Our Faculty

Our faculty is listed below in alphabetical order.

Taylor Beck

Taylor Beck is a journalist and a former neuroscience researcher. He holds a BA from Princeton in neuroscience, an MS from MIT, and an MA from NYU Journalism School. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The L.A. Review of Books, and other publications. His research on memory, sleep and dreaming contributed to labs at Princeton, Washington University in St. Louis, and one in Kyoto, Japan, & appeared in the journals Science, Neuron, & Cognition. Taylor’s essays have won writing residencies at Banff Center for the Arts and the Templeton Foundation’s summer institute Diverse Intelligences, in St. Andrews, Scotland, where he collaborates with AI researchers, developmental psychologists, animal scientists, & writers interested in how minds work, from octopus to robot to child.

Mark Berger

Mark Berger received his PhD in Philosophy from Columbia University in 2015. His research focuses on the intersection of ethics and political philosophy, most especially concerning the rationality of political action and value pluralism. He has taught the history of philosophy and intellectual history at Columbia University. Most recently he taught literature, history, and philosophy at the University of Chicago. In his spare time, he mostly pets dogs and reads the same three books to a toddler.

Julio Bernard

Julio is a seasoned software developer and product manager with several years of experience training and mentoring students to become young developers. Julio manages the Apprentice 100 program in New Haven where he has trained over 200 apprentices at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels. He has led teams to in developing software products and has worked to foster tech talent with Connecticut’s Tech Talent Advisory Committee. He is excited to support Pierrepont students in conceiving, developing and building computer platforms. Julio is a graduate of SCSU and will be teaching Computer Science.

Justine F. Chen

Justine has been commissioned and performed by New York City Opera, New York City Ballet, The Juilliard School, NYFOS, Long Leaf Opera, and Washington Ballet. Her early training in ballet, violin, composition, and theater, has influenced her towards artistic collaborations. On her work presented by Juilliard’s Dance Division, the New York Times wrote, “Chen… blended popular dance rhythms into the kind of propulsive, emotionally resonant score that choreographers tend to dream of.” Her first opera, The Maiden Tower, was presented at Juilliard, NYCO’s VOX 2006 Showcase, and by Chants Libres. Her opera Jeanne, featured in VOX 2008, was described as “lyrical, atmospheric… striking… Throughout, Ms. Chen balances despair and humor.” (NYTimes). As a violinist, she has performed internationally and specializes in contemporary music. She received her DMA in composition from Juilliard in 2005. She earned her BM and MM in violin and composition from Juilliard. She is presently working on a full-length opera based on the life of Alan Turing, commissioned by American Lyric Theater. Recent activities include being awarded a grant from the Jerome Fund for New Music and an appearance on WNYC’s Studio 360.

Dorian Dean

Dorian Dean (they/them) is an artist and educator who sees art and education as tools for social change, connection, and empowerment. They hold a BFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, and an MFA in Painting and Drawing and Certificate in Book Arts from the University of Iowa. Dorian’s artistic practice explores the relationships between objects, language, the body, and everyday life. Their work has been exhibited nationally and published in Brink Literary Journal. Dorian also engages in curatorial and collaborative projects, including work with the Times Club at Prairie Lights Bookstore and Public Space One in Iowa City. Dorian has been teaching for 20 years and has taught and developed curricula for the Baltimore Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Barnes Foundation, as well as schools and community arts programs in Baltimore and Philadelphia. At Pierrepont, Dorian works primarily with our Lower School students, nurturing their innate passions for artistic expression and helping them build toward greater understanding and more complex practice as artists. Outside of the classroom and the studio, Dorian enjoys yoga, dancing, being outdoors, and exploring New Haven.

