Faculty and Staff

Jordan Franklin

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Jordan E. Franklin hails from Brooklyn, NY. She received her MFA from Stony Brook Southampton and a PhD in English with a Creative Dissertation from Binghamton University. She is the author of the poetry collection, when the signals come home (Switchback Books, 2021), and the chapbook, boys in the electric age (Tolsun Books, 2021). Her work has appeared in SWIMM, Obsidian, Grist, LUNA LUNA, Torch Literary Arts, Foglifter, and elsewhere. She is the winner of the 2017 James Hearst Poetry Prize, the 2020 Gatewood Prize, and the 2024 AWP Intro Journals Project Award. She has participated in residencies offered by Art Omi and the Stadler Center for Poetry. Her second poetry collection, make it to the end (of the movie), a 2025 Blessing the Boats selection, will be published by BOA Editions in Fall 2027.

Janaé Williams

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Janaé Williams is a proud native of The Bronx, New York. Her passions include destigmatizing mental health concerns while building rapport with students, implementing student-initiated postsecondary plans, and encouraging organizations to foster anti-racist school environments. Janaé has been an educator for over a decade and looks forward to serving Bard Bronx as the 9th grade school counselor.

Rebecca Daczka

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Rebecca Daczka, Library Media Specialist, holds an M.L.I.S. from Syracuse University, an M.Ed. in Mathematics Education from City College of New York, an M.F.A. in Filmmaking from Concordia University of Montréal, and a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Michigan. They are a Math for America Emeritus Fellow and a former Fulbright Graduate Scholar. With over 15 years of experience teaching math and architecture at New York City Consortium schools, their work centers on research and information literacy instruction, equity-centered pedagogy, cross-curricular collaboration, and inquiry-based learning. Outside of school, they enjoy designing and building small off-grid structures on their land in the Catskills.

Juliet Smith

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Thomas Okon

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Sam Dorrance

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Jason Samaroo

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Aaron Nash

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Ellis Haker

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Ayodeji Olugbuyiro

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Lena Sow

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Emelyn Martinez

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Lisa Batson

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Cherise James

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Cherise James holds a BFA in Acting from University of Central Florida and a MFA from in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. With extensive experience in teaching, directing, dramatic writing, and the performing arts, Ms. James has a passion for fostering creativity, critical inquiry, and artistic excellence.

Michael Ponce

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I am a Special Education teacher with three years of experience working primarily in high school mathematics. Throughout my career, I have taught Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II, with a focus on creating an inclusive and supportive learning environment where all students can develop confidence and reach their academic potential. I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with a minor in Economics from Hunter College and my Master’s degree in Adolescent Special Education (Grades 7-12) from Hunter College’s School of Education. I am passionate about building meaningful relationships with my students and providing individualized support that recognizes and celebrates their unique strengths and abilities. Outside of the classroom, I enjoy staying active, working out, and watching anime in my free time.

Lev Lesokhin

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Lev Lesokhin is a member of the Physics Faculty at Bard Bronx. Prior to Bard, he had a successful professional career in software development and technology. Most recently, Mr. Lesokhin was a tech executive, having served multiple companies ranging from startups to the largest software firms in the world, marketing products in AI, Cybersecurity, Software Engineering, Fintech and Enterprise Applications. Mr. Lesokhin frequently served as a technology evangelist and thought leader, participating in many panels, podcasts, and news programs. He also contributed to several standards initiatives in Software Quality, Cybersecurity and Supply Chain Risk. Mr. Lesokhin was a Physics Major at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, graduating with a B.S.E.E. and he also holds an MBA from MIT Sloan.

Jody-Ann Facey

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Jody-Ann Facey is a student-centered, data-driven science teacher in the New York City Public Schools and a NYC Teaching Fellow. She teaches 6th–12th grade science, including ICT, and self-contained classes, and specializes in supporting students with disabilities and multilingual learners through UDL, scaffolding, and culturally responsive instruction. Ms. Facey brings a strong scientific background in molecular biology and
microbiology from roles in academic and industry research and is completing an M.S. in Education at Lehman College. She holds a New York State Transitional B Certificate in Biology 7–12 and Students with Disabilities 7–12.

