Welcome New Faculty and Staff

The Winsor School is pleased to welcome our new faculty, administration, and staff members. A few joined us last spring and summer, so you may already recognize their names. The rest began their Winsor tenures during our school opening this academic year. Please give a warm Winsor welcome to our new community members! 

 

 

Anna Ausubel joins Winsor this year as a member of both the Lower School and Upper School faculties teaching Class II and Class V science. Since graduating from Bowdoin College with a B.A. in neuroscience, Anna has taught a combination of biology and psychology courses at independent schools in Massachusetts, Colorado, and Connecticut, and most recently at the Sharon Academy in Vermont. In 2019, Anna earned her M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education with a concentration in learning and teaching. As a science teacher, Anna is always curious to learn more about how the world works and the interconnectivity between all living beings. She lives with her husband, Sam, daughter Maya, 10 months, cats Frida and Nym, and way too many house plants. Anna is most happy when she is outside, whether that is hiking, walking, cross-country skiing, or snowshoeing. 

 

Julie Callanan joins the Lower School science faculty from Framingham Public Schools where, starting in 2008, she has a variety of middle school courses, including life sciences, earth sciences, and physical sciences. Before following her passion for middle school education, Julie worked as an environmental analyst in the private sector and later for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection. From 2005 to 2008, Julie and her husband lived in Dublin, Ireland where she worked for the American College Dublin in the Office of the President and the Admission Office. In college, Julie was a member of the University of Massachusetts rowing team, and from 1998 to 2001 she helped it win four consecutive Atlantic Ten Championships and a fourth-place finish in the 1998 NCAA Championships. Julie lives in Waltham with her her husband Jon, their children Sean, 11, and Betsy, 9, and their dog, Dublin. 

 

James Dauphinee, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Afghanistan, joins Winsor as facility technition. His extensive mechanical background includes working with heavy construction equipment and in the automotive industry. He has successfully managed the automotive repair operations for several Massachusetts repair shops and has experience in HVAC-R, carpentry, plumbing, and electrical work. James is most proud of his family and three beautiful daughters. 

 

Wayne Keysor joins the world languages faculty at Winsor, teaching Latin in both the Lower School and Upper Schools. Wayne most recently taught all levels of Latin at Wahconah Regional High School in the Berkshires, and he previously taught Latin at the Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore. He holds an M.A. in classics from the University of Maryland College Park, an M.A. in liberal studies with a concentration in philosophy and religion from Notre Dame of Maryland University, and an M.S. in defense and strategic studies from Missouri State University. Wayne lives with his wife, Katherine, and their dog, Bodhi.

 

Joanna Khalil has been a science educator for 17 years and comes to Winsor from the Neighborhood School in Jamaica Plain where she taught at Neighborhood School during the 2020 school year to help all students learn outside during the pandemic. While there, she taught a project-based curriculum to awesome fifth and sixth graders. Prior to the Neighborhood School, she taught at Match charter school for 14 years, where she founded the school health program and the AP chemistry program. During that time, she completed her masters in public health at Boston University. She met her husband in South Texas while serving in Teach for America. They have two children and one dog and one cat. She likes to be in nature whenever possible and is training to become a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Cassie Peters joins the physical education faculty teaching PE to Classes I through IV. She will also coach middle school volleyball and tennis this year and advise Class IV students. She dedicated herself to tennis throughout her youth, and in college took that interest and played for a small Division I program in South Texas, where she studied kinesiology and sports management while pursuing her bachelor’s and master's degrees. Prior to Winsor, Cassie spent seven years as the assistant athletic director and head tennis coach at Castilleja School in Palo Alto. She enjoys working with students of all athletic abilities, from giving advanced student-athletes the tools needed to excel in sports to helping students to identify as athletes for the very first time. She and her husband made the cross-country move to Boston this past summer along with their dog, Omaha, and cat, Racket (named after two of their favorite sports, college baseball and tennis). She is excited to explore everything that New England has to offer and start getting to know the Winsor community better.

 

Amanda Santos Valenzuela joins the Wellness Team as health teacher and department head. She has taught wellness and biology in public, boarding, international, and arts school settings. Amanda holds a B.S. in public health from Simmons University and a Master’s in teaching science from Boston College. As wellness education coordinator at Northfield Mount Hermon (her alma mater), she built a peer education program, bolstered the health curriculum, and led strategic plan and gender inclusion task forces. From there, she taught middle school health and coordinated ninth and tenth grade advisory at the United Nations International School in New York City. Amanda joins us most recently from the Walnut Hill School, where she taught introductory biology and physiology. As Simmons University’s first undergraduate to earn a degree in public health, she is thrilled to return to the Longwood area to work with Winsor students. Outside of school, Amanda enjoys travel, treasure finding at flea markets, and playground-hopping with her husband, Aviel, and daughters Estelí, 8, and Ismene, 4.

