Staff & Faculty

Dr. Tam Lee

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Tam Lee (we, us, ours), Ph.D., completed her degree in Education, Special Education concentration, at Temple University, where she also earned a graduate certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis. She previously taught at an alternative middle school in Louisiana as a sixth-grade ELA and History. During her graduate studies, Tam served as the SAT Verbal instructor for Temple’s Upward Bound program. After two years of teaching, she was promoted to Upward Bound Coordinator. Her doctoral research focused on the use of student-authored multimedia instruction to increase SAT scores for culturally and linguistically at-risk students and students with disabilities. When she is not researching or teaching, Tam enjoys time with her family, playing or listening to music, cooking, puzzling, and traveling.

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Dean Candace Colbert

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Candace Colbert received her M.S in Urban Studies and Applied Anthropology from the University of New Orleans. As an anthropologist and educator, she is passionate about community-based spaces for youth empowerment. She has served BECNO in a variety of roles including Campus Coordinator, Student Supports Tutor, and Adjunct Faculty, and is now the Dean of Students.

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Amanda Burau

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Amanda has a Bachelor’s Degree in Natural Resource and Environmental Economics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Development from Villanova University. She has an NCAA National Championship for Women’s Bowling, and she was a Fulbright Award Grantee in Bulgaria, 2021-2022. She has spent her career in college-access, working to close the degree divide for low-income, first-generation, and historically underrepresented students. Outside the workplace she loves cooking, trying new restaurants, Jeeps, and the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

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Dr. Sandra Bume

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Dr. Sandra Nambangi Bume (she/her/hers), is a women’s advocate who has spent several years educating and empowering girls of African descent in the Twin Cities, Minnesota. She is passionate about educating young people and has a deep love for literature. She received her doctorate in Educational Administration and Leadership, K12 from St. Cloud State University. Dr. Sandra also holds a Master of Arts degree in English from the Johanes-Gutenburg University, Mainz, Germany, and a Master of Science in Gender and Women’s Studies from the Minnesota State University, Mankato. She is a new addition to BECNO’s leadership team, as well as a faculty member.

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Gaby Valentino

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Gabriella (she/her) is from the near south side of Chicago, IL and has called New Orleans home for the last six years. She has an undergraduate degree in Gender and Women’s Studies and a Masters in Social Work, both from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She began teaching sex education workshops to high school students in her undergraduate years and continues to be passionate about reproductive justice and access to sex education and reproductive health supplies. After teaching sex education to high school students in New Orleans, she accepted the position of school counselor and professor of Human Sexuality at BECNO. She has practiced as a therapist for three years. When she is not working, she loves to dance, spend time with her dog, and read fiction.

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Julia Carey Arendell

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Narrowly dodging a life as a restaurateur, Julia Carey Arendell (she/her) received her M.F.A. in Creative Writing with a minor in American Literature from Louisiana State University after completing a fellowship at Harvard. Pushcart Prize nominated for her fiction, she was also a winner of the William Faulkner-William Wisdom Prize in Poetry. Publications can be found at Heavy Feather Review, VIDA, Mason’s Road, and Psychopomp Magazine, among others, as well as the anthologies Louisiana in Words and New Orleans: What Can’t Be Lost. She has joined the editorial boards of the Early College Folio, The Dudley Review, The New Orleans Review, and New Delta Review and currently serves as the faculty advisor for the student run publication Global Commons, an international project sponsored by OSUN. Julia joined BECNO in 2014 and teaches creative writing coursework, First and Second Year Seminar, and manages the peer tutoring program on campus.

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Dr. Cynthia Brown

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Dr. Cynthia Brown (she/her) is super passionate about student success in and out of the classroom setting. She received her doctorate in Urban Forestry from Southern University A&M College in Baton Rouge, LA. where her Dissertation was: Utilization of Meta-Analysis Techniques: Cases of Urban Greening & Its Influence on Youth Behavior. She also received her Master of Science in Urban Forestry, Master of Science in Criminal Justice, and Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Southern University A&M College. She believes that we are all lifelong learners and enjoys research.

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Sarbast Khoshnaw

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Sarbast Khoshnaw currently serves as a Mathematics teacher at Bard Early College New Orleans (BECNO). His academic background includes a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from Tishik University in Erbil, Iraq, complemented by a Master of Arts in Teaching from Bard College.  His teaching career has been a journey of diverse experiences, beginning in Iraq, extending to Kyrgyzstan where he taught Physics to high school students for five years, and now continuing in the United States. This international exposure has greatly enriched his approach to education, allowing him to effectively cater to a variety of student needs and learning styles.  At BECNO, his teaching responsibilities span across several subjects, including Pre-Calculus, Physics with laboratory sessions, and an Introductory course in Astronomy, also with a laboratory component. He is also actively involved in various school activities, including team meetings and student events.  Outside the classroom, his interests include music, cooking, and travel not only offer him personal fulfillment but also enhance his teaching, bringing diverse perspectives and experiences into his professional practice. His journey across different countries underscores my passion for education and my commitment to engaging with students from various cultural backgrounds.

