Our Staff

Our administrators have a broad range of backgrounds in progressive education and the early college movement. Many of our staff have worked at BHSEC since its inception in 2001 and we count among our numbers three BHSEC graduates.

The BHSEC Queens Administrative Staff

Adrian Agredo
Bard Early College Academy (BECA) Coordinator, BHSEC Manhattan and Queens
M.A.T., Bennington College; B.A. Bennington College. Teacher, Bard Early College Academy, Middle School Humanities, 2008-present; Teacher/Student Teacher, Burr and Burton Academy, Manchester, Vt; Student Teacher, The Beacon School, New York, NY. Specializes in curricular development, mediation, and inter-disciplinary design. Interests include poetry, painting, and running.
E-mail: aagredo@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 212-995-8479 x2044

David Allen
Assistant Principal, BHSEC Queens
BFA, Creative Writing, Brooklyn College; MFA, Creative Writing, The University of Michigan, Advanced Certification in School Leadership, Brooklyn College. Taught English at Brooklyn Technical High School, The Dalton School, Bushwick Outreach Center, Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall, Phillips Academy, The University of Michigan and Brooklyn College. Served as Assistant Principal, English at Art and Design High School. At The University of Michigan, he received the Hopwood Award in Major Fiction. His poems and stories have been broadcast and published in several New York City outlets.
E-mail: dallen@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x8000

Adrienne Barr
Admissions Advisor, BHSEC Queens
B.A. Dance, Bard College; M.S. Education, Pace University; Certificate of French Studies, L'Institut de Torraine, Tours, France; Special Education Teacher, Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies, (2005-2008). Dance Consultant, Safe Horizon, New York (2004-2005). Research Assistant, University of Colorado at Boulder and Dakar, Senegal, (2001-2003). Has performed internationally with Skeleton Dance Project and The Vanaver Caravan World Music Institute; New York solo performances for Workwith Dancers Company include War Brides for The Dumbo Dance Festival and Blood and Bones at Triskelion Arts; Choreography projects include Unborn for Dancespace Project's Food for Thought and Sketch Project, Asheville, NC. Research interests include education reform and yoga.
E-mail: abarr@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6610

Jonathan V. Cann
Student Records & Attendance Coordinator, BHSEC Queens
B.A., Asian Studies, Bard College. Independent author and programmer. Interests include art, photography, and gaming.
E-mail: jcann@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6813

Elizabeth Dunn Canty
Guidance Counselor, BHSEC Queens
B.A., Boston College; M.A., Education, CUNY Brooklyn College; M.A., School Counseling, New York University. Previously worked as a New York City Teaching Fellow teaching English at Harry Van Arsdale High School.
E-mail: ecanty@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6923

Olga Carmona
Co-Director of BHSEC Admissions, BHSEC Queens
B.A. Psychology, Bard College; A.A., Bard High School Early College; M.S. candidate, Urban Affairs, Hunter College. Trustee Leader Scholar at Bard College and founder of the Young Rhinebeck Youth Program: Life, Learning, and Language, 2005. Worked in admissions at BHSEC for more than seven years, first as Admissions Coordinator, then as Smart Scholars Outreach Coordinator. Olga has a long-standing commitment to outreach into the NYC public schools and particularly in recruiting students to BHSEC who come from disadvantaged academic and economic backgrounds. Research/interests include urban public education, program evaluation, early college initiatives and community activism.
E-mail: ocarmona@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6913

Kate Fullerton
Student Activities Coordinator & 9th Grade Guidance Counselor, BHSEC Queens
B.A. Youth Ministries, Gordon College; M.S. Education in School Counseling, CUNY Hunter College. Previously worked at an educational non-profit in Brooklyn helping students develop social and academic skills and recruiting and training volunteers to teach extracurricular classes after school to middle school students. Research interests include adolescent development and child-parent relationships.
E-mail: kfullerton@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6610

Jess deCourcy Hinds
Librarian, BHSEC Queens
A.A., Bard College at Simon's Rock; B.A., English, Smith College; M.F.A., Fiction Writing, Brooklyn College; M.S.L.I.S, Educational Library Science, Pratt Institute. Taught at Brooklyn College; Lehman College; Mount Holyoke College's Summer Math program; and Barnard College's Girl Scout Scholars program. Fiction and essays have appeared (or are forthcoming) in Newsweek; The New York Times; Ms. Magazine; Seventeen; Teachers & Writers; Small Spiral Notebook; and Saltgrass. Awarded a Twining Tea Fellowship for research and writing in Italy.
E-mail: jhinds@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6642

