University of San Francisco (USF)

Graciela Acedo

Adjunct Professor, Dance

Graciela Acedo started her dance training in Caracas. In 1982, she won a government scholarship to study at the Boston Ballet. In 1983, she was awarded a scholarship from Harkness Ballet to work with Eleonora Dantuono. In 2005 she was honored with a grant from University of San Francisco to study pedagogy in Cuba. Her first ballet company was Ballet Teresa Carren directed by Enrique Martinez, where she performed classical ballet. In 1983, she joined Ballet Nuevo Mundo de Caracas, a contemporary ballet company where she was a principal dancer and worked with choreographers such as Judith Jamison, Ulises Dove, John Butler, Gustavo Mallajoli, Elisa Monte, Paulo Denubila, Dennis Nahat, Choo San Goh, and Donald Mackayle among others. She traveled to Europe, Asia, South America and the Caribbean. Graciela performed with Oakland Ballet and has been a guest artist with the Margaret Wingrove Dance Company, Pacific Dance Theater of SF, Western Ballet, and Peninsula Ballet Theater among others. Her vast teaching experience includes Oakland Ballet, University of Nebraska, Diablo Ballet, San Francisco School of the Arts (SOTA), Pacific Dance Theater of San Francisco (Assistant director to the summer programs), Teen Dance Company, Ballet San Jose, San Francisco Dance Center, Western Ballet (Associate Director 1998-2003) among others. She has guest taught at America's Ballet in FL, in Venezuela and in Costa Rica.

Tel:415-422-2072
camperia@usfca.edu

Alexandra Amati-Camperi

Department Chair, Professor, Music

Alexandra's interests include the Italian Renaissance, especially the madrigal, Italian opera, Feminist criticism, Romantic piano music, and German Baroque choral music. She has published and read papers on Renaissance, operatic, and gender related topics in several journals and conferences. Her book, Philippe Verdelot: Madrigali a sei voci, was published in 2004. The critical edition of Rossini's 1810 one-act farsa La cambiale di matrimonio for Baerenreiter Verlag is in the editing stages, and she is now working on a book about the presentation and treatment of women in opera, as seen through a few settings of the Orpheus myth, tentatively titled Euridice: The Evolution of the Mythical and Musical Other. An article on the castrati in feminine roles and one on the first operatic heroines have recently been published. She has served on the Council of the American Musicological Society, as the President of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Bach Choir, the Chair of the Artistic Advisory Committee of the San Francisco Boys Chorus, and on the Board of Directors of the Lycée Français Lapérouse. She is a professional program annotator and pre-concert lecturer for many Bay Area organizations, including the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Opera and its six Bay Area Guilds, the San Francisco Bach Choir, the San Francisco Boys Chorus, Philharmonia Baroque, and others.

Tel:415-422-3888
nbangoura@usfca.edu

Naby Bangoura

Adjunct Professor, Dance

Naby Bangoura is the founder and director of Allah nun Sabui, a dance performance group, and a member of Kemoko Sano's Les Merveilles de Guinee, a professional dance company, in which he has toured Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and the United States. He has been performing and teaching West African Dance-Guinea Style in dance studios and workshops all over the United States. In addition to many professional dance performances, Naby has been performing in schools and at community events throughout the Bay Area.

Tel:415-422-3888
smbauer@usfca.edu

Susan Bauer

Adjunct Professor, Dance

Susan Bauer is a dance/somatics educator who has taught in both college and community settings for the past 20 years, informed by her extensive background in contemporary dance, Authentic Movement, Body-Mind Centering (TM), and dance anthropology. As a recent Fulbright Scholar to Bali, Indonesia, she has performed in numerous intercultural collaborations in dance and topeng (masked dance) in both the U.S. and Asia, including the International Bali Arts Festival in 2001. In 2009, she co-led a tour to Indonesia in the Arts and Spirituality of Bali through the Public Programs division at CIIS. Susan is also the author of A Body-Mind Approach to Movement Education for Adolescents, which presents her unique curriculum in Experiential Anatomy for teens. In addition to teaching at USF, she is also Adjunct Faculty at CIIS and JFKU.

Tel:415-422-2721
cburgoyne@usfca.edu

Carolyn Burgoyne

Adjunct Professor, Music

Received her M.F.A. from the University of California, Davis. Her areas of interest are American Standards and Musical Theatre.

Tel:415-422-3888
bhcheng@usfca.edu

Brenton Cheng

Adjunct Professor, Dance, Theater

Brenton Cheng (CLMA, CMT-SE, MSME) is a teacher, director, and performer of improvised and choreographed work, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. As a teacher, he empowers students to become sophisticated movers through a cultivation of somatic and poetic awarenesses, as well as fostering a capacity for surrender. In addition to USF, he serves on the faculty at Moving On Center, in Oakland, and also teaches performance workshops in France and Russia.

