Our Faculty & Staff
Kerry Barnhart
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Senior Director of Student Affairs
Administration
Kerry Barnhart is a proud alum of Usdan. Here is where she discovered her passion for music and theater as a child, going on to study vocal performance at The George Washington University. After several summers spent in the Usdan administrative office during college, she became part of the year round staff in 2005 as Registrar. Following her work as Registrar, Kerry oversaw student admissions as Director of Admissions, and has now added student affairs and operations as Senior Director of Student Affairs. She is happy to share the magic of Usdan with her son who attends as a student.
Courtney Kassinger
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Transportation Manager
Administration
Courtney Kassinger has spent her summers at Usdan since 2002 when she first attended as a student. She has served as Discovery counselor, transportation staff, and is now Transportation Manager. Courtney is a teacher (and proud alum!) at Harborfields Central School District, teaching band, chorus, and music, as well as director of the annual Variety Show. She is a member of SCMEA and NAfME.
Julio Garcia
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Senior Groundskeeper
Administration
Jillian Greenberg
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Director of Education
Administration
Jillian Greenberg is an artist and educator, and Usdan’s Director of Education. Prior to joining Usdan, Jillian managed Studio In A School’s Artist Residency Program. She has taught visual art in schools, organizations, and museums across New York City. Jillian holds a Master’s in Art Education from Teachers College at Columbia University and an M.F.A. from the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London.
David Schecher
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Dean of Students
Administration
Dave Schecher has been a member of Usdan's staff for over thirty years. He is a trombonist, private music instructor, and retired public school teacher. Mr. Schecher is also the Director of The Long Island Brass Guild.
Olivia Wise
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Manager of Marketing & Communications
Administration
Olivia Wise has worked for arts and culture organizations in and around New York City for 9 years. Formerly Usdan's Admissions Counselor and then Enrollment Coordinator, she brings her knowledge of Usdan's program and enrollment process to her role of Manager of Marketing & Communications. She enjoys being surrounded by young people experiencing the creative process in nature all summer. Olivia holds a B.A. in Urban Studies from The New School.
Motaz Elzalata
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Assistant Controller
Administration
Motaz Elzalata joined Usdan in 2017 and has more than 10 years of experience in Accounting and Finance. He began his career as an Internal Revenue Service Agent in in Alexandria, Egypt. After immigrating to the United States in 2013, he became a tax preparer with the Food Bank of New York and then worked as a Staff Accountant at a payroll consulting company in Midtown Manhattan. Motaz earned a bachelor’s degree in Accounting & Finance from Alexandria University, Egypt where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. He is currently pursuing his CPA license. Motaz resides in Brooklyn with his loving wife, where they are devoted parents to their 3-year-old daughter Nadia and newborn son Zain.
Stella Shepherd
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Donor Relations Coordinator
Administration
Stella Shepherd is originally from London, United Kingdom. She moved to New York to study Musical Theater and graduated from The New School with a BFA in Musical Theater and Liberal Arts. Prior to working at Usdan, Stella worked at a few non-profit Off-Broadway Theater Companies in their Fundraising departments. At Usdan she is the Donor Relations Coordinator and loves visiting the studios in the summer whenever possible.
Lauren Kinane
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Enrollment Coordinator
Administration
Lauren Kinane is a clarinetist, educator, and currently serves as the Enrollment Coordinator at Usdan. Prior to becoming the Enrollment Coordinator, Lauren worked with the Leadership Institute and Supervision team, and she spent four summers as a camper at Usdan. Her summers at Usdan inspired her to pursue her passion for clarinet further. Throughout the year Lauren can be heard performing with the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, and she can be found teaching masterclasses and coaching clarinet sections at schools throughout Long Island. She can also be heard on the Massachusetts Chamber Players' album Frank Martin: Music for Winds. Lauren is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Stony Brook University. She also received her Master of Music from the University of Massachusetts - Amherst and her Bachelor of Music from SUNY Fredonia.
Joe Levy, CVE
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Chief Operating Officer
Administration
Joe Levy joined Usdan’s team in 2021 bringing with him 30 years experience managing, building, and renovating cultural arts organizations, overseeing multi-million dollar operating budgets, extensive physical plant operations, multi-phased construction projects, and safety and security.