David Iglesias
Technology Coordinator, BHSEC Queens
B.M., Music Business/Management, Berklee College of Music. Worked as Director of Charity Relations with Berklee's Entrepreneur Action Team, raising nearly $20,000 for The Jimmy Fund. Worked as Director of Marketing & Information Technology at a large wholesale distributor of Spanish wines in the United States. Experience also includes work as a Music Supervisor for a catalog music company. David Iglesias is an educational technologist, technology consultant for creative enterprises and a musician. Outside of his duties as Technology Coordinator, Mr. Iglesias also assists in directing BHSECQ's Jazz Band. For more information, please visit www.davidiglesias.net .
E-mail: diglesias@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6625

Cathy Iselin
Director of Development, BHSEC
B.A. Hamilton/Kirkland College; M.B.A. Stern School of Business, New York University.
E-mail: ciselin@bard.edu
Phone: 212-995-8479 x2301

Angel Johnson-Telesca
Guidance Counselor, BHSEC Queens
BA,SUNY Stony Brook; M.Ed. in Counseling and Human Development, St. Lawrence University. Worked as a College Adviser and Guidance Counselor in NYC for over 10 years at her own alma mater, Beach Channel High School. Worked at the Urban League of Hudson County as an Education Administrator informing parents on the various education reforms regarding academic milestones their children should reach. This included traveling throughtout the Northeast presenting educational workshops to different school personnel and parent groups on the Goals 2000 Educate America Act enacted by then President Bill Clinton.
E-mail: atelesca@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6823

Valerie Kaplan
Community Associate/Parent Coordinator, BHSEC Queens
B.A., Computer Science - Emphasis in Business Admin, minor in Psychology, SUNY New Paltz; M.B.A. in Finance, Manhattan College.
E-mail: vkaplan@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6621

Tina Moreno
Finance & Administration Manager, BHSEC Queens and Manhattan
E-mail: tmoreno@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 212-995-8479 x4074

Scott Neagle
Mathematics and Music Faculty, BHSEC Queens
B.A., Mathematics and Music, Bennington College; M.S., Adolescent Teaching, Pace University. Taught outdoor education, math, and music in New York City public schools. Released a self-titled, full-length album with band Big Bang TV which made the CMJ top 200 and the Deli Magazine top 20; worked with Family Opera Initiative; the Fringe theater festival; and Brooklyn-based rap groups. Co-created hip-hop entity "Heavy Jamal" which 'rapifies' Henry James's novels and Sufi poetry. Wrote chamber works incorporating turntables hailed as "brilliant to the point of clairvoyance" by leaders in the downtown new music scene.
E-mail: sneagle@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x7619

Martha J. Olson
Dean of Administration, BHSEC Program; Dean of Education Initiatives, Bard College
B.A., University of Illinois; J.D., New York University School of Law; M.A., Teachers College, Columbia University. Practiced law at Debevoise & Plimpton; Office of the New York State Attorney General; Lankler, Siffert & Wohl; The Campaign for Fiscal Equity; Law clerk to Thomas Fairchild, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and Bruce Selya, United States District Court Judge for the District of Rhode Island. Taught global studies at FLAGS High School, New York City. Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar. Past president, Citizens Committee for the Children of New York, Inc.
E-mail: olson@bard.edu
Phone: 212-995-8479 x4073

Suraj Panthi
Laboratory Technician/CTO Advisor, BHSEC Queens
B.A; Biochemistry/Psychology, The College of St. Scholastica, Duluth, MN. M.S; Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago. Worked as a Residential Advisor (2006-08), Research Assistant (2008-10) & Lab Tech (usdtl.com). Research paper published in water research journal (IWA).
E-mail: spanthi@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133

Quincee Robinson
Director of Admissions
E-mail: robinson@bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133