Peniel Dimberu

Peniel Dimberu is a scientist and writer who has been part of the Pierrepont community ever since he was studying for his doctorate in Immunobiology at Yale University. While at Yale, his graduate research was focused on infectious disease and the mechanisms by which cells alert the immune system when they have been infected. His work has been published in such peer-reviewed scientific journals as Journal of Virology, Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, Journal of Immunology, and Immunity. During his graduate education, Peniel earned several awards and fellowships including the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health, the Anna Fuller Fellowship in Cancer Research from the Yale University Cancer Center, and an honorable mention for the Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Peniel continues to pursue his scholarly interests as a member of the New York Academy of Sciences and a member of the Biotech/Medical Advisory Board of the Lifeboat Foundation. He is also a former science writer for the science news website Singularity Hub as well as a former science columnist for the Yale Daily News. As an educator, Peniel believes that making science and its discoveries accessible to non-scientists is critical for the technology-driven world we live in today. When it comes to leisurely pursuits, Peniel enjoys a wide range of hobbies including snowboarding, scuba diving, and adventurous travel.

Marya Fisher

Marya Fisher recently received her PhD in Classical Art and Archaeology from the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU. Marya also holds an MA in Art and Archaeology from NYU, as well as an AB in Classics from Princeton University. She has taught at NYU and Vassar College and has tutored students at the high school and college levels. She is teaching Classics at Pierrepont. Her scholarly interests include the languages and history of the ancient world, archaeology and architecture. When she’s not teaching, Marya enjoys exploring her native New York City, baking and traveling to archaeological sites around the world.

Kevin Ford

Kevin Ford received his BFA in Painting with a minor in Art History from Boston University and his MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University. He has had solo exhibitions at 12.26 Gallery, Dallas, TX, Galerie Semiose, Paris, FR, Kate Werble Gallery, NY, NY, Tops Gallery, Memphis, TN, and at MARCH, NY, NY. Kevin’s work has also been included in group exhibitions at Reyes Finn, MI, The Center for Maine Contemporary Art, ME, Inman Gallery, TX, Casey Kaplan Gallery, NY, The Islip Art Museum, NY, Tops Gallery, TN, and elsewhere. His work has also been featured in V Magazine, included in the book Artists II, and has been reviewed in Artforum, The New York Times and other publications. In addition to his role at Pierrepont, Kevin has been teaching art at various institutions including the Pratt Institute, Lehman College, and Fairfield University for the past 18 years in a variety of subjects ranging from drawing, painting, and printmaking to sculpture, two-dimensional design, and color theory. 

Sofia Gans 

After receiving a BA in Art History and French from Vassar College, Sofia completed an MA, MPhil, and PhD in Art History at Columbia University. Her dissertation centered on the production and use of brass objects in fifteenth and sixteenth century Nuremberg, Germany, revealing new perspectives on artistic identity in the Northern Renaissance. Her research interests include more broadly the intersection of science, religion, and political and economic history with art making. She looks forward to bringing close observation of objects alongside texts to the history classroom. In addition to her academic work and experience teaching undergraduates at Columbia, Sofia has been an educator for diverse audiences at the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 2010. In her free time, Sofia enjoys cooking, hiking, travel, and watching movies with her husband and dog.

Amelia Greene

Amelia Greene (she/her) joined Pierrepont in 2018 as a member of the English department. Previously, she taught in the English Departments at Brooklyn College and Queens College while completing her doctorate at CUNY, The Graduate Center. Her work can be found in Essays in Romanticism, Modern Language Studies, and sundry other publications. Prior to the PhD, she received her Master’s from the University from Oxford and a BA in English, Anthropology, and Dance from Barnard College. Currently, Amelia serves as the Head of Curriculum for the Upper School at Pierrepont while continuing to teach in the English department. She lives in Woodbridge with her partner, two daughters, and one perfect dog.