Tel:415-422-2721
dedandrea@usfca.edu

Daria D'Andrea

Adjunct Professor, Music

Daria D'Andrea lives in San Francisco where she performs with both 'period' and modern ensembles. Daria studied in Oxford, England with noted pedagogue Kato Havas, was a student of Isadore Tinkleman and Paul Hersh at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and worked with Al Faruolo, a Karen Tuttle student, at Reed College for undergraduate studies. Daria has been Professor of Violin and Viola at the University of San Francisco. She has also worked with 2nd-12th graders at the San Francisco Waldorf Schools as well as teaching privately. Prof. D'Andrea has been a clinician, most recently giving a clinic on baroque bowing and style to high school string players. In 2007 and 2008 she directed the Viola Master Class at the University of the Pacific's summer music camp. Daria plays with the San Francisco Opera Center Orchestra and is a member of the Sacramento Philharmonic and the California Symphony. Daria has also performed with the San Jose, Napa Valley, Oakland East Bay, Modesto, Monterey County, and Santa Cruz Symphonies and with the Sacramento Opera and Ballet orchestras. As a baroque specialist on violin and viola, Daria has performed with outstanding early music ensembles including American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque, Magnificat, Jubilate, San Francisco Bach Choir, City Concert Opera and Trinity Consort (Portland, OR). While living in Oxford, England, Daria toured Europe extensively with the European Community Baroque Orchestra. She has performed solo recitals with fortepiano, exploring solo and chamber literature of the late 18th century in particular. As a chamber musician, she plays with Ensemble Miramar, a flute, harp and viola trio and with the Metropolitan Quartet, a string quartet.

Tel:415-422-3888
asdowling@usfca.edu

Amie Dowling

Coordinator, Dance Program, Assistant Professor, Dance

Amie will be on sabbatical until Fall 2013.

Tel:415-422-3888
duke@usfca.edu

Jerry Duke

Adjunct Professor, Dance

Jerry Duke is Professor Emeritus and former Coordinator of Dance Studies at SFSU where he taught dance ethnology and history. He holds the Ph.D. in Dance Research, Texas Woman's U.; M.A. in Dance Ethnology & Folklore, UCLA; and the M.A. in Dance, Florida State U. He has done additional graduate work in Anthropology and Ethnomusicology at UC Berkeley, U. of Washington and San Francisco State U. He has researched dance and ritual in North American, Europe, Taiwan, and New Zealand and served as president of the international Congress on Research in Dance. Dr. Duke's choreographies have been performed at many major theaters and he has produced three dance specials for PBS, three articles for the "International Dance Encyclopedia", and three booklets, "Appalachian Clog Dance," "Dances of the Cajuns," and "Recreational Dance." He has taught at USF since 1988.

Tel:415-422-3888
khfaulkner@usfca.edu

Katie Faulkner

Adjunct Professor, Dance

Originally from North Carolina, Katie Faulkner received her MFA in dance performance & choreography from Mills College in 2002. Since graduating from Mills, Faulkner has performed the works of Bill T. Jones, Randee Paufve, Stephen Petronio, June Watanabe, Victoria Marks, Abigail Hosein, Kim Epifano, and Ann Carlson. She has worked with several of these choreographers as a dancer with AXIS Dance Company, with whom she performed both locally and nationally from 2003-2007. She has enjoyed teaching students of all ages and abilities around the country and at institutions such as Santa Clara University, Marin Ballet, LINES Ballet BFA program, UC Berkeley, Mills College, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, and she is currently on faculty at the University of San Francisco, and ODC.Since founding little seismic dance company in 2006, Faulkner's choreographic and film work have received support in the form of numerous commissions, residencies, and awards, including support from: The Zellerbach Family Foundation, Theater Bay Area CA$H, Rainin Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, the Shawl-Anderson Dance Center AIR Program, the Djerassi Resident Artist Program, the Marin Headlands Center for the Arts, the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography, and she was in residence at ODC Theater from 2009-2011. She has received Isadora Duncan Dance Award (Izzies) for Outstanding Achievement in Choreography and Performance as well as nominations in the categories of Music/Text/Sound and Visual Design. She received a Special Isadora Duncan Dance Award with collaborator Benjamin Goldman for her 2008 dance film, LOOM. In 2011 she received the top prize for her duet "Until We Know for Sure" in the Joyce Theater A.W.A.R.D. Show!/San Francisco competition as well as the San Francisco Bay Guardian GOLDIE Award (Guardian Outstanding Local Discovery Award) for dance.

