Zachary Aidala

Faculty Editor

Zachary Aidala, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Psychology of Bloomfield College at Montclair State University, and has served as Honors Program Coordinator since 2018. He earned a B.S. in Psychobiology from Binghamton University (SUNY), an M.A. in Psychology from Hunter College (CUNY), and a Ph.D. in Biopsychology and Behavioral Neuroscience from The Graduate Center (CUNY). He is starting his second three-year presidential cycle as incoming NRHC Vice President, having just ended his NRHC Presidency in 2025. Trained as a neuroscientist and behavioral ecologist, his research focuses on the sensory ecology of avian brood parasites and their hosts, with a specific interest in the functional role of color vision. At Bloomfield College, he regularly teaches Statistics, Research Methods, and courses centered around the biology of behavior such as Biopsychology, Sensation and Perception, and Animal Behavior. The NRHC has served as a formative and invaluable resource for both Dr. Aidala and his students. Many changes to the Bloomfield College Honors Program have been initiated by conversations with NRHC colleagues.

Tracy Amaral-Tracey

Faculty Editor

Tracy Amaral-Tracey is an Assistant Professor of English at MassBay Community College, where she teaches composition, literature, and honors courses. Her teaching emphasizes the power of stories to help students examine their experiences, challenge assumptions, and better understand the world around them. She is particularly interested in helping students connect their learning to questions that matter beyond the classroom. Tracy also serves as the Assessment Coordinator for the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, collaborating with colleagues to develop meaningful approaches to assessing and improving student learning. Her professional interests include writing pedagogy, honors education, first-year student success, and faculty development. She holds an MA in English from Bridgewater State University.

Viktoria Basham

Faculty Editor

Dr. Viktoria Basham has a BA in Russian Area Studies from Washington and Lee University and MA and PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from University of Virginia. Dr. Basham has over ten years of experience in higher education in faculty, advising, and administrative positions. In her current role as a faculty member with the Clarke Honors College (CHC) as Salisbury University she teaches honors classes of various levels and subjects and serve as a faculty mentor for student research projects that have resulted in presentations and publications on an institutional, regional, and national level. In addition, Dr. Basham serves as the HONR 111 Program Director, the CHC Curriculum Committee Chair, and the faculty advisor for the Honors Ambassadors program. Dr. Basham’s fields of scholarly expertise and interest include folklore and honors education. Dr. Basham is the recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholar Teaching/ Research Award for 2024-2025 and is fluent in three languages--English, Bulgarian, and Russian.

Chris Brittain

Faculty Editor

Dr. Chris Brittain, Ed.D. is the Academic Administrator of the Early College Department at Ocean County College. He has been working with Honors Programs in the Northeast Region for fifteen years, and served as the NRHC Web Coordinator from 2016-2019 and NRHC President and Conference Chair in 2021. In addition to his involvement with the Northeast Regional Honors Council, he spends much of his time pursuing interests in photography and event-planning.

AnnMarie DelliPizzi

Faculty Editor

AnnMarie DelliPizzi received a BS degree in Biology from Manhattan University and an MS and PhD in Pharmacology from New York Medical College. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the role of constrictor eicosanoids in models of angiotensin II-dependent hypertension.  Since 2004, she has taught at Dominican University New York (DUNY) where she currently holds the rank of Professor of Biology. In addition to teaching, Dr. DelliPizzi serves as the Coordinator of the Health Sciences Program and the Director of the Honors Program.   Outside of DUNY, she teaches both graduate and undergraduate pharmacology in the Nursing Department at CUNY Lehman College and holds an adjunct appointment in the Department of Pharmacology at New York Medical College. Dr. DelliPizzi has published several papers in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the American Journal of Physiology, Hypertension, and the British Journal of Pharmacology, and co-authored Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology Lab I and Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology Lab II.  She has been on the editorial board of Illuminate since 2018 and served as the NRHC Faculty Rep from 2019-2021 and 2022-2024. Dr. DelliPizzi currently resides in Rockland County, NY, with her husband, Matt, and is the mother of two adult children. Outside of the classroom and lab, she loves to dance, travel, bake, and just spend time with her family.

