Zachary Aidala, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Bloomfield College of 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). His area of expertise is in neuroethology and sensory ecology. His research focuses on the coevolution of host-parasite interactions between avian brood parasites and their hosts, specifically the visual sensory processes mediating parasitic egg ejection by host species. In addition to coordinating Bloomfield College’s Honors Program, he regularly teaches Statistics, Research Methods, Biopsychology, Sensation and Perception, Drugs and Behavior, and Animal Behavior. Dr. Aidala currently serves as Vice President on the NRHC Executive Board.

Matt Baran is the Assistant Director of the Muriel A. Howard Honors Program at Buffalo State University. He teaches the introductory seminar course to all first-year Honors students each fall, plans weekly Honors events, and coordinates leadership opportunities for students among other tasks related to building a robust Honors community. In Fall 2022, he launched a new peer mentoring program matching upper-level Honors students with first-year Honors students to aide in their transition to college. Matt earned a B.S. in Architecture at the University of Maryland, College Park (2017), and an M.A. in Higher Education & Student Affairs at The Ohio State University (2019).

Autumn Barszczowski is a public relations graduate from Point Park University. She is currently the Department Business Administrator at the City of Pittsburgh's Department of Permits, Licenses, and Inspections. During her time as a student, she filled multiple roles within her honors program and Honors Student Organization including serving as a mentor, board member, and eventually as President. She was also an active participant in the national and regional honors councils, where she acted as a moderator and presenter at conferences. She even served for one year as Student Representative for NRHC and helped to plan the 2018 conference in Providence, Rhode Island. She loves having the opportunity to continue playing an active role in honors education and seeing the work that students are producing. 

Chris Brittain is the Academic Administrator of the Early College Department at Ocean County College. He graduated from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania in 2010 with a Bachelor’s degree in English and Communication Media and in 2012 with a Master’s degree in Liberal Arts with a concentration in Higher Education Administration. 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.

Faith Christian-Ferri is a third-year Post University student pursuing her BA in Communication and Media Studies. She grew up in Waterbury, Connecticut and credits her passion for writing to a hundred Saturdays spent at the Silas Bronson Library, where she fell in love with words. Nowadays, she still spends much of her time reading anything she can get her hands on, but she also carves out a few hours a day for crocheting, watching true crime documentaries, and scribbling down ideas for her next story.

Elisabeth Christman is a junior in the Honors Program at Ramapo College of New Jersey, majoring in Marketing with a minor in Business Analytics. She currently serves as a Marketing Intern for Sodexo, where she promotes campus dining services and helps engage the student community through creative campaigns and digital content. On campus, Elisabeth is deeply involved in student leadership and Greek life. She is the President of the Eta Nu Chapter of Sigma Sigma Sigma, where she was honored as Sister of the Year in 2025 for her outstanding contributions to the chapter. Additionally, she serves as the Marketing Chair for Alpha Kappa Psi, Professional Business Fraternity. Elisabeth also works part-time in the Admissions Office as a campus tour guide, welcoming prospective students and their families. Outside of her academic and professional roles, Elisabeth enjoys creative writing and yoga. She is currently developing a manuscript she has been working on for the past four years and aspires to become a published author.

AnnMarie DelliPizzi received a BS degree in Biology from Manhattan College 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. 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.

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Helen Fallon has had a dual career in journalism and academia.  A professor emeritus and former director of Point Park University's Honors Program, Fallon remained an active journalist while she taught by working as a part-time Pittsburgh Post-Gazette copy editor. Currently, she is on strike against the newspaper with the rest of her Newspaper Guild members and writes and edits for the union's online Pittsburgh Union Progress. In addition to teaching print journalism courses, she chaired the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication from 1999 to 2008 and served as acting dean of the School of Communication from 2008 to 2009. She directed the Honors Program until 2020. Fallon served on the Northeast Regional Honors Council board as vice president and president and helped plan a number of regional conferences. She is active in journalism professional organizations, serving currently on the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania board and the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association Foundation board. Fallon is also a member of the Jefferson Regional Foundation’s board, a nonprofit dedicated to the well-being and health care needs of residents based in Jefferson Hills, Pennsylvania.

Dr. K. Patrick Fazioli is Director of the Global Honors Program and Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities at Mercy University in New York. He has published on a wide array of topics including early medieval archaeology, the history of anthropological thought, critical thinking, and honors education. He received his BA (History) from Providence College and PhD (Anthropology) from the University at Buffalo. He is currently Co-Chair of the National Collegiate Honors Council Publications Board.   

