About Us

Staff

Michael Bettencourt, Administrative Director - Michael has duties in seven areas: website maintenance, database operations, media relations, materials/publications design, curriculum design, writing/editing, and support for the Executive Director. He is a published writer in several genres including poetry, theatre, journalism, and biography (Guy de Maupassant and Eric Clapton), and is currently pursuing a career in theatre and screenwriting. He has degrees from Harvard College (BA, American History and Literature), Cornell University (MAT, English), and New York University (MFA, Dramatic Writing). He has also had a long career as a teacher, beginning in high school (including three years at the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy) and moving on to adult education, where he has taught courses in basic composition, research, creative writing, and journalism. He can be reached at michael@salvadori.org

Kathryn Slocum, Development Director - Kathryn came to the Center as a consultant in 2001 and officially joined the staff in 2007. She has over 25 years experiences fundraising for educational and cultural institutions, including the Hudson River Museum, Cornell University’s Johnson Museum of Art, Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), the Municipal Art Society, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Recently, she served as project director of a national collaboration between Habitat for Humanity and the Institute of Classical Architecture, matching up architects with Habitat affiliates throughout the country in an effort to raise the design quality of affordable housing. Kathryn serves on the boards of the Lower Hudson Conference of Historical Agencies & Museums and Jazz Forum Arts. She can be reached at kathryn@salvadori.org.

Hillary spector, Office Manager - Hillary handles the day-to-day operations of the Center, which range from the mundane (e.g., ordering supplies) to the ever-constant, such as coördinating mailings, keeping track of accounts, sending out product orders, and managing the Professional Development Institutes in the summer. She is also a choreographer, director, performer, and teacher of movement. Working in the U.S. and in France, she has had the opportunities to be involved in experimental and classical theater and opera projects. Her past work includes a residency at Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center, working at the Public Theatre, P.S. 122, Classic Theater Co., SoHo Rep, Danspace at St. Mark’s, Tivoli Theatre in Copenhagen and various theaters in France. Hillary is currently Co-Artistic Director of Nomad Theatrical Company with Grant Neale, and was Artistic Director of Red Poppy Theater in New York City (both movement theater companies). She is a past member of the Women’s Project & Productions Directors Lab and the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and is a member of Actors Equity Association and the American Guild of Musical Artists. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Theater from California Institute of the Arts. She can be reached at hillary@salvadori.org.

Pat Shuford, Educator - Since graduating from Pratt Institute, Pat worked several years in the public and private sector, grooming her skills in the area of project management. In this capacity, Pat has been the University Architect at Queens College (CUNY) as well as the Assistant Vice Director of Architecture and Planning at the Brooklyn Museum. In addition, she has managed several multi-million dollar projects at Battery Park City and O’Brien-Kreitzberg & Associates. In her hometown of Baltimore, MD, Pat taught mathematics for grades 7, 8 and 9. She enjoys sharing real project-related experiences with students about the NYC projects she has managed. Her extensive knowledge of and interest in the history of Harlem have served as a great resource for the Center and its students. Pat is the recipient of the prestigious AIA (American Institute of Architects) Institute Scholars Award and a former editor of the Research & Design Quarterly Journal at the AIA Research Corporation. Pat has been with the center since 1998. She can be reached at pat@salvadori.org

Hiro Komatsubara, Educator - Hiro received his BA in Mathematics (1996) and MA in Pure Mathematics (2003) from Hunter College of CUNY. Before he started working at the Center in 2007, he taught mathematics in various colleges for 10 years, and also taught dual enrollment programs in public high schools. It has become clear to him that the deficiencies of college students are the result of their lack of a solid math education in elementary and secondary school, and he is confident that he can help alleviate these deficiencies through working with the Center’s project-based approach. He enjoys spending time with his beloved daughter Hanamizuki and running long-distance races. He is currently pursuing a PhD degree in Urban Education in the Graduate Center of CUNY. He can be reached at hiro@salvadori.org

Jacob Okolo, Educator - Jacob taught in the New York State Public schools for over ten years before joining us at Salvadori. He has two permanent teaching licenses, one in Technology Education and the other in Art Education. Jacob is presently an Adjunct Professor in the Art department of the City College of New York, CUNY. Jacob studied Art and Architecture at the City College of New York, obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in sculpture and a Master of Arts degree in education. Outside his professional work Jacob holds a Sixth Degree Black Belt in Tae kwon do (a Korean Martial Arts) in which he is an Instructor, Examiner, and International Umpire. He enjoys playing soccer, furniture designing, and exploring New York City with his son and daughter. He can be reached at jacob@salvadori.org

Alan Feigenberg, Educator - Alan was the first of Mario's students at Columbia to head with him into a classroom in East Harlem in the 1970's, and soon afterwards help establish the Salvadori Center at the City College of New York. He went on to become a Professor of Architecture at the City College, while continuing to collaborate with Mario on workshops for New York City students and teachers throughout the five boroughs. Alan also holds an appointment as an Affiliate Professor of Environmental Psychology at CUNY's Graduate center.

Alan developed an architecture elective “Teaching Architecture,” through which architecture and landscape architecture students develop an understanding of using the built environment as a source for integrated learning. Through this course Alan has attracted numerous students over the last 25 years to work through and with the Center in their outreach. Alan effectively works in collaboration with the Salvadori staff in developing and facilitating the Center’s Summer Institute, and the annual Student Design Charrette.