Tel:415-422-2721
mcfiorentino@usfca.edu

Mike Fiorentino

Adjunct Professor, Music

Mike Fiorentino is a Bay Area guitarist and violinist since moving from the east coast in 1999, and performs with Dear Liza and Viv. He has shared the stage with Merle Saunders, Blues Traveler, The Spin Doctors, Camper Van Beethoven, and John Hiatt. In addition to teaching music and rock ensemble to Woodside students, he teaches at the Blue Bear School of Music and is on the music board at the University of San Francisco. Most memorable musical experience: Playing "Imagine" on the guitar for His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in 2003.

Tel:415-422-5255
pstojsavljevicflores@usfca.edu

Paul Flores

Adjunct Professor, Theater

Paul Flores is a published playwright and nationally prominent spoken word performer. Raised on the Tijuana/San Diego border, issues of immigration, border experience, and Latino identity are central to his work. A theater artist specializing in hip-hop and bilingual performance, Flores co-wrote "De/Cipher" (2001) and "No Man's Land" (2002) with Marc Bamuthi Joseph, "The Fruitvale Project" (2003) with Elia Arce and "Fear of a Brown Planet" (2005) directed by Tony Garcia. His first international project REPRESENTA! (2007) is a bilingual hip-hop theater project co-commissioned by San Francisco International Arts Festival and La Peña Cultural Center, written and performed with Cuban rapper Julio Cardenas and directed by and jointly researched in Havana with Danny Hoch. REPRESENTA! toured seventeen cities, including Mexico City's Teatro Hugo Arguelles. Flores is also a highly respected youth arts development specialist. He is the co-founder of Youth Speaks, and has worked with youth arts and development organizations all over the nation. Flores continues to develop creative outlets for gang identified and incarcerated youth at San Francisco Youth Guidance Center, and Alameda Juvenile Justice Center as a consultant for the City of Oakland's Measure Y Anti-Violence Campaign. Flores has appeared on Season III and IV of Russell Simmons Presents: Def Poetry Jam on HBO, and has performed at over two hundred high schools and universities across the United States. He is currently the San Francisco International Arts Festival playwright in residence and teaches Hip-Hop Theater at USF. Flores holds an MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and has twice been awarded the National Performance Network Creation Fund and the Center for Cultural Innovation Individual Artist Grant.

Tel:415-422-3888
dsgakovich@usfca.edu

Danica Gakovich

Adjunct Professor, Dance

Danica Sena Gakovich is an internationally known performer and teacher of Flamenco and Spanish dance. She has performed throughout the U.S., Asia, Europe and South America receiving critical acclaim for her work. She is the founder and artistic director of Andanza Spanish Arts company and since 2000 has premiered over 50 original programs/works including the highly acclaimed sold out performance of "Aire y Gracia" at Theater Artaud/ODC in 2008 and "Pergoleto" at Dance Mission Theater in 2009. In 2009 Ms. Gakovich performed at the SF Opera's Opening Night Season Gala celebration at City Hall and was one of the featured performers in Counterpulse's "Performing Diaspora" festival. She appeared as the featured soloist in Kansas City Ballet's 2009 version of "Carmen."

Tel:415-422-2721
gardnerk@usfca.edu

Kara Gardner

Adjunct Professor, Music

Ms. Gardner is the author of the upcoming book "Agnes de Mille on Broadway," written for the Oxford University Press "Broadway Legacies" series.

Tel:415-422-2721
slgarramone@usfca.edu

Suzanne Garramone

Adjunct Professor, Music

Suzanne Garramone has played piano as an accompanist and chamber musician for more than 40 years. She earned her Master's Degree in piano performance from the University of Iowa. Since then, Suzanne has musical-directed and performed hundreds of productions staged by middle schools, colleges and community theatre groups. She co-founded oboe/piano duo Classical Trash with Brenda Schuman-Post. Suzanne is also an original member of squeezebox rock band Those Darn Accordions. She has performed internationally with the group, and has appeared on the American Music Awards telecast, "The Today Show," "Penn &Teller's Sin City Spectacular" and other television shows.

Tel:415-422-2721
jagray2@usfca.edu

Josephine Gray

Adjunct Professor, Music

Josephine started studying the Technique in 1983 in San Francisco to rescue her career as a professional violinist from a debilitating repetitive strain injury. She then completed a 3 year.1600 hour training course. She has also studied the Technique in London and Rome and has a Bachelor's Degree in Music Performance. Josephine recently joined the faculty as Alexander Technique instructor at the Music Department of the University of San Francisco.

