature from Huanggang Normal University in Hubei Province, China, and working as a translator and interpreter for several well-known artists in Beijing, as well as teaching at high schools and colleges in China and the United States. A perpetual adventurer at heart, her academic interests are in promoting intercultural exchange by finding new, innovative, and interactive methods to teach language, history, Mathematics and heritage to non-native speakers. Her courses include Introduction to Language: Chinese, Chinese 9, and Mathematics 10: Geometry.
Lekha Sekhar
Assistant Professor of Mathematics
MSc Mathematics: MG University, India; BEd Mathematics: MG University, India
Professional Experience: Teaching Mathematics for last 21 years;
Taught various College classes in Mathematics discipline in India, Bhutan and United States.
Served as Department Head of Mathematics for five years in Bhutan
Teaching Certification: Mathematics; Standard Teaching Certificate, NJED
Professional Teaching Certification in Mathematics;
Department of Education, Kentucky