Ari Kelly

Student Editor

Ari Kelly is an undergraduate student at the Community College of Allegheny County, working towards his associate's degree in general studies. He does editing work for The Phoenix, CCAC’s award-winning student-run literary magazine, and has had several pieces published in two separate editions. He plans to transfer to the University of Pittsburgh to study English and intends to pursue a career in copyediting. He is passionate about literature, and outside of the classroom writes for various literary magazines and is working to publish his own novel.

Oliver Kirchner

Student Editor

Oliver Kirchner is about to finish their B.A. in English Writing at the University of New Haven (UNH). Next year, they will complete a Master’s in Business Administration from UNH. They are currently working on a thesis where they are the sole editor for a poetry anthology. Oliver is also editing the upcoming research paper for UNH’s Liberty Initiative. Oliver has completed past research through the UNH Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship into the history of poetry publications which they presented to NRHC in the Spring of 2026. After graduation, Oliver hopes to go into publishing as a book editor.

Kayla Linz

Student Editor

Kyla Linz is a third-year student at Salisbury University pursuing her bachelor’s degree in English Literature with a minor in Ethnic and Global Literature. She is a member of the 2027 cohort of the Presidential Citizen Scholar program, where she develops her skills in leadership and civic engagement. Kyla is also a member of the Clarke Honors College where she is ambassador and an editor/writer for the honors magazine, The Saunterer. In the past, Kyla has presented research in the Posters on the Bay conference and the Maryland Collegiate Honors Council conference. When she is not reading a book, Kyla can be found doing a diamond painting or spending time with friends.

Kathryn MacDonald

Faculty Editor

Kat ​is the Director of the Honors Program and a faculty member in the General Education Department at Monroe University. She holds a Master’s degree in Mass Media and Communications from Fordham University and bachelor’s degrees in English, Communication Arts, and Women’s Studies from the College of New Rochelle. Before coming to Monroe University as a full-time faculty member, she served on the editorial team of Reader’s Digest. Kat is an active member of the NRHC Executive Board, currently serving in her third term as Executive Secretary. She also has served as Vice President, President-Elect, President, and Immediate Past President for NRHC. Kat is also a Co-Chair of the NCHC Publications Board. Kat assisted in the founding of Illuminate in 2019, serving as Editor until 2024. Kat believes that honors is all about the students, and NRHC is here to help make that experience unforgettable.

John Mahoney

Student Editor

John Mahoney is a freelance writer and photographer with works appearing in such platforms as the Keystone News and Shoofly Literary Magazine. Further, he is a third-year student pursuing a BA in professional writing with a minor in literature at Kutztown University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He currently serves as Editor in Chief for the Keystone Newspaper and as a Student Engagement Officer for the Kutztown University Foundation. He has had experience working multiple writing-centric panels on campus, including topics such as Journalism, Irish Literature, and the dangers of artificial intelligence. He was awarded the Keystone Newswriting Award in 2025. In October of 2026, he started his own blog, The Patchwork, where he intends to display some of his non-academic writing. He also attended the 2026 NRHC conference with KU and did photography work for their Honors Program. He credits an amazing high school English teacher, a fantastic university advisor, a stellar drive to be a better writer, and a deep childhood love for words and stories as the central pillars of his current success. 

M.J. Marshall

Student Editor

MJ Marshall, a junior in the Clarke Honors College at Salisbury University (SU), is majoring in Sociology, with minors in Business Management, Disability Studies, and Theatre. MJ works as the Editor-In-Chief for The Saunterer, where she aims to show the honors experience at SU. She is also the Lead Bellavance Honors Ambassador, acting as a liaison between faculty and Bellavance track students, specifically focusing on the retention and recruitment of honors students. Outside of honors, MJ is a Resident Assistant in the Freshman Honors Living Learning Community and owns a small business where she creates balloon decorations for parties and events. When MJ finds some free time, she is probably found petting a dog.  