Tel:415-422-3888
njgreene@usfca.edu

Natalie Greene

Adjunct Professor, Dance

Natalie Greene is a performer, choreographer and arts educator. She works in modern and jazz dance, musical and physical theatre. Natalie performs with Mary Armentrout, Kim Epifano, Kelly Kemp and Leyya Tawil. Natalie's choreography has appeared in Italy's Montescudaio Amphitheatre, Club Principe in Granada, Spain, and for three funny years in Phoenix's weekly "Farce Side Comedy Hour." Her work has appeared locally at ODC Theater, John Sims Center, the Eureka Theater, Counterpulse and the College of San Mateo. Natalie studied at Jacob's Pillow and holds a BFA from Arizona State University. She currently teaches with SFArtsED, ODC Children's Program, School of the Arts High School and the University of San Francisco. Natalie also loves traveling and making music with her family.

Tel:415-422-2071
varea@usfca.edu

Roberto Gutierrez Varea

Associate Professor, Theater

Roberto Gutiérrez Varea began his career in theater in his native Argentina. His research and creative work focuses on live performance as means of resistance and peacebuilding in the context of social conflict and state violence. Varea's stage work in the United States includes directing premieres of works by Migdalia Cruz, Ariel Dorfman, Cherrié Moraga, and José Rivera, among others. He is the founding artistic director of Soapstone Theatre Company , a collective of male ex-offenders and women survivors of violent crime, and El Teatro Jornalero! , a performance company that brings the voice of Latin American immigrant workers to the stage. Varea is a member of the Steering Committee of Theater Without Borders, and a member of the Artists in Distress Services of freeDimensional. He is a regular contributor to journals in performance and peacebuilding, and is co-editor and co-author of the two-volume anthology "Acting Together: Performance and the Creative Transformation of Conflict" (New Village Press). Varea is co-director of the Center for Latino Studies in the Americas (CELASA) and a founding faculty of the Department of Performing Arts, and the Performing Arts and Social Justice Major at USF.

Tel:415-422-2721
rdharbor@usfca.edu

Ronald Harbor

Adjunct Professor, Music

Rawn Harbor is one of the preeminent African American Catholic liturgists and musicians in the U.S. today. A gifted pianist and composer, he is also a much sought-after workshop facilitator, speaker and liturgist. He serves as an adjunct faculty member and director of liturgy and music at the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley, and adjunct faculty and director of the gospel choir at the University of San Francisco. He studied at Furman University, Howard University, the Catholic University of America, the Catholic Theological Union at Georgetown University and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, where he earned his master's in theological studies in 2001. Currently, Rawn is director of liturgy at St. Columba Catholic Church in Oakland, California.

Tel:415-422-2721
arhayes@usfca.edu

Angela Hayes

Adjunct Professor, Music

Angela is interested in and maintains a career in performing jazz, folk, pop, broadway, opera, and sacred music. She is passionate about performance, music outreach programs, and composing opera for young people. She is equally passionate about helping students nurture and enjoy their own unique voices. In addition to opera performances, Angela can be seen performing with the New World Jazz Ensemble, and as cantor for Saint Ignatius Church.

Tel:415-422-2721
phsu7@usfca.edu

Pattie Hsu

Adjunct Professor, Music

Pattie Hsu is an ethnomusicologist with a recent PhD from UC Berkeley. Her research interests include cultural intersections, musical communities, gender performance, and opera. Dr. Hsu's dissertation project is a performer-centered study on a type of folk opera in Taiwan.

Tel:415-422-5255
shunt@usfca.edu

Stephanie Hunt

Adjunct Professor, Theater

MFA, Acting, American Conservatory TheaterBA, San Francisco State University, Acting EmphasisCharter company member of the Bay Area theatre company, Word for Word. Stephanie has acted in over ten productions with Word for Word, including the first chapter of Oil! by Upton Sinclair and Jury of her Peers by Susan Glaspell. With Word for Word, Stephanie directed Bullet in the Brain and Lady's Dream by Tobias Wolff, which played at the Magic Theatre and toured France. Other acting experience includes work at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Campo Santo, Aurora Theatre, and in New York at La Mama, e.t.c. For two years with Pulp Playhouse, Stephanie performed late-night comedy improv with O-Lan Jones and Micheal McShane at the original Eureka Theater. Before becoming a teacher, Stephanie studied acting with Richard Seyd, Larry Hecht, Jack Fletcher, Amy Freed, and Anna Deavere Smith, and voice for the actor with Virginia Ness-Ray.

Tel:415-422-2721
jslares@usfca.edu

Joseph Lares

Adjunct Professor, Music

Joseph "Joey" Lares is the ensemble director for the USF Dons Pep Band.

