Welcome New Faculty and Staff

Winsor is pleased to welcome the following group of incredible new faculty, administration, and staff members. A few of our new colleagues joined us this spring and summer, so you may already recognize their names; others are just beginning their Winsor tenures during this week's orientation. Please join us in welcoming each of them to our community.

New Faculty

Jennifer (“Jenny”) Albright joins the Upper School science faculty.  Jenny comes to us from Tabor Academy where,  since 2009, she has taught courses including Biology, Marine Field Ecology, Aquaculture, Marine Conservation Ecology, and other related topics, most notably in STEM. At Tabor, she also spearheaded collaborations linking her students’ biology and marine science coursework with the research goals of organizations in the area, including the Buzzards Bay Coalition, the Marine Biological Laboratory,and​​ the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration​.  Recently, in an effort to incorporate more STEM into an ecology heavy curriculum, she designed and implemented projects such as delineation of submerged aquatic vegetation using remotely operated vehicles, monitoring incremental changes in salt marsh vegetation via aerial imagery, and investigation of estuarine circulation patterns using student-built drifters. Among her many talents, she is also an FAA Certified Drone Pilot.

Mark Brooks Hedstrom joins the Upper School science faculty. Mark has 23 years of experience teaching high school and college-level physics, including AP Physics and elective astronomy.  Most recently, he taught for 11 years at Oakwood High School in Ohio, during which time he took a one-year sabbatical to Egypt, having traveled there before. He used the opportunity to enrich his interest and experience in archeology, and was employed by the Yale Monastic Archaeology Project to build and maintain a database of their excavation finds and documentation. Several years prior, he worked as a web journalist for The Scriptorium, Center For Christian Antiquities, where he researched, wrote and digitally photographed weekly editions of web pages about archaeology and life in Egypt while working in Wadi Natrun, Egypt.
In addition to his love of science and commitment to life-long learning, Mark was proud to be the creator and Advisor to the Electric Cart Racing Club at Oakwood, a team that participated in Electrathon America. He also has fond memories of working as an exhibitor at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.
Mary Butcher joins the Lower School math faculty. Mary comes to us most recently from the New England Aquarium and her role as Visitor Educator where she shared messages around climate change and the crucial role our ocean plays in maintaining a healthy planet. Previously, she taught math in both public and independent schools in the UK and has led work protecting students in at-risk groups. Her work with the Cambridge Maths Hub (UK) and Teach First (the British version of Teach for America) shows her commitment to both quality and equitable education for all. A multi-instrumentalist, Mary leads a choir in her community and plays in some casual ensemble groups. She also loves to run, hike, and indoor climb. 