Cay Maria Boswell

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B.A., English, The University of the West Indies; Postgraduate Diploma in Education, Language Education, The University of the West Indies; M.Sc. Adolescent Education, Mercy College; Advanced Certificate in Educational Leadership, Baruch College; Doctoral Student – Strategic Leadership, Liberty University (In progress). Additional training includes: Certificate in Public Relations, The University of the West Indies; Certificate in Project Management, Cornell University. An educator with more than 25 years of service in Jamaica and New York City as a teacher and Assistant Principal in both public and charter schools in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx. Served as an Assistant Principal in BHSEC-Manhattan before joining the staff at BHSEC-Bronx in August 2026. Her professional interests include equity in resource allocation, instructional improvement, college/career readiness, culturally responsive practice, and leadership development. She is a published author of a book of poetry, Sanctified Ashes.

Youssef Abdelrahman

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Youssef Abdelrahman is a Health and Physical Education faculty member at Bard High School Early College Bronx. Prior to joining BHSEC Bronx, he worked as a Health Educator with Northwell Health, where he facilitated evidence-based tobacco cessation programming and supported participants in reducing and quitting tobacco use while strengthening their health literacy. His teaching focuses on helping students develop the knowledge and skills needed to make informed decisions about their health, build healthy habits, and apply what they learn beyond the classroom.

Alexandra Mendez

Nora Carr

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Nathan Eisner

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B.A., Economics, Carleton College; M.A., Economics, University of Pittsburgh. NYC Teaching Fellow.

Nathan Eisner joined the Math Department at BHSEC Bronx in 2025. Previously, he did graduate study at the University of Pittsburgh where he taught lecture courses in Econometrics and Healthcare Economics. His research has been accepted in The European Review of Economic History, and he has presented academic work at the Southern Economic Association and Economic History Association meetings.

Mark Drury

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Laura Stordy

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Laura Stordy holds a BA in Mathematics from Agnes Scott College, an MS in Mathematics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and an MAT in Secondary Mathematics Teaching from Smith College. She started at BHSEC Bronx in 2025.

Kelechi Ndukwe

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Kazuko Saito

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Jeanmeil Nestor

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I hold an M.S. in Chemistry from St. John’s University, where my graduate research focused on synthesizing novel coumarin derivatives with potential anti-cancer applications. I oversee laboratory safety, equipment and compliance for high school and college-level Chemistry and Biology courses. With a background spanning laboratory management, analytical chemistry and science education, I am committed to fostering safe, hands-on and rigorous scientific training for students in preparation of college-level courses.

Giselle Ramirez

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Toniesha McFadden-Haynes

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Suzanne Li Puma

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Lake Ouyang

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Chenelle Seck

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Brien Wallace

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Ricardo Torres

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My name is Ricardo Torres, and I’ve been teaching math for over a decade. I was born and raised in The Bronx, but I began my teaching journey working in international schools in different countries of the world. I gained a lot of valuable experience teaching internationally recognized curricula such as the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program and the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE). I also gained many indelible experiences working with international colleagues and students who have truly helped to shape my pedagogy today. Returning home, to The Bronx, is poetic in so many ways and I look forward to providing our students with quality math education. I have a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a Master of Arts in Adolescent Math Education from The City College of New York.

Asyl Almaz

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Vivian Hoyden

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Daniel Wendekier

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Janny Hunt

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Fatoumata Bah

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Dexter White

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Noah Gordon

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Megan McMahon

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Sualithy Rosario

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Tabata Mera

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Michelle Lobato

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Ms. Lobato has earned a bachelor’s degree in American History from SUNY Purchase and a master’s degree in physical education and Sports Pedagogy from Manhattanville College. With about ten years of teaching experience, Michelle is passionate about wellness and helping others achieve a balanced, healthy lifestyle.

Outside of teaching, she enjoys practicing yoga, hiking, and exploring my creative side through painting.

Elizabeth Martin

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Dr. Elizabeth Martin is a historical archaeologist from New York City. She has worked in higher ed, professional archaeology, museum education, and the public schools for close to twenty years. Dr. Martin’s early work on marginalized outsider communities in the Northeast taught her to construct classrooms that help students explore and critique the historical narrative because it is through this type of experience that young adults find agency in their present and future lives.

Nora Mahmoud

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Nora Mahmoud is a Special Education teacher at BHSEC Bronx. Nora is a New York City native with strong ties to her Tunisian roots. She is a graduate of the University for Peace’s Peace Education Program (Costa Rica, 2007), an MA from Columbia University Teacher’s College, and a B.A. in Sociology from Marymount Manhattan College. Nora has worked in various youth programs throughout NYC and abroad. Most of her work has been in youth development, peace education, and education for sustainability sectors. She has always been an activist at heart and considers herself a lifelong learner. She is a native English and Arabic speaker and speaks French and Spanish.