Tel:415-422-3888
mrlavigne@usfca.edu

Michelle LaVigne

Adjunct Professor, Dance

Tel:415-422-3888
leeds@usfca.edu

Sharonjean Leeds

Adjunct Professor, Dance

Sharonjean Leeds has taught Beginning Ballet, Intermediate/Advanced Ballet, Intermediate Modern, Dance Exploration, Choreography and Tap at USF since 1973.She has choreographed for the University Dancers, USF's Dance Ensemble and the College Players. She has received 2 awards: the College of Arts and Sciences "Service Award" in 1993; the University's "Distinguished Lecturer Award" in 1995. She earned her B.A. in Theater and Dance at Smith College; danced with Germany's Wuppertal Opera Ballet; earned her M.A. in Dance at UCLA; performed, choreographed and taught for San Francisco Dance Theater for 12 years; and founded her own dance company, DANSFRANCISCO, in the 1980's. In the 1990's she choreographed & performed with "New Shoes, Old Souls,"a company of dancers over 40, which also worked with Mark Morris & Michael Smuin. She guest-performed with Smuin Ballet in 1999. She taught ballet & modern dance throughout the Bay Area for 35 years, most notably at San Francisco Dance Theater, Dancers Workshop in Mill Valley, Redwood Empire Ballet School and was a guest teacher for the California Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance summer workshops. With her husband she established the "Sharonjean & Richard Leeds Dance Scholarship" for a graduating senior at San Francisco's School of the Arts. Recently, she established an endowment to benefit the Dance Department at Smith College, where one of the rehearsal studios was dedicated in her name in 2002.

Tel:415-422-5979
egmaloney@usfca.edu

Ellen G. Maloney

Program Assistant

Tel:415-422-5991
gsmaxson@usfca.edu

Gabe Maxson

Production Manager, Assistant Professor, Theater

Tel:415-422-5255
mtmaxson@usfca.edu

Michelle Maxson

Adjunct Professor, Theater

Tel:415-422-2721
jmay1@usfca.edu

Judith May

Adjunct Professor, Music

Judith May holds a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Music from the Juilliard School in New York City, and a Masters Degree in Somatic Psychology from Antioch University. She has developed a healing art devoted to the unencumbered, free expression of the voice. Judith has been teaching music since 1980, specializing in singing, songwriting and vocal improvisation. An instructor of One Connected Voice she easily demystifies the vocal process. She also helps with basic musicianship, how to read music, chord structure, and finding your way around a keyboard. Judith works with all levels of singers, from professional to those who are afraid to sing, have been told they are tone deaf, or have issues with confidence or self-esteem.

Tel:(415) 422-5255
ftmocanuschendel@usfca.edu

Florentina Mcanu

.

Tel:415-422-3888
cmccarthy@usfca.edu

Cathleen McCarthy

Adjunct Professor, Dance

Cathleen McCarthy received her BFA in Dance from Purchase College. She performed with several dance companies in New York City and the SF Bay Area. She has taught at School of the Arts and has been on faculty at San Francisco State University in the School of Music and Dance for ten years. She has received grants for choreographic projects. The McCarthy Dance Project is her professional ensemble of her former students. She is certified in Pilates and GYROTONIC with her own private practice.

Tel:415-422-6134
jmcdermott@usfca.edu

Joshua McDermott

Technical Director

Tel:415-422-5779
mcwilliams@usfca.edu

Paul McWilliams

Adjunct Professor, Music

Paul McWilliams is happy to continue teaching the Saint Ignatius Mass Choir.

Tel:415-422-3888
mrminer@usfca.edu

Maureen Miner

Adjunct Professor, Dance

Mo Miner recently relocated to the Bay Area from Illinois where she was an Assistant Professor of Dance at Illinois State University. She received her B.S. in Psychology from Western Illinois University and then went on to get her MFA in Dance Performance at the University of Iowa. She has performed with Jennifer Kayle and Company, Shelter Repertory Dance Theatre, Charlotte Adams and Dancers, Duarte Dance Works, Sara Semonis, and in works by Miguel Gutierrez and Lucas Crandall. In the Bay Area she has worked with Project Bandaloop and is currently dancing for Nina Haft and Katie Faulkner's little seismic dance company. Her work has been seen at Bare Bones, the Dance IS Festival, Shotwell Studios, Watchword Press presents The Whole Story, and commissioned by College Preparatory School in Oakland. She also teaches at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley.