When away from his office(s) Alan takes time to photograph the patterns of his surroundings and has had his work shown in numerous photography exhibitions.

Grégory Guerrier, Educator - Grégory Guerrier received a Bachelor of Science (1998) as well as a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering (2003) from City College of New York. Grégory has been a consultant for the Center since February 2006. He utilizes his passion for engineering and his love for educating young people when teaching abstract concepts of mathematics and physics in K through 12 classrooms. He would like to see the inclusion of more built-environment education in traditional school curricula because he believes that a solid understanding of the literal mechanics of how societies work is crucial to understanding how societies work on the social, political, and economic levels. When not teaching, Grégory enjoys spending time with his young son, Gregor, riding his bike, and playing basketball. gregory@salvadori.org

Terence Harper, Educator - Terence attended The School Architecture at City College of New York, CUNY (1984-1989) where he earned the BS and BArch degrees. He jointly attended the National Academy Museum, School of Fine Art, and there studied painting with Ron Scherr and Furman Finck. Terence has worked for several architectural firms in his career and has been a designer on major projects like the United Nations Pavilion for the Taejon Scientific Exposition 1993 for Shuttleworth Architects. He has also been a designer (1994-1999) on numerous school renovation and building projects across Long Island, New Jersey, and New York for Thomas Associates Architects and Engineers, who specialize in School and College Architecture. His professional interest is in Residential and Hospitality Architecture. He enjoys painting and fun learning activities with his young son. terence@salvadori.org

Francis Osei, Educator - Born in London and raised in Ghana, West Africa, Francis received a Bachelor of Architecture from City College of New York, CUNY. He taught mathematics in the New York City public school system from 1996 to 2000 and in the Port Chester-Rye School District from 2000 to 2003. Since 2003, Francis has been a consultant for the Salvadori Center. His speciality, for which he has been congratulated many times, is getting children to readily and quickly grasp abstract math concepts through very concrete educational activities. When not engaging students with hands-on built environment projects, he sells real estates and renovates buildings. Francis enjoys traveling and spending time with his family. francis@salvadori.org

Lita Riddock, Educator - Prior to joining the Salvadori Center in the summer of 2004, Lita worked at a variety of architecture firms in the tri-state area focusing on construction management for socially responsible projects including the Long Island Children's Museum in Garden City, NY. A Columbia University graduate and Harlem gal - born and raised - Lita was bitten by the education bug and has gotten a lot of joy in sharing her knowledge of architecture with elementary through high school age students in New York City schools and in museum education programs throughout the city. One such program, completed in 2006, was titled Neighborhood Explorers, in which students from three neighborhood middle schools - The Young Women's Leadership School, The Tito Puente Performing Arts Academy, and the Manhattan Institute for Academics and Visual Arts - present their solutions to what has often been considered an unsafe and unattractive barrier across the middle of the neighborhood: the Park Avenue railroad viaduct. (Read about a description of the project -- it will open a new window.) lita@salvadori.org

Wendy Wells, Educator - Wendy is a professional in the arts management and education field. She has over 25 years of extensive experience in all areas of curriculum and program management and design, implementation, and hands-on classroom teaching. Past projects include after school programs for children and teens; in-school art programs to support the core curriculum; working with special populations, often underserved, such as special needs children, homeless and abused children and youth; and conducting professional development and training workshops for other educators and teachers. She is a published author in a national school arts magazine and a guest lecturer for associations such as the NAEA. She is the founder and past executive director of an arts education organization in Virginia, the Bay School Cultural Arts Center. In addition to her work with the Salvadori Center she conducts research and professional development through her business, Creative Interface Consulting. Local affiliations include Central Park Conservancy, Museum of Arts & Design, Brooklyn Artists Gym, and the Museum of Modern Art. wendy@salvadori.org

Insights International, Web Development and Videographers - Ann Michel and Phil Wilde have been working with the Salvadori Center for more than ten years. At the age of 88, Mario invited them to record his work in the classroom. To date, the Insights team has captured over 100 hours in the Salvadori classroom, for distribution in video and on the Web as well as helped develop the online curriculum material of the Salvadori Center. When they're not making films for Salvadori or other non-profits, they tend to their seven polo horses at their farm upstate. http://www.electronranch.com (This will open a new window.)

Sunnywood Designs, Web Host - Sunnywood Designs is a virtual media production company. We design, build, and host web sites. We produce print and online graphic art. We develop interactive media. And we manage projects, large and small. We choose to build creatively, constructively, and with purpose for our clients, ourselves, and our community. This fundamental philosophy is born from a sense of place that permeates our approach not just to business, but life entirely. We have passions for art, engineering, and sustainability (among others). This leads us to work particularly within the world of renewable energy and green building, but generally with companies that express environmental responsiveness or enliven our local community of Ithaca, New York. It also makes us maddeningly attentive to detail and sincerely interested in the success of our clients. If you would like to discuss your project, please contact us. We also have details available on our web hosting options. We can be reached at http://www.sunnywood-designs.com (this will open a new window) or info@sunnywood-designs.com