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Rachel Nelson

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Rachel E Nelson (she/her) is a Professor of Humanities for BECNO, and has been an adjunct professor at the University of Maine, Hollins University, and an artist in residence at the Pacific Northwest College of the Arts. Her academic interests dwell in the intersections of culture, identities, and the arts, with a special focus on issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality. As a playwright, her work has been shown at The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Sugar Space for the Arts, Performance Works Northwest, the Oregon Contemporary Shakespeare Festival, Baby Crow Productions, and The SOUND OFF Festival of New Works. In 2015, she recieved the Rosa Parks Playwrighting Award for Social Justice from the Kennedy Center, in 2018 she was a Featured Playwright at the Seven Devils Playwrighting Conference as well as at the Director’s Lab at Lincoln Center, and in 2019 she was a Featured Playwright at the Women’s Theater Festival. Her work has been published in BOMB Magazine and Damselfly Press. Locally, she has worked with Southern Rep Theater, as well as New Noise Theater and Mondo Bizarro. She is constantly inspired by the BECNO students, and is honored to be collaborating with them on a more equitable and joyful future for us all. Rachel lives in New Orleans with her partner and their two extremely badly behaved dogs.

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Isabel Owen

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Isabel Erin Owen (she/her) is a writer, researcher, and educator based in New Orleans. She holds a bachelor’s degree in History and English (Creative Writing) with a minor in Latin American Studies from SUNY Geneseo, as well as a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from Tulane University, where she served as a FLAS (Foreign Language and Area Scholarship) Fellow for Portuguese. Isabel’s current research interests involve the legacies of critical pedagogy and empowerment-focused education in Latin America. Isabel served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Brazil in 2023, where she explored ways of using creative writing, art, and the incorporation of lived experiences to reduce the affective filter and empower students in the language classroom. Simultaneously holding interests in Latin American Studies, history, cultural studies, and creative writing, Isabel is passionate about interdisciplinarity and views the classroom as a space for the confluence of different epistemologies and personal histories.

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Dr. Ben Saxton

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Originally from upstate New York, Ben Saxton (he/him) completed a Ph.D in English at Rice University and a postdoc in medical humanities at the McGovern Medical School. He moved to New Orleans in 2015 and is an adjunct professor at Bard Early College and Tulane Medical School, where he teaches courses on medical humanities, nonfiction narratives, and American literature.

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Camera Whicker

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Camera Whicker is a native of Baton Rouge, LA, and the youngest of three. Her passion for mathematics led her to earn a BS in Mathematics with a Concentration in Actuarial Science from the University of New Orleans. While in undergrad, she served as a peer tutor for math. During this period, she noticed students’ lack of love for the subject, and this ignited her desire to teach so she could instill a love of math in students the way her math teachers instilled it in her. After graduating, she began teaching 9th grade Algebra 1 at Eleanor McMain Secondary School and obtained a Master of Arts in Teaching Secondary Mathematics from Relay Graduate School of Education. Currently, she is the 9th grade Algebra 1 honors teacher at Frederick A. Douglass High School as well as the Statistics Professor for Bard Early College New Orleans. When she is not teaching, she enjoys spending quality time with family, traveling, or going to see her favorite artist perform live in concert.

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Rachel Kirk

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Rachel is from Baltimore, Maryland and is currently a doctoral student in French Studies at Louisiana State University (LSU). She holds a BA in Political Science and French from Virginia Tech and an MA in International Education Development from Columbia University. Prior to starting her doctorate at LSU, she worked as a program manager at a research center at the Columbia University Climate School. She also taught high school French in New Orleans at Landry-Walker High School, and was a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Rabat, Morocco. Additionally, she has led 11 high school and university study abroad programs in France, Spain, Martinique, and Morocco and she is very passionate about facilitating exposure to intercultural travel and world languages for students. In her research, she is interested in how colonialism, anti-colonial resistance, and environmental changes have shaped cultural production in the Caribbean, particularly in Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Louisiana. When not reading or teaching, she enjoys exploring art and music spaces around New Orleans and taking salsa dance classes.