Tel:415-422-3888
esnelson@usfca.edu

Eli Nelson

Adjunct Professor, Dance

After receiving a bachelor's degree in composition and choreography from the University of California, Riverside, Eli danced with Heidi Duckler's Collage Dance Theater, Stephanie Gilliland and Dancers, and Lizz Roman and Dancers. An excellent musician and composer, Eli has enhanced the Conservatory's ballet and modern technique classes as a musical accompanist since 2005. He has also composed dance music for a number of works created by Summer Lee Rhatigan on the Conservatory's students, as well as for Trapeze World, Rapt Productions, Company Chaddick, and KT Nelson. As a choreographer, he has created works for the dance department at the University of San Francisco and for the younger dancers in the Conservatory's summer intensive program. He frequently travels and performs with the band Notorious, and has performed with: Thomas Dolby, Sugar Hill Gang, Tiffany, Tone Loc, Howard Jones, George Clinton; and Singers from: Tears for Fears, Motley Crue, English Beat, Living Colour, Dee-Lite, Naked Eyes, Digital Underground, and Twisted Sister.

Tel:415-422-3888
nicely@usfca.edu

Megan Nicely

Assistant Professor, Dance

Megan Nicely is a dancer/choreographer and PhD candidate in Performance Studies at Tisch School of the Arts/NYU. She has performed in the US, UK, and Europe, most recently at the Edinburgh International Festival as a butoh dancer in the Handel opera Admeto, under the direction of Doris Dörrie and Tadashi Endo. Based in the Bay Area for many years, her group Megan Nicely & Company has received grants from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Zellerbach Family Foundation, American Composers Forum, and Theatre Bay Area. She has published in TDR, Performance Research, Contact Quarterly, Dancer Magazine, and In Dance, taught in the Performing Arts and Social Justice program at the University of San Francisco, served on the board of the Field/SF, worked as a non-profit bookkeeper for the Magic Theatre, and recently ended a 2-year stint as Managing Editor for TDR. Her current collaborations involve dance, video, and live sound.

Tel:(415) 422-6251
novakp@usfca.edu

Peter Novak

Vice Provost for Student Life, Professor, Theater

Peter J. Novak received his Ph.D. from Yale University. His areas of interest include acting, american multicultural drama; speech; Shakespeare; theater of the deaf; dramatic literature; theater and social justice; and children's theater.

Tel:415-422-2311
pangarod@usfca.edu

David Pangaro

Director, Presentation Theater, Adjunct Professor, Theater

David Pangaro has been employed by USF since 1984. From 1984-1999, David worked primarily for the USF College Players as their technical director, principal scenic, lighting, and sound designer and occasional stage director at Gill Theater. From 1988-2008, David taught all the tech and theater design courses for Arts & Sciences. In 1998, David was asked to help create the Visual & Performing Arts department, which eventually splintered off to become the present day Performing Arts & Social Justice department. From that point on, David became a full-time staff and adjunct professor for Arts & Sciences. With the imminent closure of Campion Hall and Gill Theater, David worked on the design and build of the LM Studio Theater and the shop, which opened in 2005. In 2008, David moved down the hill to become the Director of Presentation Theater and transferred the teaching of theater tech to the Production Manager, a new faculty position. David currently teaches Appreciation of Theater. David has had an active outside professional career in lighting and scenery. In previous years, he has worked for A.C.T., Duck's Breath Mystery Theater, Asian American Theater, Phoebus Lighting, Minnesota Dance Theater, Brenda Wong Aoki, Champlain Shakespeare Festival, and SF Moving Company. Trade show lighting assignments included many years with Paramount, King World, Jessica McClintock, and Dayton's in Minneapolis. In addition to teaching at USF, David has also taught theater arts to students of all ages , locally at Clarendon Elementary, Lowell High, and Lick-Wilmerding High . He created and operated his own children's theater company/school in Cape Cod previous to moving out west in 1977. David presently resides on a floating home in Sausalito and thinks he has the skills to keep it floating. In his spare time, he likes to kayak and play bass in a rock'n'roll band.

Tel:
jlpolyocan@usfca.edu

Jennifer Polyocan

Adjunct Professor, Dance

Jennifer received her training at the School of American Ballet and with Nancy Bielski at the David Howard School of Dance. After graduating from Professional Children's School in NYC, she joined the Miami City Ballet. Jennifer then joined Wes Chapman's Alabama Ballet and later the Washington Ballet. She has performed title roles in ballets such as Coppelia and Giselle and has performed principal and soloist roles in works by Antony Tudor, Nacho Duato, Septime Webre, Kirk Peterson and Dwight Rhoden. She has been the ballet mistress for Massachusetts Youth Ballet and American Academy of Ballet. She has taught ballet at ODC and MoBu in San Francisco, and has been on the faculty at University of California, Berkeley. Jennifer is a graduate of New College of California with a degree in Arts and Social Change, and is a certified Alexander Technique practitioner with a private practice in San Francisco. Her curiosity and joy for dance continues to evolve and grow over time.

