Excel Oxford/Tuscany
2007 Staff Bios (return to program page)

Hana Alberts (Resident Advisor, Survival Italian): Harvard University, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, B.A. At Harvard, Hana was a cops reporter and editor for the student-run daily newspaper, a leader of camping trips in New England for incoming freshman, a social planner for her undergraduate dorm, and a light designer for Gilbert & Sullivan productions. She was elected one of eight marshals for the Class of 2006 by her peers. An aspiring writer, Hana has spent summers at the New York Daily News, The New York Sun, and Newsday, and she has freelanced for the New York Times. She spent the winter after graduation backpacking around Asia and teaching English in Taiwan. Hana is currently living in Florence, working as an au pair and interning at the Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza (Institute and Museum of the History of Science). Her guilty pleasures include pop music, dark chocolate, and the movie Love Actually. She is proficient in Italian.

Cory Bernat (Renaissance History, Travel Photography): University of Florida, B.F.A.; San Francisco Art Institute; University of Maryland, M.A. candidate. Cory has studied abroad at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and traveled in numerous European countries and Japan. She has combined her love of visual culture and historical interpretation while leading school groups, photography excursions, and the general public on tours of Alcatraz Island for the National Park Service in San Francisco. She has held educational positions at the San Francisco Art Institute and at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, as well as a digital photography position in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Currently, Cory is a full-time graduate student focused on food culture and history at the University of Maryland in College Park while residing in downtown Washington. She pursues good food, art, design, photography, and history while treasuring her urban wanderings.

Ned Courtemanche (Resident Advisor, Medieval History): Middlebury College, B.A.; Johns Hopkins University, M.L.A. candidate. Ned graduated as a European History major and History of Art and Architecture minor from Middlebury, where he was also a goaltender on the National Championship Lacrosse Team. While at Middlebury, Ned had the opportunity to study modern art at Goldsmiths College in London, England and intern at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. After graduation, he spent a year teaching for the Making Waves Education Program, a non-profit in San Francisco, California that teaches and mentors gifted urban children through after-school programs. Ned currently teaches High School history at the Saint Paul's School in Baltimore, Maryland while taking classes at Johns Hopkins for his Masters in Liberal Arts. In his free time, Ned enjoys playing the piano, cooking and exploring the great museums of the world.

Willa Kammerer (Resident Advisor, Survival Italian): Middlebury College, B.A. candidate. Willa is an Italian major, with a minor in Environmental Studies. She is currently working on her senior thesis, “Olives and Olive Oil in Italian History and Culture,” which combines both disciplines. Before matriculating at Middlebury, Willa lived in Perugia, Italy, where she studied Italian language and culture at the Università per gli Stranieri. She has traveled extensively in Europe, from Romania to Norway, and has both American and Irish citizenship. After her freshman year of college, she attended Middlebury’s summer language school, and spent a semester abroad at the Università di Ferrara during her junior  year. Willa is one of the lone snowboarders on Middlebury’s Snow Bowl Ski Patrol, and a member of The Sunday Night Group, a group of students focused on climate change. She loves hiking, skiing, running, cycling, and yoga.

Tom Kane (Director): Northwestern University, B.S.; American Conservatory Theater, M.F.A. Tom is an educator and theater professional with extensive educational leadership experience. For over twenty years he has worked with teenage actors at the Storm King School in New York, the American Conservatory Theater and the Hamlin School in San Francisco, Camp Laurel in Maine, and the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts. Tom has been directing the Oxford/Tuscany program since 2000; previously he co-directed the theater program at Excel at Williams. Tom is currently the Head of theTheater Department at the Middlesex School where he lives with his wife, Samantha, and daughter, Zoe. This will be his eleventh summer with Excel.

Avram Kline (Creative Writing): Sarah Lawrence College, B.A.; Teachers College, Columbia University, M.A. Avram majored in philosophy and literature at Sarah Lawrence, and spent his junior year at Wadham College, Oxford.  He has worked in New York City public high schools since 1996 as an English and humanities teacher and staff developer.  He is also an adjunct at Pace University.  A grant recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities, New Visions for Public Schools, and the Shakespeare Society, Avram has studied literature, history, and language in France and the Czech Republic. Avram helped found Lyons Community School in Brooklyn, a public 6-12 school that will open in September of 2007.  He has taught creative and expository writing at Excel at Williams College as well as Shakespeare at the Oxford/Tuscany program.  This will be his seventh summer with Excel.

Magnolia Laurie (Drawing and Painting, Art of the Sketch): Mount Holyoke College, B.A.; San Francisco Art Institute, P.B.A.; Maryland Institute College of Art, M.F.A. Magnolia is a multi-media artist whose work has been shown in the United States and abroad. She graduated cum laude from Mount Holyoke College with a double major in Studio Art and Critical Social Thought and was awarded the Ruth E. Warful Award for her senior thesis work in painting. Magnolia worked for three years as a resident faculty member at The Buxton School in Williamstown, MA, where she taught classes in Studio Art and Photography. She has also taught art at the Gateway Arts Center, in Brookline, MA. Magnolia has traveled in Indonesia, Cuba, and Europe, and has spent years living in Puerto Rico. Magnolia currently lives in Baltimore, where she will complete her MFA in the spring. She enjoys traveling, learning, making, and playing. This is her fourth summer with Excel.