Olga Russell
Laboratory Technician Biology, BHSEC Queens
M.A., Social Studies, Russian State Pedagogical University in St. Petersburg, Russia; B.A., Biology, Bard College; M.A., Microbiology, Columbia University.
E-mail: orussell@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x7315

Laura Saltman
Science Faculty and Business Manager, BHSEC Queens
B.S., University of Rochester; M.A., M.Ph., Ph.D., Columbia University. Involved in Molecular Biology as an instructor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School studying osteoclast biology, 2003-2006; and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, 2000-2002, studying cutaneous gene therapy. Research articles published in The Journal of Cell Physiology; The Journal of Biological Chemistry; The Journal of Molecular Biology; The Journal of Bacteriology; and Molecular Microbiology.
E-mail: lsaltman@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6619

Joanne Sandow
School Secretary, BHSEC Queens
Business Management and Training and Development Certificates, New York University. Licensed School Secretary from Department of Education. Manager, Office Information Technology at Metropolitan Transportation Authority (1982-1989). Designed and implemented the first training department for Computer Education at Viacom Inc. (1989-2002), training over 6,000 employees a year.
E-mail: jsandow@schools.nyc.gov
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6613

Robin Schmidt
Administrative Assistant to the Principal, BHSEC Queens
B.A., Biology and Music, Bard College. Outside of BHSEC, Robin is a musician - including being the guitarist in Afro-Funk band Ikebe Shakedown. Prior to working at BHSEC, Robin was a Research Assistant for four years at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
E-mail: rschmidt@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6719

Patricia Sharpe
Dean of Studies, Literature Faculty, BHSEC Queens and Elizabeth Blodgett Hall Chair in Literature, Bard College at Simon's Rock
B.A., Barnard College; Ph.D., The University of Texas. Dean of Academic Affairs at Simon's Rock, 1993-2005; helped found Bard High School Early College in Manhattan, 2001-03; associate of Bard's Institute for Writing and Thinking; faculty member in English, The University of Michigan, 1972-1983, where she earned the class of 1923 Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching. Grants from the American Council of Learned Societies; National Endowment for the Humanities; and the Fulbright Program. Her writing is included in Time for Change: New Visions for High School (2006); Anthropology and Literature (University of Illinois Press, 1993); Gender and Scientific Authority (University of Chicago Press, 1996); Making Worlds: Gender, Metaphor, Materiality (University of Arizona, 1998);International Studies: Meeting the Challenge of Globalization (Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998); and Tattoo, Torture, Mutilation and Adornment: The Denaturalization of the Body in Culture and Text (State University of New York Press, 1992, co-edited with Frances E. Mascia-Lees). Co-author, with Frances E. Mascia-Lees , Taking a Stand in a Post-Feminist World: Toward an Engaged Cultural Criticism (SUNY Press, 2000).
E-mail: psharpe@simons-rock.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6817

Shawn Steele
Admissions Coordinator, BHSEC Queens
B.A., Political Studies and Italian Studies, Bard College. Graduate student at CUNY Queens College, M.A. History. Experienced Woodworker.
E-mail: ssteele@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6815

Shanie Stoddard
Admissions Outreach Coordinator, BHSEC Manhattan and Queens
B.S. in Psychology, Howard University; M.A.T. in Special Education, Trinity University. D.C. Teaching Fellows member, 2004-2006. Special Education Teacher. Previously worked as Director of Learning Supports, St. HOPE Leadership Academy and Summit Academy Charter School in New York City.
E-mail: sstoddard@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6715

Valeri Thomson
Founding Principal, BHSEC Queens
B.A., Bard College; M.A., Ed.M., M.Ph., Ph.D., Columbia University. Director of Immediate Science Research Opportunity Program at Bard College, 1998-2007; research scientist at Rockefeller University; visiting faculty in Bard's Master of Arts in Teaching Program; associate of Bard's Institute for Thinking and Writing. Articles published in Journal of Bacteriology, Journal of Molecular Biology, and Plasmid. Primary research interests include factors underlying pathogenesis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis; and development expression of the neuronal NMDA receptor in zebrafish.
E-mail: thomson@bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x8002

Elena Yesner
Director of College Transfer Office, BHSEC Queens
B.A. Religious Studies, Grinnell College
E-mail: eyesner@bhsec.bard.edu
Phone: 718-361-3133 x6635