Rosalyn (“Rosy”) Cohane-Mann joins the Lower School science faculty. Rosy began her career as an educator when she took a position as a teacher and residential assistant at the School for Field Studies in Costa Rica.  There she set up transects in the jungle, hiking the country's highest peak, and co-leading science research trips to volcanoes and coffee farms. Her first introduction to an independent school was at Taft School in Connecticut, where she taught, coached, and lived in a dorm while completing her advanced degree in education. She comes to us from Walnut Hill School.  
An avid traveler, Rosy has led trips backpacking, day-hiking, cross country skiing and climbing, and continues to do so over the summers with the Road Less Traveled Organization
Julia Connor joins the performing arts faculty. Julia has been teaching privately and performing as violinist in the Boston area since graduating from the New England Conservatory of Music in 2016.  In addition to maintaining her own private studio in Roslindale, she has taught as part of Winsor's After School Music program since 2017, at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, and for the past two years has been a teaching artist at the Panama Jazz Festival.  She regularly performs original groove-based new music with her violin and piano duo, Room to Spare, and is a founding member of the Berwick Fiddle Consort, which performs historical folk music from the British Isles on period instruments.  She also regularly appears in Boston with Boston Baroque, Emmanuel Music, and Music at Marsh Chapel
Laura Krier joins the Upper School English faculty.  Laura has made the cross country move from Northern California, where she taught Upper School English for eight years at Head-Royce School, an independent, co-educational K-12 day school in Oakland, CA. A multi-disciplinary scholar, she taught in the English and History departments, including courses on Russian, Chinese, Indian history, the Intellectual History of the Western Worldview, AP Art History, and Religious Architecture. Her English and history courses at both Head-Royce and two previous independent schools have strong areas of focus beyond the Western tradition.
She has also served as the Global Studies Coordinator at each of her last two schools and designed and led trips to South Africa, China, and Morocco.
Andrew Marshall joins the performing arts faculty as the new Choral Director. Andrew has taught in the disciplines of choral music, directing, and performance for 23 years. He joins us from Oakwood University in Huntsville, Alabama, where he directed the University Choir and taught music courses. Prior to working at Oakwood University, he served as Choir Director at Pine Forge Academy in Pine Forge, Pennsylvania, and as Associate Professor of Music at Northern Caribbean University. He has produced extended works for choir and orchestra that are performed annually by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Jamaica and the Jamaica Choral Scholars.
Andrew has composed, arranged, and edited numerous shorter works for choir. Most recently, Andrew completed his Fourth Symphony, commissioned by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Jamaica.
He presently serves as founder and director of the Jamaica Choral Scholars' Festival, an annual week-long event dedicated to the study and performance of Caribbean choral music, currently in its tenth year.
Stephanie Mauge joins Winsor as an Upper School Spanish and French teacher. Stephanie just completed a one-year sabbatical in Basel, Switzerland, where she traveled and studied the German language.  She has 15 years of experience teaching both Spanish and French, most recently at Meadowbrook School in Weston.  Previous to that she taught at the Pike School and at Episcopal Academy outside Philadelphia, where she was responsible for developing and implementing a LS Spanish curriculum.

Fluent in French, Spanish, Portuguese (and busy learning German), Stephanie has lived and traveled extensively in Europe, Brazil, Spain, Hispanic Carribean, and Central America. She is also an avid yoga practitioner.

Evan Joy McLaurin (“Ms. Joy”) will be teaching Lower School health. Evan is an experienced health educator, dialogue facilitator, and health education policy expert. She is no stranger to the Winsor community as Evan is an alumna of the Winsor class of 2012 and the daughter of former Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, Pamela McLaurin.  A graduate of Spelman College, Evan has studied in Brazil and Amsterdam, ultimately obtaining her Master of Public Policy and MBA from Brandeis University. Evan returns to us from Peer Health Exchange, where she worked as the manager of business development, significantly increasing students’ access to quality health education. Evan spends her free time leading health education workshops with local non-profit organizations.  Evan, who will be known to the students as “Ms. Joy,” enjoys anything ocean and water related, particularly kayaking with humpback whales, a life goal she accomplished in January of this year.

Danielle Smogard joins Winsor as a pre-professional librarian. Danielle is currently pursuing a Master’s in Library Science at Simmons University while teaching 6th grade English full time at Boston Prep.  Prior to her library studies, she earned a master’s in Effective Teaching from Charles Sposato Graduate School of Education here in Boston.
Twice she has created classroom libraries “from scratch” in schools, and she is currently the Director of Volunteer Training, Shanti Bhavan Children’s Project, where she creates training content for volunteer teachers traveling to Shanti Bhavan.
Olivia Waring joins the Upper School science facultyOlivia has followed a circuitous path to Winsor, dabbling in linguistics, computer science, broadcast journalism, and medical engineering (plus a brief and very unsuccessful acting stint) before finally returning to her first love - chemistry - as a Winsor Upper School science teacher. She comes most recently from the international development sector via the MIT D-Lab: she has taught computer science and engineering to young women in Mexico and Uganda, and she spent several years working as a journalist in rural India. Her hobbies include crocheting foods with faces, playing and singing chamber music, working on a small NGO dedicated to the documentation of endangered languages, and collecting yellow things to put in her apartment. Olivia is a weekend host at WCRB 99.5 (Boston's classical music station) and a full-time servant to her 5 demanding guinea pigs. 
New Administration and Staff  
Anna Fravel joined Winsor this spring as Winsor's Senior Philanthropic Advisor.  For over a decade, Anna has worked as a development professional in Boston, most recently as the Senior Philanthropic Advisor of Northeastern University where she specialized in collaborating with individual donors and their advisors on significant and complex gifts.  Originally trained as a finance attorney, Anna is qualified to practice law in California and as an English solicitor. However, she is most proud of her qualification as a Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy which allows her to be a trusted and thoughtful partner in a donor’s philanthropic journey.  
 