Tel:415-422-3888
rpridgen@usfca.edu

Rashad Pridgen

Adjunct Professor, Dance

Pridgen is a dance artist, choreographer and urban arts educator who is the founding artistic director of Motif Performance Project: a project oriented performing arts collaboration with a purpose in reflecting the human experience through African Diasproic and underground dance. Rashad had been apart of underground dance culture for fifteen years while simultaneously apprenticed the art of choreography, this inquiry places him in the generation of artist developing the "future dance aesthetic" by translating street dance vernacular for the classical performance stage. Rashad has performed with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Ronald K. Brown/Nick Caves "Soundsuites", Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival, Rennie Harris's: Illadelph Legends Festival, The Living Word/Hybrid Project, Jacinta Vlach/Liberation Dance Theater, Hip-Hop Theater Festival SF and The Black Choreographers Festival 2005 & 2009. Constantly examining the theory of movement and facilitation Rashad is the first African American graduate of The Moving On Center School for Participatory Arts and Somatic Research as a Somatic Educator.

Tel:415-422-5255
mhrafael1@usfca.edu

Mark Rafael

Adjunct Professor, Theater

Mark Rafael is a writer and teacher and actor. He has been a member of the PlayGround acting company for the past three years. His Bay Area appearances include Jihad Jones and the Kashalnikov Babes and ReOrient Fest for Goldenthread Productions, Ted Kaczinski Killed People with Bombs, Schrodinger's Girlfriend, and Joe Goode's Body Familiar for the Magic Theatre as well as The Best of Playgrounds 9&11, and has even appeared in the Bay Area Playwrights' Festival. He has also appeared regionally at Yale Repertory, American Stage, Wisdom Bridge, and Northlight Theatre among others. Filme and Television credits include Titanic, Star Trek Voyager,The Practice, Babylon 5, and Wings and most recently in NBC's Trauma. He received a BA from Brown University and an MFA from Yale University. His book,Telling Stories: A Grand Unifying Theory of Acting Techniques has recently been published by Smith and Kraus.

Tel:415-422-4368
fmrivera@usfca.edu

Francesca Rivera

Coordinator, Music Program, Assistant Professor, Music

Received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College; M.A. in ethnomusicology from UC Berkeley; doctoral candidate for ethnomusicology at UC Berkeley completing her dissertation about Panamanian traditional folk music called "Mucho mas que un canal: Musical Emblems of the Panamanian Nation".

Tel:415-422-2862
robertsr@usfca.edu

Rick Roberts

Adjunct Professor, Music, Rhetoric and Composition

Rick Roberts is now approaching his 22nd season of conducting both Voices and Voices sub-groups (Men's, Women's, Jazz, and Six). Roberts is an alumni of both USF and SF State.

Tel:415-422-2721
cgruscoe@usfca.edu

Christopher Ruscoe

Adjunct Professor, Music

Kit Ruscoe, originally from Louisville KY, studied Classical Composition at the University of Louisville and Jazz Performance and Improvisation at the University of North Texas. He has over 25 years of experience in composing, performing, recording, and teaching music and guitar and is a member of ASCAP. Kit is currently working on film scoring and compositions for TV and documentaries as well as playing in several recognized Bay area bands.

Tel:415-422-2721
seeman@usfca.edu

Rebecca Seeman

Adjunct Professor, Music

Rebecca is a Bay Area native. She has been a member of the music faculty at since 2001, where she founded the USF Classical Choral Ensembles (University Choir, Chamber Singers, and the Women's Choir). She also teaches Music Appreciation and Musicianship and Principles of Tonal Theory. Rebecca holds an active voice studio at USF and in the San Francisco area. In addition to her work at USF, Rebecca directs Sacred and Profane, an Oakland and Berkeley based advanced chamber choir, as well as the Temple Beth El choir in Aptos. She has served as the director of the Chancel Choir at Saint Ignatius Church in San Francisco and has been a member of the faculty at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in addition to previous academic and church positions in Santa Cruz, Mountain View, and Iowa City, IA.A strong proponent of Swedish choral music, Rebecca has written extensively on Swedish music for women's choir and the music of contemporary Swedish composer Karin Rehnqvist. She has also received a grant to study choral conducting under renowned Swedish conductor Eric Ericson. Her conducting teachers have included Nicole Paiement, Timothy Stalter, and William Hatcher. She holds bachelors and masters degrees from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting and pedagogy from the University of Iowa. In addition to her work with classical music, Rebecca is co-producer of a documentary film about folk music impresario Izzy Young, currently in post-production. She performs regularly with her wineglass organ.

