Siena Academia Faculty

At Mount Holyoke College, Kristin majored in politics and economics with an interest in economic development and global affairs before heading to graduate school in politics. Since that time Kristin has taught politics at Michigan State University and worked at The Putney School teaching history, economics, and a variety of interdisciplinary courses. She also coaches rowing and nordic skiing, leads hiking trips, and works in residential life. Kristin continues to train as a rower and also enjoys time skiing, biking, and hiking in the mountains. She has a strong commitment to education, teaching students to understand the world around them through a wide variety of courses, and activities.

While at Federico II, Luca focused on linguistics, literature, sociolinguistics, didactics of modern languages, and philology. He spent almost two years in the United States where he worked as a Cultural Representative while learning about good Italian wine and skydiving. That is when he set his heart on teaching Italian to foreigners. Luca took part in several European projects about ecology, active citizenship, and interculturalism, which, along with his adventurous side, gave him the opportunity to spend some time in Poland, the UK, and Spain. While working on his final dissertation on didactics of modern languages, he set out on the Camino de Santiago. Luca now studies Didactics of Italian to Foreigners at the University for Foreigners of Siena and he works as an ESL tutor, helping to make students passionate about languages and different cultures. Luca is fluent in French and Spanish and proficient in English and, he would say, Neapolitan. This fall, Luca will be participating in a five-month exchange in France to work on his final thesis.

Jeremy has been focused on finding a balance between business and sustainability since he started university. An active member of his community, he was president of his campus's student association while at Dalhousie University. During this time, he worked as a consultant on a project to facilitate entrepreneurship in rural Ugandan communities with the World Bank Group. After completing his undergraduate studies, Jeremy worked as an analyst and an associate at an agricultural real estate investment company in Toronto. He conducted industry research and communications, established partnerships to improve the sustainability of the company's investments, and built financial models for the company's assets. Following several years with this company, Jeremy began his studies at the University of Oxford, where he researched global water resource sustainability and its relationship with agriculture. He also facilitated discussions as the Graduate Officer of the historic Oxford Union society during this time. In his free time, Jeremy enjoys running, rowing, skiing, traveling, and reading.

Growing up in Denver, Sara was exposed to a vibrant art scene at the local Art Student’s League. Her passion for painting and history influenced her studies at Stanford.  After graduating, Sara received a full fellowship at the San Francisco Art Institute where she received an M.F.A. Her master’s thesis depicted her free-spirited friends re-enacting Euripides' play, The Bacchae. In 2013, under a grant from the Stacey Foundation, Sara traveled to Italy as an artist in residence with the Jerusalem Studio School.  She is also the recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Grant and the New York Art Exchange Scholarship. Sara is currently a Ph.D. student in Visual Studies at the University of California, Irvine, working with Professor Lyle Massey on Early Modern visual culture.