Sandy Feinstein, Professor of English, coordinated the Penn State Berks honors program for nearly 25 years; before that, she was the Director of the Honors Program at Southwestern College in Kansas. At both, she taught creative writing, composition, and and literature courses. Her poetry chapbook, Swimming to Syria,  was published in print and online in 2021 by Penumbra. More recently, her poetry appears in anthologies focused on the Keystone State and on Fernando Pessoa as well as in e-zines and literary journals, including The Scop, engine(idling, Unearthed, and Indiana English, among others. Willows Wept nominated one of her poems for this year's Pushcart Prize.

Rivka Glaser is the Chair of the Biology Department and Director of the Honors Program at Stevenson University.  She earned her B.A. in Biology from Goucher College and Ph.D. in Human Genetics and Molecular Biology from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.  Dr. Glaser's current focus is on bringing research experiences into the undergraduate classroom, especially for first semester students.  In addition to her roles at Stevenson, Dr. Glaser is the co-chair of the Undergraduate Genetics Education Network, which hosts annual free, online workshops that provide undergraduate faculty a chance to explore innovative and active pedagogies effective in teaching genetics concepts and to relate the genetics content to current, socially relevant themes.  

Brooke Griffith is a Senior at Thiel College where she is a member of the Dietrich Honor's Institute (DHI). Brooke is pursuing a double major in Public Policy and Social Psychology as well as minors in Criminal Justice and Legal Studies with an English certificate. Brooke hopes to become a defense attorney for individuals experiencing mental illness. Outside of the classroom, Brooke runs cross country and track and field. She also holds leadership roles as the cross country representative for the student athletic advisory committee, a representative in the Student Government Association, the Senior Class Vice President, and a member of the DHI student leadership board.

Gwen Kay is the Director of the Honors Program at SUNY Oswego State University. Dr. Kay has a B.A. in Biology and History from Bowdoin College (1991) and a Ph.D.in History of Medicine and Science from Yale University (1997). After three years as visiting assistant professor in Tennessee, Chicago and Ohio. she arrived at SUNY Oswego in 2000. She teaches social history of the United States, as well as history of medicine. Dr. Kay has been involved in faculty governance, both on her campus, and representing her campus, including serving as president of the SUNY University Faculty Senate. In her community, she serves on several board. In the profession, she is treasurer of the History of Science Society, and a Faculty Representative to the NRHC.

Kat MacDonald is the Coordinator of the Honors Program and a faculty member in the English Department at Monroe College. She holds a Master’s degree in Mass Media and Communication 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 College as a full-time faculty member (she was an adjunct first) in 2010, she served on the editorial team of Reader’s Digest. Kat just completed a four-year stint on the Executive Board of NRHC (she rotated through Vice President, President-Elect, President, and Immediate Past President). Kat is also a member of the NCHC Publication Board. Serving the students in her college’s Honors Program has been most rewarding. She believes NRHC gives students the opportunity to present their research, collaborate with their peers, and become exposed to new ideas and places. She has had the pleasure of mentoring the Student Reps since 2013, when her first student served in Niagara Falls. Subsequently, two students from her institution served at Cambridge in 2015. Her students also served as Student Representative in Pittsburgh in 2017 and Baltimore in 2019. Watching the students grow and learn is extremely satisfying. As Secretary, Kat hopes to streamline communications and create a lasting archive/repository of all NRHC documents. Kat hopes to continue to strengthen the NRHC Journal, Illuminate. Kat believes that honors is all about the students, and NRHC is here to help make that experience unforgettable. 

Andrew Martino is dean of the Clarke Honors College at Salisbury University where he is also professor of English. He received his Ph.D. in comparative literature from Binghamton University (SUNY) in 2003. He has published on Roberto Bolaño, V.S. Naipaul, Natalia Ginzburg, Albert Camus, Paul Bowles, Elena Ferrante, and others. Martino is a regular reviewer for World Literature Today and Reading in Translation. He was an IEA Fulbright in France in 2021, where he spent two weeks with a cohort learning about French higher education, and is also a Fulbright Campus Coordinator at Salisbury University. Most recently, he was inducted as an NCHC Honors Fellow in 2024 and is a member of that organization’s Place as Text Committee. He is a co-host of the film podcast, The Classroom Critics, and is the author of the blog, C’era un volta (apmartino.wordpress.com). 

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, and she is very excited to work with the other officers in NRHC leadership this year as the organization's President-Elect.