Born in Indonesia, raised in London and married to an American, Anna’s career and personal life have led her to live and work in four different countries in three continents. These days, she is quite content to be at home in Brookline with her husband, Taylor, and their daughter, Lana. While at home, they enjoy family movie nights, playing Chicago Rummy and indulging in their shared love of all desserts containing copious amounts of chocolate. Unsurprisingly, whenever given the opportunity, Anna and her family love to explore different countries and cultures.
 
Melody Komyerov joined Winsor this spring as the new Director of Marketing and Communications. Over the past 15 years, Melody has worked as a marketing communications professional for universities and independent schools in the region, most recently as the Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing at the Commonwealth School and previously as the Director of Communications and Marketing at the Pingree School. As an award-winning photographer, Melody lived and produced work throughout Asia, South America, Africa, and Europe and her work was published in several national and international newspapers, magazines and national photography books including America 24/7 and A Day in the Life of the American Woman.
 
A documentary photojournalist at heart, Melody continues to capture and celebrate life’s everyday moments. She speaks Mandarin Chinese, enjoys cooking, picking up new creative art projects, and playing ice hockey with her kids and her team, the Zambeauties. Melody lives in Cambridge with her husband Josh and their three children, Tairou, Tsering, and Noa Lielle.
 
Audra McFarland joined Winsor in July as the new Director of Admission and Financial Aid. Audra joins Winsor from the Belmont Day School, where she served as the Director of Admission for seven years, overseeing the school's effort to successfully grow its middle school, and to increase the racial, socioeconomic and geographic diversity of the student body through innovative outreach initiatives. Prior to Belmont Day, Audra worked as an Admission Senior Associate at Steppingstone, a Boston non-profit that recruits high achieving Boston Public School students and prepares them to enter area independent schools. In addition to her admissions work, Audra also served as a Director of Resource Development at an East Boston charter school. A native of the metro-Boston area, Audra lives in Melrose with her husband and 4-year-old son. Outside of school hours she enjoys barre and ballet and accompanying her son on “adventures.” 
 
Hema Ramachandran joins Winsor as the new Assistant Director of Admission and Program Coordinator. Hema comes to us after having spent the last seven years as Associate Director of Admissions and Director of Financial Aid at Belmont Day School.  During her time there, she was an integral part of the school’s success in growing its middle school enrollment and increasing the racial, socioeconomic, and geographic diversity of its student body.  Prior to her role at Belmont Day, she worked as Associate Director of Admissions at Milton Academy and Director of Admissions at the British International School of Boston.
 
Hema is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Harvard School of Public Health where the focus of her studies was molecular parasitology and vaccine development.  Born and raised in Singapore, and with family spanning multiple continents, Hema enjoys any and all opportunities for traveling the world to connect with them.  An avid biker and foodie, she empty nests with her husband in West Roxbury and has two sons, one working and living in New York City, and the other, a  soon to be college graduate.  
 
Teresa Rodriguez joined Winsor this summer as the new Director of Family Relations. Over the past 25 years, Teresa has worked with students and families in the Greater Boston area originally as a history teacher and then as a High School Placement Advisor at a local charter school. Her work in independent schools started as the Director of Multiculturalism and Community Development in the K-8 Division at Milton Academy. Most recently she has worked as Director of Student Life and School Climate in the Boston Public Schools and as the Director of Family and Community Relations at Boston Collegiate Charter School. Teresa is a board member of several local non-profits, speaks Spanish and is a proud resident of Jamaica Plain. She enjoys fundraising for local female political candidates, running slowly in road races, and taking long walks in the Arboretum. Teresa shares that her role at family gatherings is set-up and clean-up and while she loves home cooked food she doesn't prepare it often (which has changed a bit during quarantine!)
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