Tel:415-422-2721
slsheie@usfca.edu

Sigrid Sheie

Adjunct Professor, Music

Sigrid Sheie recieved a Masters degree in piano performance from Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont, CA in 2009. In addition to teaching piano lessons, Sigrid is the USF resident accompanist.

Tel:415-422-5255
kdsonkin@usfca.edu

Ken Sonkin

Adjunct Professor, Theater

Ken Sonkin is an actor/director whose work has been seen at many Bay area theaters including American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Rep, and The Magic Theater as well as at The Denver Center Theatre Company, Pacific Resident Theater Ensemble (LA), and Pennsylvania Centre Stage. He is an associate artist with Porchlight Theatre Company and Sonoma Rep, and a company member of PlayGround. He has a BFA in acting from Ohio State University and an MFA from A.C.T. He is a member of Actors' Equity Association, SAG, and AFTRA. He has received awards from Bay Area Theater Critics Circle, Dean Goodman, Best of The North Bay, Arty, Ellie, and Dramalogue. Regional directing credits: The Crucible, Twelfth Night, Humble Boy, Summerland (world premiere), Tape, The Subject Was Roses, Flowers for Algernon, The Foreigner, Golf with Alan Shepard, Female Transport, A Southern Christmas (world premiere), Incorruptible, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Full Monty, West Side Story, and The Producers. Regional acting credits: Kissinger in Nixon's Nixon, Teach in American Buffalo, Trinculo in The Tempest, Paul in Creditors, Magnus in The Real Inspector Hound, Lady Enid/Nicodemus in The Mystery of Irma Vep, Koken in Kabuki Medea, and Max Love inMax & Maxie.Ken has been a member of A.C.T.'s acting company and core conservatory faculty, and has taught and directed for The National Theatre Conservatory, Stanford University, Northwestern University, Solano College, and Cornell College. He founded and served as director for The Theatre Artists Institute, the professional actor-training program for American Musical Theater of San Jose, and served as artistic director for The Regency Center in San Francisco. At USF, he has taught Acting II, Acting III, Cabaret, and Professionalism Seminar. He has directed mainstage productions of Mary Zimmerman'sMetamorphoses, Angels in America: Perestroika and studio productions of Tartuffe, The Country Wife, A Christmas Carol, and Goldberg Street. In 2006, Ken created the USF Cabaret program and served as the faculty advisor for The College Players. He is a recipient of a Jesuit Foundation Grant for his work in conjunction with USF's School of Nursing.

Tel:415-422-2721
pbthiam@usfca.edu

Pascal Thiam

Adjunct Professor, Music

Pascal Bokar Thiam has earned a Master's Degree from Cambridge College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a Doctorate Degree in Education with honors from the University of San Francisco, CA. Born in Paris, France, and raised in France and in Senegal, his music invites the listener to a musical banquet from around the world from his native France to his Senegalese and Malian roots. Along the way, one samples bits of Jazz, R&B and Afro Pop, Bebop mixed with African harmonies and infectious West African rhythms. 1983 Recipient of the Jim Hall Jazz Master Incentive Award for Guitarist of the Berklee College of Music; 1984 Outstanding Jazz Soloist Award.

Tel:415-422-6733
cyoung8@usfca.edu

Christine Young

Theater PROGRAM COORDINATOR, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, Theater

Christine Young is a theatre director, dramaturg, and educator who specializes in new play development. From 2000-2006 she served as Literary Manager and then Associate Artistic Director for the Playwrights Foundation, for which she produced the annual Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Current projects in development include One Instance of Burning with Chris Rodgers (for which she received a Theatre Bay Area individual artist grant) and Cry Don't Cry with multi-disciplinary ensemble Balé Techlorico (developed through Shotgun Theatre's Lab Program). Recent productions include the American premiere of Edward Bond's A-A-America for Crowded Fire, the world premiere of Executive Order 9066 with Lunatique Fantastique, and the world premiere of Two Birds & A Stone by Amy Wheeler for the Capitol Hill Arts Center in Seattle. In the Bay Area, Christine has worked with the Magic Theatre, California Shakespeare Theatre, TheatreWorks, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, New Conservatory Theatre Center, and EXIT Theatre. In August 2008, Christine will join the Performing Arts & Social Justice Department at the University of San Francisco as a full-time professor. Christine holds an MFA in directing from the University of Iowa and a BA in Religion from Princeton University.