 

Ariel Tu returns to Winsor from Dana Hall School in Wellesley. She joins us as a member of both the Lower School and Upper School faculty, teaching Class III, Mandarin II, Mandarin III, and AP Chinese. Ariel received her B.A. in political science from Soochow University (Taipei) and has completed licensure to teach ESL and Mandarin Chinese. A native of Taiwan, Ariel was the owner and director of a language school in Taipei for 15 years. She has over 20 years of experience teaching ESL and Mandarin Chinese. She is excited to share her expertise and passion for the Chinese language and culture with students at Winsor. Ariel moved from Taiwan to Brookline, Mass., with her husband, Christopher, and son, Arthur in 2018. Ariel embraces new experiences and is excited to try new things. She enjoys traveling and getting perspectives from people around the world. 

 

Emily Valenza comes to Winsor from Kingsley Montessori School in the Back Bay. This is her 18th year teaching visual art, and she is overjoyed to be working with Winsor art students. Emily recently earned her M.Ed. in art education from Lesley University, and she believes that every single person has incredible artistic potential, so the art studio is a space where every student can flourish. Emily’s artistic practice spans drawing, painting, printmaking, animation, and ceramics, and she enjoys sharing her work locally during events like Somerville Open Studios.  In addition to making art, she loves to sing, play the ukulele, garden, and cook without a recipe. Emily enjoys learning languages and has learned some French, Italian, Japanese, and a tiny bit of Mandarin. 

 

Ezer Vierba will be teaching Upper School history courses, including two new courses in Latin American history. He previously taught Latin American history at Harvard for nine years, first for the history and literature concentration, and then at the Harvard Writing Program. Originally from a kibbutz in Israel, Ezer has traveled extensively in Latin America, getting to know and love its people, languages, and chicken busses. He completed a Ph.D. dissertation on Panamá, which is now a book (The Singer’s Needle: An Undisciplined History of Panamá). Ezer is excited to join the Winsor community and help develop its Latin American offerings. 

 

Sudeshna Bandyopadhyay (Nurse Sue) comes to us from the Westbrook School District near Portland, Maine, where she was the district nursing supervisor in charge of five schools. When the pandemic hit, her job became almost entirely administrative, so she is looking forward to getting to work directly with students again. Nurse Sue has eight years of experience in school nursing. She grew up in Texas and as a child had an affinity for science. She attended science camp and her very first job was being a tram tour guide at NASA in Houston, which she credits for honing her presentation and public speaking skills. Sue recently moved to Boston with her cat, Zoey, and enjoys making intricate collages using papers with various textures and designs in her spare time.

Nicole Barbuto, a lifelong athlete, started her career in education as an NCAA women’s soccer coach and athletic administrator, advocating for equitable opportunities and the value of girls and women in sport. After 11 years in higher education, she shifted her skills in team building and communication from the playing field to the design studio. Today, Nicole is an award-winning designer with work in brand creation, development communications, and engagement marketing for the education, nonprofit, and healthcare industries. Her work has been recognized by CASE, GD USA, and the IHAForum. Nicole and her family live in Dedham. When not working, she likes to spend time with her 10-year-old daughter Mae, exploring design in nature, drawing, and painting. Often, she can still be found encouraging Mae and her teammates on the sidelines of the playing field.

 

Nakieshia Brewster-Fullington joined Winsor as the advancement assistant in February. Throughout her 14 years of work experience, Nakieshia has worked primarily in the nonprofit and educational sectors focusing on social justice reform for inner-city youth. Although she is a Dorchester native, her family is from the Caribbean. Nakieshia graduated from Boston Latin School and holds a degree in psychology and a minor in history from UMass Boston. She volunteers with the Humphrey Street Studios, promoting local artists and talents from the city of Boston, and she is an active member of the Dorchester Bay EDC Resident initiative. 

 

Kara Catino joined the team at Winsor in September 2021 as a teaching and learning specialist. A New York native, Kara holds a B.A. in English education and a minor in psychology from Nazareth College and an M.S. in school counseling from SUNY Oswego. In her most recent role at Cayuga Onondaga BOCES, a public high school in Auburn, NY, Kara served as the lead special education teacher and worked with diverse learners by developing IEPs, differentiating instruction, and utilizing assistive technology across multiple disciplines. Kara’s professional teaching journey has encompassed all learners. She has significant experience meeting diverse learning needs and tracking data-driven student progress toward goals, all while encouraging students to embrace and challenge rigorous curriculums. 