Andrew Martino

Faculty Editor

Andrew Martino is a Professor of English at Salisbury University and the current President of the NRHC. He has published widely on contemporary world literature and is a regular contributor to World Literature Today and Reading in Translation. In 2021 he was a Fulbright recipient to France.

Jessica McCort

Faculty Editor

Jessica McCort, Ph.D., is an associate professor of composition and rhetoric in the Literature, Culture, and Society Department at Point Park University, as well as the Director of the Honors Program. She earned her Ph.D. in English and American literature from Washington University in St. Louis, specializing in American literature and women’s writing. McCort's scholarship focuses largely on the appropriation of children’s literature, particularly Grimm’s and Andersen’s fairy tales and Lewis Carroll’s Alice books, by American women writers. She was also the editor of a compilation of essays concerning the intersection of the horror genre and children’s and young adult literature and culture, titled Reading in the Dark: Horror in Children’s Literature and Culture. Her favorite courses to teach are Honors College Composition, Haunted America, and Feminist Fairy Tales. From her first trip to the NRHC Conference in Philadelphia, Dr. McCort recognized what an important formative experience participating in NRHC events is for both faculty and students. Since that time, she has become increasingly involved in the NRHC, served as President of NRHC in 2025-26, and is now Past-President.

Diana Polley

Editor-in-Chief

Diana H. Polley, Ph.D., is Director of Experiential Learning and Research Professor of English at Wake Forest University. Her scholarly interests center on the shifting paradoxes of American identity, with research spanning American literature and culture of the long nineteenth century, the American West, the digital humanities, experiential learning, and honors education. Her book, Echoes of Emerson, received the 2018 Robert Penn Warren–Cleanth Brooks Award for Outstanding Literary Criticism. She is currently preparing a digital critical edition of J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer (1782) and researching a new monograph, Cowboys and Capitalists, which explores changing constructions of masculinity in American literature and culture during the age of Theodore Roosevelt. She also serves as editor of Illuminate, the undergraduate research journal of the Northeast Regional Honors Council. Outside of work, she enjoys putting experiential learning into practice by exploring America’s landscapes, traveling, and sharing adventures with her dog, Juniper.

Tanya Radford

Faculty Editor

Tanya Radford, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English and Co-Director of the honors program at Dominican University New York (DUNY). Dr. Radford holds a BA and MA in English from the University of Utah and a PhD in English from the City University of New York - Graduate Center. At Dominican, she teaches children’s and young adult literature, Enlightenment literature, and early American literature.

Sarah Roe

Faculty Editor

Sarah Roe, Ph.D., is a professor of history and philosophy at Southern Connecticut State University, as well as the Director of the Honors College. She earned her Ph.D. in Philosophy at University of California, Davis, specializing in philosophy of science and ethics. Dr. Roe’s scholarship and teaching interests focus on the intersection of science and values, including the history of science, underrepresented minority groups and science, and biomedical ethics. Dr. Roe is also the Director of the Research Center on Values in Emerging Science and Technology.

Mike Tasto

Faculty Editor

Dr. Michael Tasto is a Professor of Economics and Chair of the Department of Finance and Economics at Southern New Hampshire University. His primary research fields of interest are urban and regional economics, and he has been an Excellence in Teaching Nominee at SNHU in 2009 and 2010. He received his B.S. in Economics from St. John’s University in 2001, his M.A. in Economics in 2006, and his Ph.D. in Economics in 2007 from Georgia State University. He has given numerous presentations at academic conferences, published peer-reviewed journal articles, and co-edited 2 books on entrepreneurship. He currently serves as Treasurer for the SNHU Professional Employees Association and was one of the lead negotiators for the Association’s 5-year faculty and staff contract (representing over 1,600 employees).

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Glasha Zineko

Alumni Editor

Glasha graduated from Buffalo State University in May 2026. She is applying to master’s programs in public policy to study the best ways regulate advanced AI and safeguard humanity’s future.