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Sophie Unterman

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Sophie Unterman is Head of the English Department at Frederick Douglass High School, where she has taught English since 2018. Originally from Kansas, she earned her B.A. in English and American Studies at Tulane and her M.F.A. in Creative Nonfiction at Columbia University. Unterman has taught writing at Columbia, Lehman College-CUNY, and the University of New Orleans. Her essays have appeared in The Forward, The Iowa Review, Guernica, and The Toast. The recipient of a 2017 American Jewish Press Association Simon Rockower Award, Unterman is currently querying her manuscript, a collection of essays about her grandmother’s Holocaust survival story and her own Jewish identity. When she is not teaching or writing, Unterman can be found on the streetcar tracks training for her next marathon or in her kitchen, cooking and baking for her friends.

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Jiachen Shi

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Jiachen Shi is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Tulane University. He holds an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Liverpool, a B.A. in Economics from Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (International) (PGCEi) from the University of Nottingham. At BECNO, he teaches Economics and American Government. Embracing the Confucian educational philosophy of “teaching students in accordance with their aptitude,” he designs dynamic and engaging classes to help students reach their full potential.

An avid writer, Jiachen’s opinion articles have been featured in The Diplomat, The National Interest, 9DASHLINE, and E-International Relations, while his academic work appears in SN Social Science and China Information. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer, though he seldom watches matches. As a music enthusiast and amateur YouTuber, he creates content focused on music videos and vlogs.

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Dara Bramson

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Dara Bramson is an interdisciplinary ethnographer who studies multicultural approaches to healing. She is a PhD Candidate (ABD) in anthropology at Tulane University, where she teaches on campus and through the college-in-prison program. Dara holds a MA in sociocultural anthropology from Columbia University, a BS in communications from Florida International University, and is a Deep Listening® Facilitator. She is influenced by her training in community-engagement, peace and conflict studies, and everyday learning with her community members.

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Koda Sokol

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Koda Sokol (they/he) is an Adjunct Humanities Instructor at BECNO, as well as a Sociology PhD candidate at the University of California Santa Cruz writing a dissertation about gender attachments under contemporary US neoliberalism.  Koda is also a proud dog dad,  karaoke enthusiast, and amateur potter.

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Dr. Donna Johnson

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Donna M. Johnson, EdD. is an educator with a love for learning and a curiosity about life that infects her students. As a learner – centered instructor, Johnson puts her students at the center of their own learning and supports them though a robust learning community. Johnson has spent considerable time working in secondary education as Humanities, English Language Arts and ESL teachers and as school administrators. Her career in higher education includes Associate Professorships in teacher education and educational leadership, adjunct positions in English, ESL and adult education, and roles as professional coach and program administrators. Johnson also has considerable experience working in college access. She is a researcher and author who specializes in girls, Black girls, gender and cultural studies and in teacher education and educational reform. She is also a feminist (girls) activist and community organizer who works with youth to help develop their capacities to lead meaningful community change though engaging in participatory action research.

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Rev. Dr. Jane-Allison Wiggin

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Mother Jane-Allison Wiggin (she/her) is an Episcopal priest currently serving as Rector (head pastor) of Historic Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church in New Orleans. Mother Jane-Allison holds a BA in English Literature from Furman University and a Master of Divinity from The School of Theology at Sewanee. Her Doctor of Ministry research focused on St. Luke’s Black church identity within the wider Episcopal Church and its pandemic recovery through cultural celebrations. She previously taught at Christ Episcopal School in Covington and served at Trinity Episcopal Church in New Orleans. She has traveled to Canterbury, Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago de Compostela, as well as many historic Civil Rights landmarks, and hopes to make many more pilgrimages in her lifetime. In her free time, she enjoys browsing bookstores, visiting art markets and museums, trying new restaurants, and listening to audiobooks on walks with her rescue dog.

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Alyssa Walker

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I am a PhD candidate in the department of philosophy at Tulane University. I use she/her pronouns.  In my dissertation, I argue that theoretical frameworks that divide the practical and creative powers of the imagination are ill-equipped to deal with the phenomenon, and we ought to move to a unified approach. I outline a dialectical approach that attempts to solve issues of division while looking toward unification of the imagination, both in our lives and in our sciences. I am devoted to informing and building imaginative approaches in daily life, and so I am also an advocate for engagement in public organizations. I am the current president of the Graduate Studies Student Association at Tulane, which I also have served in other capacities for several years.

In my free time, I like to take walks, hang out with my cats (I have three! Pluto, Mephisto, and Lillith), dig around in my garden, explore the city with my partner and friends, and learn new hobbies! Right now, I’m learning how to paint.

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