In her spare time, she loves spending time with her family, cooking, learning new languages, traveling, reading, swimming, and breathing in life!

Nadim Silverman

Mr. Silverman specializes in speculative fiction, the literature of South Asia, and creative writing. He earned his M.F.A. in creative writing from the SUNY Stony Brook as well as a B.A. in Urban Studies and Visual Art from Brown University. His short stories have appeared in Flash Fiction Magazine, BULL, and more. He is a proud BHSEC alum.

Jonathan Cantres

Joseph Danquah

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B.S., Mathematics, Buffalo State University; MSED, Mathematics, Lehman College. Math for America (MFA) Master Teacher Fellowship Grant for Outstanding Teaching, 2012 – Present; 2015 Sloan Award for Excellence in Teaching Science and Mathematics; 2014 New York Times Teachers Who Make a Difference Honoree; 2008 Teacher Participant of the three-year National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Mathematics Teacher Transformation Institutes (MTTI) Grant. Taught mathematics at Fordham University, Baruch College, DeWitt Clinton High School, and Bard High School Early College – Manhattan before joining Bard High School Early College – Bronx in 2024.

Karen Benezra

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Karen Benezra earned her B.A. in Spanish from Bard College (2004) and Ph.D in Hispanic Studies from Cornell University (2013). Dr. Benezra is a specialist in 20^th Century Latin American literature, visual art, and critical thought and brings 16 years of experience teaching Hispanic language, culture, and literature to BHSEC-Bronx. She is the author of Dematerialization: Art and Design in Latin America (University of California Press, 2020) and editor of Accumulation and Subjectivity: Rethinking Marx in Latin America (SUNY Press, 2022). She has also published scholarly articles and interventions in English and Spanish in journals including diacritics, Res Publica, ARTMargins, and the Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, among others. Dr. Benezra’s current research concerns the idea of biological and social reproduction. Informed by her work in the field of psychoanalysis, it asks how desire changes the way we think about exploitation and historical transformation.

Quincee Robinson

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Quincee Robinson holds a B.A. from the University of Southern California, and a M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University. She oversees recruitment efforts at BHSEC Bronx, organizing open houses and school tours. She provides guidance and support to students, parents, and middle school staff during the high school admissions process.

Kurt MacMillan

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Kurt MacMillan (“Dr. Mac”) teaches 10^th grade global history and electives in Latin American history and historical memory at BHSEC Bronx. He earned a BA in History from Rutgers University-New Brunswick and an MA and PhD in History from the University of California, Irvine, where he composed a dissertation based on archival research in Chile, Ecuador, and Spain. Originally from the Jersey Shore, Dr. Mac taught college courses for nine years on the West Coast at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California State University, Fullerton, University of California, Irvine, and Northern Arizona University. His research and scholarship have been supported by the Social Science Research Council, the Consortium for History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, and the Leslie Center for the Humanities at Dartmouth College. He has also worked for El Museo del Barrio and the Princeton University Art Museum and serves as a virtual docent for Holocaust Museum LA. His most recent project focuses on sites of Holocaust memory in Poland, Germany, Austria, and Latvia. Dr. Mac is thrilled to be a member of the BHSEC Bronx community and hopes to impart a deep interest in history to his students.

Hamza Benbellout

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Mr. Benbellout’s first Masters came from the University of Montpellier in Physics and Engineering in 2012. From there, he’s earned another Master from Cergy Paris Université in Theoretical Physics in 2016 and most recently, a Masters in Science Education from the City College of New York with a Teacher’s Certification in Physics 9-12 grade in 2023. He has taught Physics and Chemistry for 3 years equally in the Paris region and New York public systems. Hamza’s recent publication can be found in APS, Phys. Rev. D 99, 084027 (2019) – Structure and thermodynamics of charged nonrotating black holes in higher dimensions (aps.org)

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Sascha Russel

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Dr. Russel earned a BA in Biology from Brown University, a MA in Science Education from NYU, and a PhD in Genetics from Harvard University where she did basic research and published research papers in cell and developmental biology using the fantastic model organism C. elegans. She has also worked with variety of other model systems including the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, the budding yeast S. cerevisiae, bacteria including wild isolates of bacteria and E.coli (the workhorse of molecular biology) as well as in vitro cell free systems to answer questions in other topics in biology such as circadian rhythms, cellular asymmetry, prions, and impacts of food source on longevity.