Jamal Jackson

Jamal Jackson was born in Brooklyn, New York and began his formal studies of movement with the Harlem based Batoto Yetu Dance Company. His pursuit of dance led him to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where he received the Weston Award for his contribution to the Fusion Dance Company and New Works/ World Traditions African Dance Company from 1996-2000. Jamal studied with Michelle Bach-Coulibaly, Seydou Coulibaly, and Fred Benjamin and worked under M’ba Coulibaly, Salimata Soumare from Kelete Dance Theatre, and Ba Issa Diallo, director of Troupe District du Bamako in Mali, West Africa. Jamal choreographed for the New York Arts Festival and Inaya Day in 2002, marking the beginning of his African based, modern technique. Jamal performed with Ballet International Africans for two seasons as a principal dancer and in 2004 he founded the Jamal Jackson Dance Company. Jamal Jackson Dance Company has established a strong presence in and out of New York City, performing year round in festivals, self-produced shows, community outreach programs and private events. The company’s work has been presented at venues including: Mark Morris Dance Center, Jacob’s Pillow, NYC Summerstage Concert Series, DanceNow Festival, Dance Theater Workshop, Battery Downtown Dance Festival, Brown University, The Brooklyn Museum, Equality Now’s 20th Anniversary, Big Range Festival in Austin, TX, The Yard in Martha’s Vineyard, MA, Performance Spaces for the 21st Century in Chatham, NY, GSUSA National Convention in Salt Lake City, and Abundance 2016 in Karlstad, Sweden.

Eddie Kim

Eddie Kim is a playwright, sound designer, and director who has been at Pierrepont since 2003. He is a graduate of Amherst College, and he is the founder of EK Theater, a video game puppetry troupe. The company’s mission is to re-tell classical stories through live acts of video game puppetry. The New York Times has called his work “an impressive feat of engineering, coordination, and storytelling.” He has performed at venues including the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA and has participated in film festivals and given workshops in the United States, Taiwan and the U.K.. He has directed over 10 Shakespearean productions at Pierrepont, and his homeroom, 1A, houses the most coveted lockers in the school.

Bruce M. King

Bruce earned a B.A., M.A., and PhD. in Classical Languages and Literature from the University of Chicago and has been teaching ancient languages, history, and philosophy at the Pierrepont School since 2011. He also teaches at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study, NYU, and is a member of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. Before coming to Pierrepont, he taught at the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Vassar College, where he was the Blegen Research Fellow (2005-6); he has also been a Fellow of the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington DC (2005), of the Reid Hall Institute for Scholars in Paris (2007), and of the T. S. Eliot House in Gloucester (2019, 2021). Bruce has given invited lectures in NYC, Siracusa (Sicily), Ithaka (Greece), Salzburg, the University of Chicago, Cambridge University, and Rutgers University. He has published articles on Homer, Sophocles, pre-Socratic philosophy and its reception, and ancient melancholia; his first published poem, “An Argument with Apollo,” recently appeared in the journal Late Light.  Bruce has also co-edited a collection of essays that focus on the interpretative intersections between Classics and the social sciences, entitled Thinking the Greeks (Routledge, 2019). His book on the Iliad, entitled Achilles Unheroic, is forthcoming in 2022. Future research will focus on the philosophical, religious, and political revolutions of Magna Graecia in the archaic and classical periods.

Joy Lu

Joy holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University, an MA in Ethnomusicology from the University of Sheffield, UK, and a  BFA in erhu (2-string Chinese fiddle) and music education from National Taiwan Normal University. Her research interests include music, gender, national politics, and ethnic identity in Taiwan and China. Joy was awarded several prizes in erhu performance in Taiwan. She has published a music textbook, erhu music scores, and erhu music CDs that have been distributed in Taiwan and China. Besides teaching Mandarin Chinese at Pierrepont, Joy maintains an active musical life by directing the Chinese Music Ensemble at Wesleyan University and Smith College. She is often invited by schools, communities, and institutions to perform and introduce Chinese and Taiwanese music. In her free time, Joy enjoys traveling, listening to and playing music, learning new musical instruments, coding, reading Japanese comic books, and watching Korean dramas.

Aaron Mesa

Aaron Mesa (they/them) is a math teacher at Pierrepont. They received their BA from Yale in Math and Education where they conducted original research on fractals and math identity. As a teacher, they focus on bringing students into the discovery process and making sure they understand why the math they are learning is true. Outside of school, you can find them reading, scootering, or engaging people in (hopefully friendly) arguments.