Megan Feulner started at Winsor as assistant to the head of school in June. In line with her passion for literature, Megan began a book publishing career as an intern at Verso Books and then worked for several years as a publicist at the independent publisher Other Press in New York City. She joined the literary agency Sterling Lord Literistic in 2016 and then shifted to Pearson Education in Boston as an executive assistant in 2018. Megan earned an M.A. in women's and gender studies from CUNY Graduate Center; her thesis considered the feminist legacy of a significant 1970s legal trial. Originally from Connecticut, Megan recently moved from Providence to Wellesley Hills with her black cat, Poe, named for Edgar Allan. In her free time, Megan enjoys researching, writing, and reading on topics including the history of second-wave feminism and women’s literary cultures and lives. 

 

Raquel Hitt joined Winsor in January 2021 as the new assistant director of communications and operations. Over the past decade, Raquel worked in the nonprofit sector supporting literacy and education initiatives in Boston. Before earning her master’s in writing and publishing from Emerson College, Raquel spent two years as a member of AmeriCorps VISTA, working with 826 Boston growing corporate partnerships and their volunteer program. She then worked in book publicity at Perseus Books and Hachette Book Group before joining the Boston Book Festival as director of operations. An educator at heart, Raquel taught in the Emerson College Writing Studies program for six years, and she looks forward to building connections with Winsor students through her work with SOMOS, Winsor’s latino affinity group. Raquel lives with her husband in Jamaica Plain and loves cooking for a crowd, especially recipes from the New York Times Cooking newsletter. She volunteers with the Vincent Club and the Boston Ballet. On winter weekends, you can usually find her skiing at Loon Mountain.

 

Samantha Lovewell joined the Winsor community in October 2020 as the assistant director of young alumnae engagement and leadership giving. Sam is passionate about empowering voices and building relationships, and her wide-ranging background includes work in education and nonprofits from both the teaching/directing and advancement sides at institutions such as Boston University, Boston Children’s Chorus, and New England Conservatory. Sam earned a bachelor’s of music and theatre arts minor at UMass Lowell and a master’s of science in administration and fundraising management at Boston University. She still finds opportunities to make music (probably her favorite gig was landing a spot in the chorus for a show at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine), and is usually found exploring cultures through artistic experiences, travel, and, of course, food. A Massachusetts native, who grew up on a small lake, she spends as much time as possible enjoying the outdoors with family, friends, and her dogs. Sam volunteers with the Dorchester Food Co-op as a campaign and volunteer manager and serves as a board member for the City Ballet of Boston.

 

Colette Porter joined Winsor in May as the new director of marketing and communications. Over the past 20 years, Colette has worked as a marketing communications professional for universities and independent schools in the region, and she has dedicated herself to institutions that focus on the transformative power of women's education. She served as director of campaign communications for Wellesley College’s $500M comprehensive campaign and, most recently, led marketing and campaign communications efforts for Nashoba Brooks School in Concord. Colette started her career in publishing and advertising, including several years as an advertising account supervisor at Arnold Worldwide. Her passion for education inspired her to use her agency expertise to oversee rebranding initiatives for neighboring school Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. On weekends, she can be found cheering on her girls, Maeve and Ella, at lacrosse games and swim meets.

 

Marybeth Oskowski joined the Winsor team in April 2021 as the director of annual and leadership giving. Previously, she was director of annual giving at the Boston Latin School Association for six years, where her team closed a successful $50M campaign that focused on building opportunities and programs for the students at Boston Latin School. Prior to that, she served as director of annual giving at the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. Marybeth is the first member of her family to graduate from college and finds both personal and professional satisfaction in helping other young women succeed through perseverance and education. When she is not at work, you are likely to find Marybeth exploring local trails with her terrier, Maddie, or training for a multiday backpacking adventure. 

 

Heather Pierce returns to Winsor after a 10-year hiatus. She has worked in the culinary industry for over 21 years, starting as a dishwasher, and she has been with FLIK Dining Services for eight years. After graduating from California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, Heather moved back to New England, where she was eventually promoted to sous chef at Winsor. Heather loves working in schools as it gives her the opportunity to explore culinary avenues that would not be possible in restaurants. More importantly, it allows her to introduce young people to a multitude of foods, and educate them about ingredients, spices, cultures, and sustainability. She is extremely happy to be returning to Winsor, a school whose culture supports her desire to empower young women to strive for their best and become pillars of their community. During her free time, she collects recipes, heirloom tomato seeds, and cookbooks, and works on her home garden. She lives in Worcester with her wife, Renata, and two dogs, Dillon and Bates. 

 

Eevee Thompson joins the Winsor Technology team as a technology support specialist. Born and raised in New Hampshire with her twin brother, Eevee began her career in cyber-security compliance. She is a budding artist who likes charcoal and other non digital mediums, and she loves reading magas and watching anime.