She has enjoyed teaching biology in many different contexts and formats including mentoring students in university research labs, BioBus.org, college prep program DDC @ Columbia, outreach at fairs, many NYC high schools, mentoring new teachers, collaborating with scientists who are interested in education, and with ScienceSuitcase.org – always with an emphasis on brains-on and hands-on learning.

She aims to empower her students to understand and appreciate the science behind everyday life; science, and biology in particular, really is everywhere! She is motivated by the desire to inspire and encourage talented young people to make the world a better place by pursuing medical and STEM paths further.

Dr. Russel is thrilled to be a part of this community and proud to contribute to the building of this of this amazing Bard Early College High School as founding faculty. She teaches Introductory College Biology and Health.

In her free time she likes to refurbish and reuse old things, forage for wild foods like mushrooms, cook and eat delicious food, go to art shows, music and theatrical performances in NYC, and enjoys spending time with friends and family.

Andrew Alger

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Dr. Alger specializes in the modern history of the Middle East, the history of forced migration, and urban history. He earned his Ph.D. in History from the CUNY Graduate Center in 2020 as well as B.A. and M.A. degrees in Middle East Studies from the University of Chicago. In 2012-2013, he was a Center for Arabic Study Abroad (CASA) fellow at the American University in Cairo. From 2014 to 2023, he taught history and Middle East studies at Queens College, and he has taught Arabic since 2009. His current project is a translation of Abbas al-Baghdadi’s Lest We Forget Baghdad in the 1920s, a study of Iraq’s capital city that incorporates folklore and the conventions of memoir into a history of urban development.

Wynnter Millsaps

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Wynnter Millsaps is a proud long-time Bardian. She started her journey with Bard in 2014 as a Founding High School Student at BHSEC Cleveland. She became a First-Generation College Student in 2018 when she graduated with her AA. Wynnter would then go to Bard on a Full-Tuition “Early College Opportunities” Scholarship, and graduate from Bard College with her BA in International Relations in 2021. Wynnter is passionate about the Bard Early College model and took a gap year where she worked with the Bard Early College Hudson Valley campuses as a Site Coordinator as well as taught a course called “College Experience.” It was the work she did at BEC Hudson which helped her realized her joy of being in the classroom and working with high schoolers. Wynnter decided to get her master’s in teaching Spanish Language from Bard College in 2023 and following the completion of her program she began her work as a founding faculty member at BHSEC Bronx.

Wynnter works primarily with our Year One and Year Two students with everything regarding the college process. Wynnter helps Year Twos apply to college, apply for scholarships, and work on financial aid applications. She helps Year Ones finalize their college lists, request Letters of Recommendation, and poolish their resumes. She also plans College Trips and visits with College Admissions Counselors. Wynnter is also an adjunct professor of Spanish and teaches one Introductory Course.

Elizabeth Scheer

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Andres Orejuela

Colin Harte

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Colin Harte earned his PhD in Ethnomusicology at the University of Florida’s School of Music. He earned his Masters in Educational Leadership from CUNY-Hunter College. He received his Masters in Ethnomusicology from the University of Limerick. As a NYC Teaching Fellow, he received a Masters in Education from CUNY- Lehman College while teaching band, general music and percussion ensemble at a Bronx, public school. He graduated from Bard College with a Bachelor of Arts in music performance. He currently teaches a world music curriculum for the Bard High School Early College-Bronx where he teaches student percussion ensembles, keyboard lab, world music courses, and music technology courses. As a professional pianist, vocalist and percussionist, he is also active in the New York jazz, Latin and Irish traditional music communities. He wrote An Bodhrán: Experimentation and Innovation, which was published by the Indiana University Press. He has published in The Journal of Historical Research in Music Education, ICTM-Ethnomusicology Ireland, SAGE Encyclopedia of Ethnomusicology, Smithsonian Folkways, New Hibernia Review, Folk Music Journal, Chasqui: Revista de Literatura Latinoamericana, and the Bardian. He has presented at numerous conferences including the Society for Ethnomusicology, American Conference for Irish Studies, Brazilian Studies Association National Conference, International Conference for Traditional Music-Applied Ethnomusicology, the Suncoast Music Education Research Symposium, amongst many others. He is a Fulbright Distinguished Teacher who was awarded Fulbright grants to India, Peru, and Ireland.

Siska Brutsaert

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