Hannah Morriss

Hannah Morriss began teaching at Pierrepont in 2021, but she has been a part of the community since she was eight years old. After graduating from Pierrepont in 2017, she completed a B.A. in Classics at Smith College and was awarded twice for her excellence by the college’s Department of Classical Studies. She currently teaches middle and high school students and delights in the task of fostering their fascination with the classical languages and culture. Hannah is an avid reader, writer, and translator, with particular interests in epic poetry, the characterization of women in the classical era, and the Julio-Claudians.

Timothy Morriss

Timothy Morriss can say that he has taught K-12 while at Pierrepont, though these days he is normally teaching middle and high school students.  He leads students into the two year course in American history, European history, and recent classes in Renaissance and Enlightenment history.  He holds an M.Phil and PhD from Yale where he studied American religious history and was a teaching fellow in the history and religious studies departments.  He especially loves cultural and social history and the chance to read primary texts with students.  He aims for wit, but too often falls short.

Liam O’Rourke

Liam O’Rourke has been teaching at Pierrepont School since 2003. He received his BA from Amherst College where he was a double major in English and Theater & Dance. His writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books and the Indiana Review; he was also a contributor to Open the Door: How to Excite Young People About Poetry co-published by the Poetry Foundation and McSweeney’s. Prior to teaching at Pierrepont, he has worked as a bookseller, museum intern, stage manager, wardrobe assistant for some of New York City’s greatest drag queens, costume designer, and both administrative assistant and teacher at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, NY. When not at Pierrepont, Liam spends much of his time living/care-taking on Staten Island at the Alice Austen House, a museum and historic home of Alice Austen, one of America’s first and most prolific female photographers.

J Phillips

J is originally from Salt Lake City. He attended Deep Springs College, a 2-year, 26-student school on a ranch in the California desert. As part of the school’s education is a labor program in which students take on jobs related to the running of the ranch. Among J’s responsibilities were one semester as feed man for the school’s livestock and another as assistant to the mechanic. After Deep Springs, he completed his degree at Stanford University. During this time, he began working for a construction company, building high-end homes for residents of Silicon Valley. After this, J moved to Cusco, Peru to work as an English teacher.

Daniel Schwartzberg

Daniel grew up in New Hampshire, where he developed a love for theatre and Latin, dual passions which led him to pursue and earn his BFA in Musical Theatre, with a minor in Latin, at the University of Michigan. Since graduating, Daniel has performed nationally, and has taught students of all ages in the areas of Latin; theatre; and the use of consumer technology. He’s excited to be joining the Pierrepont community this year as a new faculty member in the Classics department. In addition to teaching, Daniel enjoys cooking new recipes; listening to podcasts and audiobooks (recommendations are always welcome); and laughing with his family.

Jaimasan Sutton

Jaimasan Sutton received a B.S. in Pure Mathematics and Philosophy as well as an M.S. in Statistics at the University of New Mexico. While in college, she tutored Calculus 1 through Calculus 3, and taught an undergraduate course in Statistics. At Pierrepont, Jaimasan works closely with students in Kindergarten through the middle grades. She is also a homeroom teacher for the K-2 classroom. Outside of school, she participates in local theatrical productions and remains on the lookout for opportunities to explore the performing arts.

Taiwo A. Togun

Taiwo Togun stands at the convergence of education, problem-solving, and technical skill cultivation, driven by a fervent passion for marrying these critical elements. Since joining Pierrepont School in 2012, he has played a pivotal role in developing the Computer Science curriculum, infusing it with a balanced mix of theoretical grounding and practical application. Taiwo’s foundation, rooted in a Ph.D. in Computational Biology & Bioinformatics from Yale and a Master’s in Technology Leadership from Brown University, equips him to nurture educational spaces that are as enriched as they are innovative. 

In the corporate sphere, Taiwo is a co-founder of InclusionBridge, a non-profit organization in workforce development addressing the diversity gap in data science, offering specialized training and internships to underrepresented talent. Prior to that, he established SeqHub Analytics, a consultancy dedicated to aiding companies in harnessing insights from interdisciplinary research, machine learning, and AI. 