Joe’s professional experience includes leading operations and facilities at The National September 11 Memorial & Museum, Harlem’s World Famous Apollo Theater, Kaufman Center, Jack Morton Worldwide, The Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival, and the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Levy was also owner and operator of Radiant Construction; a contracting, construction management, and capital project consultancy committed to green-building practices.
Levy is the current chair of the Venue Safety and Security Committee for IAVM, which serves over 7,000 members worldwide. He received the Chair’s Citation at the 2017 annual IAVM conference and his Certified Venue Executive designation in 2018.
Alice Clancy
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Operations Manager
Administration
Alice first joined Usdan in 2019 as the Festival and Gala Stage Manager. As a child, Alice was a serious saxophone player, and jumped from the pit to the wings in the early years of high school. She continued her study of theater at SUNY Fredonia, graduating with a degree in scenic design. Her nearly 30-year career as a stage and production manager has taken her to Santa Fe, Utah, a million hole-in-the wall theaters in Manhattan, NYU/Tisch School of the Arts, The Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival, and Harlem's World Famous Apollo Theater. She is thrilled to return to her roots of music, playing with tools, and running around in the woods in her first official role in an Operations Department. Alice is the proud mother of three budding artists and engineers, lucky wife of a second career Social Studies teacher, and dedicated student (and soon to be teacher!) of yoga.
Stephen Hodges
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Facilities Manager
Administration
Stephen joined the year-round Usdan staff in April of 2021. He has 30 years experience in construction and maintenance; from the Rebirth of lower Harlem, as a project manager, to a classically trained "chippie" (carpenter) in London England. Stephen is the father of two young men, the eldest of which is a Usdan alum.
Chris Brown
Technical Supervisor
Administration
Lauren Brandt Schloss
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Executive Director
Administration
Lauren Brandt Schloss joined Usdan in 2015. With her appointment, she became Usdan’s third leader in a half century and the first woman to hold the position. Bringing 20+ years experience in arts education, at the Queens Museum, MoMA, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Lauren is committed to ensuring that Usdan is at the forefront of educational and artistic practices. Ms. Schloss earned a B.A. in art history from Princeton University and an M.A. in arts administration from Columbia University.
Lafiya Watson Ramirez
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Marketing and Communications, Consultant
Administration
Lafiya Watson Ramirez is a multidisciplinary artist, web and mixed reality developer, and graphic designer. She began working for Usdan in 2011. Formerly Usdan's Marketing and Communications Coordinator she now brings her talents to Usdan as a consultant. Her work has been used for Vandoren, BET, NPR.org, and countless other publications, websites, and album covers. She has recently begun to pivot to creating Augmented Reality experiences. At the beginning of 2020, she was accepted for the MIT Reality Hackathon and spend a week working with a team to build an AR experience using Nreal glasses. In October 2020, she was chosen for a Snapchat residency and created an AR game based on the game Simon Says. Lafiya continues to work in the realm of Immersive Design focusing on using AR for storytelling in her own work and beyond.
Jodie Embleton
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Art, Department Co-Chair
Art
Jodie Embleton is a visual arts educator who has dedicated her career to bringing art education back to inner-city students. Beginning as a ceramics assistant and kiln technician at Usdan, to teacher, and now co-chair, she has a true passion for inspiring young people. Following work at the Neuberger Museum of Art, Jodie currently teaches visual art in the Copiague School District and co-chairs Usdan’s Art Department.
Hawley Hussey
Year-Round Faculty & Staff, Online Faculty & Staff
Curriculum Specialist
Art
Hawley Hussey is an artist who is working between the visual, the written word, and the performing arts. Throughout her career she has engaged in diverse mediums including painting, printmaking, small press publications, artists books, sculpture and installation. Hawley got her BFA from The University of Massachusetts in Amherst and her MFA from Vermont College of Fine Art where she has presented as Workshop Faculty for the Masters Program in Art and Design Education. Hawley served as Education Coordinator and Director of Contemporary Art Education at BRIC Arts Media and as an Art Education Mentor for the New York State Council on the Arts. Hawley is proudly a co-founder of the arts integrated high school, Bronx Envision Academy and she is also a founding member of the Park Avenue Armory Artists Corps where she remains active as a Teaching Artist. Hawley is a contemporary art education activist engaging recent immigrants and special needs students in immersive art laboratories that she builds and calls the HH:ArtLab.