Rachel Levin (Administrative Coordinator): Connecticut College, B.A.; Bank Street College of Education, M.S.Ed. Rachel recently completed her Master’s in Museum Education.  Her love of traveling and exploring different cultures has led her on adventures throughout Europe and the Middle East.  Rachel studied Art History, Italian, and Museum Studies at Connecticut College and spent a year teaching and living at St. Stephen’s School in Rome, Italy.  She has extensive experience as a trip leader and residential advisor and currently teaches at The Town School in New York City.  Rachel’s hobbies include hiking, wandering in foreign cities, going to museums, and eating gelato.  Rachel is fluent in Italian and is an alumna of Excel at Amherst College.  This will be her fifth summer with Putney.

Joshua Mann (Archaeology & Classical Studies): Harvard College, A.B. Joshua majored in Classics at Harvard, studying both Greek and Latin with a special interest in ancient Greek tragedy. He captained the Harvard Alpine Ski Team for two years, and was a DJ at WHRB, 95.3 FM in Cambridge. For the past four years, Joshua has been teaching Greek and Latin at the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, where he is also the Head Coach of the Alpine Skiing team and Assistant Coach of the Varsity Baseball team. In his spare time, he has been learning German and trying to pursue his interest in photography. This is his first summer with Excel.

Nicole Nemec (Creative Writing): University of North Texas, B.A., Hollins University, M.A., University of Massachusetts-Amherst, M.F.A. Nicole has taught creative writing, film and the arts at UMass-Amherst, Franklin Pierce College, Mariamante Academy, Storm King School, and Mount Holyoke College. She currently teaches at the UMass-Amherst Honors College, manages the Montague Bookmill and the Bookmill concert series, and works as a book-buyer and business consultant for Quabbin Books. Nicole's poetry and fiction have been published most recently in Conduit and News from The Republic of Letters. She won the Harvey Swados and Andrew James Purdy prizes for fiction, has twice been nominated for Scribner's Best New American Writers anthology, and has received a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant for fiction. She has a book of short stories in search of a publisher, and is working on a book of short-short stories, in search of publishers with short attention spans. Nicole has traveled through West Africa, Europe, Canada, and Southeast Asia. Most recently Nicole has worked the camera at circus shows, and practiced her tennis game and the french horn (yes, simultaneously). Nicole speaks French and this is her second summer with Excel.

Carrie Nordlund (International Relations, World War II History): Gustavus Adolphus College, B.A.; Brown University, M.A; Ph.D. Carrie received her Ph.D. in Political Science; her dissertation examined the relationship between religious institutions and individual political behavior. She continues this line of research inquiry, while also exploring the importance of institutional social networks that can facilitate and influence political participation. She has worked on several political campaigns including a race in the UK, the Rhode Island Gubernatorial race, and the Michigan Coordinated Campaign in 2004. In the latter position she facilitated day-to-day finance operations between the Michigan Democratic Party and the Kerry/Edwards 2004 Presidential campaign. Carrie’s passion for travel has led her most recently to Ethiopia where she explored the ancient ruins in Lalibela in addition to other historic places in Ethiopia. Carrie enjoys reading The New Yorker, eating good food, and is currently training for a marathon. 

Kasia Ozga (Art Through the Ages, Travel Photography): Tufts University, B.A., B.F.A.; School of the Museum of Fine Arts,Boston, D.F.A.; Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow, Poland,M.F.A. Kasia graduated in 2006 with a degree in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, Poland where she had a graduate research fellowship from the Kosciuszko Foundation in New York. As an undergraduate in the combined degree program at Tufts and the Museum School, Kasia studied abroad at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Ozga's paintings, sculptures, and photography have been exhibited in 5 states in the USA and 7 foreign countries. She is currently a Harriet Hale Woolley Grant recipient at the Fondation des Etats-Unis in Paris and a Young Artist Travel Grant Award recipient from the Polish Ministry of Culture. Born in Polandand raised in the Chicago area, Kasia now lives and works in Paris.

Erika Prahl (Assistant Director): Kenyon College, B.A. Erika majored in  Spanish and Italian at Kenyon, where she was a member of the Kenyon  College Chamber Singers and lettered in both Field Hockey and Lacrosse.  She spent two summers working for Case Western Reserve University's  Upward Bound program, most recently as Residential Director. Erika has worked as the Director of Diversity at the Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, and is currently Assistant Director of Admissions and Director of Financial Aid.  Erika also coaches lacrosse, sings karaoke whenever she gets the chance, and consumes sushi frequently and voraciously. Erika has traveled extensively in Italy and Spain and is fluent in Spanish and Italian. This is her fourth summer with Excel.

Lutz Robbers (Art through the Ages, Architecture through the Ages): Universitat Bonn, B.A.; Freie Universitat Berlin, M.A.; Princeton University, Ph.D. candidate. Lutz is currently pursuing his doctorate in Architecture at Princeton, where he is a teaching fellow instructing Princeton undergraduates in architectural theory and history. A citizen of Germany, Lutz is fluent in German, French, and English. He has worked for the Red Cross and Mercedes-Benz in Delmenhorst, Germany, and as an assistant to the editorial staff of several German radio and television companies. He was the founding coordinator of Studentenwerk Bonn, a student housing organization. Lutz enjoys soccer, basketball, running, and windsurfing. He is currently teaching for Columbia University, Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Paris.. This will be Lutz’s eighth summer with Excel.