His academic and research pursuits find him at the Race, Identity, and Social Environments (RISE) Lab at Brown University’s Department of Cognitive, Linguistics and Psychological Sciences, focusing on understanding the perception of fairness in machine learning algorithms. He is also an Industry Professor at NYU Tandon School of Engineering’s Bioinformatics Master’s program.

Jesse van Buren

Jesse is a theatre artist and educator currently based in Brooklyn, NY. He has been a member of the Pierrepont community since 2012. As a performer, director, playwright, and designer, Jesse’s work has been shown at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club, The Brick Theater, SIGNAL Gallery, and Cloud City, as well as other temporary and DIY spaces. Jesse has a B.A. in Medieval Literature from Reed College and a Master’s in Educational Theatre at New York University’s Steinhardt School.

Nancy Webber

Nancy M. Webber is part of the original Pierrepont team and has been at the school since 1999.  She received a B.A from Boston University and an Ed.M in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University.  While she has taught all ages at Pierrepont, she primarily teaches lower and middle school students. Her work as a teacher gave rise to her 25 year interest in literacy development, reading and writing difficulties and interventions and understanding non-verbal learning differences. She is a certified Lindamood-Bell and Wilson Reading practitioner. Her personal interests include classical, English and African American literature, theater, fund-raising for the Pierrepont Travel Abroad Program.

Jon Williams

Jon has an MA, MPhil, Certificate in Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and PhD from Columbia University, where he held a Marjorie Hope Nicolson Fellowship as a doctoral student in the Department of English and Comparative Literature. His dissertation, Languages of Kingship in Ricardian Britain, concerned a variety of literary and textual genres, such as verse, prose, chronicles, laws, and prophecies in English, Welsh, French, and Latin; a portion of this was published in Palgrave Macmillan’s Cultural Diversity in the British Middle Ages (2008). Jon got his BA from The George Washington University in English, with a minor in history. At George Washington he was a member of the University Honors Program’s Enosinian Scholars Program. Professionally, Jon has worked for Congressman Gary A. Condit (as an intern), the Princeton Review, and Columbia University’s Core Curriculum.  His academic and intellectual interests include the history and development of the English language and its global spread, travel narratives and literatures of boundaries and borders, and written and spoken political discourse. He has taught at Pierrepont School in various capacities since 2009.

Annabelle Wilson

Annabelle Wilson began her teaching career in 2001 at The Children’s School in Stamford, CT after graduating from Bucknell University with a BA in Music. She taught pre-K to grade 2 and served as the Kindergartener Coordinator for seven years before transitioning to New Canaan Country School when her first daughter was born in 2008. At NCCS, Annabelle taught in the 4-5 year old classroom and was the math coordinator and the Diversity Coordinator for the Early Childhood division until she came to Pierrepont in 2015. Here, she currently serves as Head of Lower School, Head of Operations, Head of DEI, and a member of the math department.  In addition to her administrative and teaching roles, Annabelle is in her third year serving on the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools’ Commission on Membership and Accreditation.  In her rare moments of spare time, Annabelle likes to spend them with her husband, two daughters and two dogs, preferably eating something delicious.

Zach Yanes

Zach Yanes received his BA from Amherst College and his MA from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English. He has taught English at Pierrepont since 2017. He loves literature, philosophy, and music, and plays the piano and tenor saxophone.

Nancy Zhang

Nancy Zhang Legere teaches Mandarin Chinese to students in grades 5 through 12 at Pierrepont, where she has been a member of the faculty since 2015. She holds a B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature and French and Francophone Studies from Vassar College and an M.A. in Chinese from Middlebury College, where she focused on Teaching Chinese as a Second Language. She has also had the opportunity to study at Beijing’s Minzu University. For Nancy, one of the most important parts of teaching is building relationships with each of her students, allowing her to bring their interests, experiences, and personalities into the curriculum whenever she can to create opportunities for Chinese language learning to feel relevant, authentic, and personally meaningful. Outside of school, Nancy enjoys hiking, traveling, and eating delicious foods.