Hawley has been working as Usdan's Curriculum Specialist since the beginning 2020 and played an integral role in the development of Usdan Online.
Javan Howard
Year-Round Faculty & Staff, Online Faculty & Staff
Writing, Coordinator
Creative Writing
Javan Howard is a poet and writer from the Bronx. He believes that the lived experience is the ultimate teaching tool and uses poetry as a social forum to foster discourse about love, culture, and identity. He currently is the Tap lead mentor for Teaching Artist Project at Community-Word Project. He is also a teacher at Teachers & Writers Collaborative. He has also facilitated for The New York State Office of Children and Family Services, Voices UnBroken, The GO Project, and others. Howard participates in open mic events under the moniker "@RighteousTPoet." His work has been featured online at Black Heart Magazine and Brooklyn Stories Vol. 13. He has read his work at The HBO Shop, The Inspired Word Reading Series, Lamprophonic, The Dead Rabbits Reading Series, and more. Javan joined Usdan's faculty in 2018. For more: www.Javanjhoward.com
Diana Crum
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Dance, Department Chair
Dance
Diana Crum works at the intersection of dance and education. She currently serves as Program Director for Movement Research’s Dance Makers in the Schools and teaches dance in NYC and NJ public schools with ArtsConnection, Brooklyn Arts Council and New Jersey Performing Arts Center. Her choreography has been presented in New York, Atlanta, Mexico, and across Europe. Recent honors and awards include Brooklyn Studios for Dance Artist in Residence position (2018), Su-CASA artist residency (2017), and Foundation for Contemporary Art Emergency Grant (2015). Diana started at Usdan in 2018, where she enjoys dancing in the woods with young people.
Megan Powers
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Discovery, Department Chair
Discovery
Megan Powers is a lifelong Usdanite whose family has been educating at Usdan since the inaugural summer of 1968. She joined the Usdan community as a student in 1996, and since then, has worked as a Counselor in Training and Counselor in the Discovery Department, before proudly stepping into the role of Department Chair in 2017. Megan has her Masters degree in Early Childhood and Childhood Education from Long Island University.
Mark Bligh
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Music, Department Chair
Music
Mark Bligh is the director of the Denton Ave Elementary Band (Herricks UFSD, New Hyde Park, NY) where he teaches winds, brass and percussion for grades 3-5. The Denton Ave Band regularly attends NYSSMA Majors and consistently earns Gold and Gold with Distinction honors.
Mark Bligh is a graduate of the Esther Boyer College of Music at Temple University where he received a Bachelor of Music in Music Education with Honors. He received a Master of Arts from Stony Brook University. Mr. Bligh was published in Scholastic for his contributions in an article entitled, “10 Best Musical Apps for Kids”. Mark has been honored to conduct the Winds, Brass and Percussion sectional for the NYSSMA All-State Symphonic Orchestra. Mark was privileged to conduct the 2018 SCMEA Division 1 Central All-County Band and the 2019 WCSMA All-County Elementary Band. Mr. Bligh has performed with the Long Island Wind Ensemble, Atlantic Wind Symphony, Northwinds Symphonic Band as well as various chamber ensembles. Mark is the current Music Department Chair at Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts where he has worked since 2005.
Jim Incorvaia
Year-Round Faculty & Staff
Theater, Department Chair
Theater
Jim Incorvaia is a producer, actor, director and theater administrator who has been a member of Usdan’s Theater faculty since the summer of 1990. As Theater chairperson, Jim plans and oversees the camp’s summer theatrical season. He works to ensure all our theater students experience what some former campers describe as “the marriage of summer stock and day camp.” After thirty summer seasons, Jim has produced more than two hundred Usdan shows. He has directed a number of events for the camp including the 50th Anniversary Gala concert and Usdan's recent live virtual programs “Under The Lights” and "Usdan Happy Hours.” Jim is the founder of the consultancy group, On Stage Strategies.