Amy McMillan, Ph.D. is a Biology Professor at Buffalo State College (Buffalo, New York).  Dr. McMillan has a B.S. in Zoology from North Dakota State University (1988) and an M.S. in Systematics and Ecology (1991) and a Ph.D. in Entomology (1998) from University of Kansas. As a conservation geneticist, Dr. McMillan has spent much of her career on species of conservation concern including Hellbender salamanders, Common Loons, and Bald Eagles. She has worked with over 60 high school, undergraduate, and graduate students on research projects over the course of her scientific career.  Dr. McMillan was the Director of Muriel A. Howard Honors Program from 2017-2025 and served on the Executive Board of the Northeastern Honors Council for two years.

Rhheaa Mehta is entering her fourth year at the University of Pittsburgh, pursuing a B.S. in neuroscience, a minor in chemistry, and certificates in ASL, and global health. She is currently at work on a thesis, under the direction of Dr. Udai Pandey, working with fly models in neurodegenerative muscular diseases. Rhheaa is also an undergraduate fellow with the Humanities Center at the University of Pittsburgh, working on a project investigating the role of lived experience in self diagnosis in neurodivergence. She was Student Representative for the 2025 NRHC Conference and is delighted to be participating again in making a stellar 2026 conference.

Amanda Olachea is a student at Dominican University New York, pursuing a dual major in IT Infrastructure and Cyber Security. As a member of the honors program, Amanda is actively involved in numerous leadership roles across campus. She serves as President of the Anime & Gaming Club, which earned "Club of the Year" for its impact on campus life, and leads Chargers for a Cure, raising awareness and funds for cancer research. Amanda also holds executive positions in the Debate Society, Elite Music, the History Club, and Relay for Life, demonstrating her passion for leadership and community involvement.

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In addition to her campus activities, Amanda is an Equity & Inclusion Senator in the Student Government Association and has been recognized for her proactive initiatives. She represents Dominican University as a student representative on the Northeastern Regional Honors Council (NRHC) Executive Board, helping organize the upcoming NRHC conference.

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Amanda’s commitment to advocacy extends beyond campus through her work with Awarding Hope, a nonprofit she co-founded in 2015, which helps individuals with multiple sclerosis access life-changing HSCT treatment. She also gained hands-on experience through internships, including the PHIT program, and currently works in person with Jawonio and the Dominican Sisters.

Dr. Diana H. Polley is Director of the Martinson Honors Program and Associate Professor of English at the United States Air Force Academy. Her work explores American literature and culture of the long nineteenth century, the American West, the digital humanities, and honors education. Her book Echoes of Emerson received the 2018 Robert Penn Warren–Cleanth Brooks Award for Outstanding Literary Criticism. A passionate advocate for experiential learning, she enjoys integrating pedagogies such as City as Text™ into the honors curriculum and collaborating with honors faculty and students on national and regional boards and committees.  Before she started at USAFA in 2019, she served as Professor of English at Southern New Hampshire and taught throughout the CUNY system for over a decade. She received her PhD from the City University of New York, her BA from Dartmouth College, and grew up in New York City. Having spent the majority of her life and career in the northeast, she is looking forward to reengaging with and serving the northeast honors community as the Editor of Illuminate on the NRHC board.

Gretchen Purvis is a MA student in Rutgers-University Camden’s English Department, expecting to graduate in May 2026. She received her Bachelor’s in English in May 2025 from Rutgers-Camden’s Honors College, graduating summa cum laude. She intends to pursue a PhD in English and work in academia. Her main research interests include Gothic and contemporary horror texts, investigating the interplay between these genres. She is interested in examining how intertextuality connects and transforms narrative. Her analysis of Mary Shelley’s 1818 Frankenstein using monster theory was published in the Spring 2023 edition of The Undergraduate Review, Rutgers-Camden’s interdisciplinary undergraduate journal. Her research using Freud’s uncanny to investigate portrayals of mourning in Shelley’s Frankenstein and Stephen King’s Pet Sematary was presented at NeMLA 2025 in Philadelphia, PA. She currently teaches a section of the campus's first-year composition course.

Tanya Radford, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of English and Co-Director of the honors program at Dominican University New York (DUNY). As Web Coordinator, Dr. Radford strives to maintain and improve the website as an entry point for information and contact with the NRHC. To that end, she welcomes suggestions from visitors to the site. 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. Her current research focuses on representations of readers and the act of reading in children’s literature and popular culture. When she’s not reading about reading, she enjoys hammock naps (or hammock reading followed by napping), mushroom hunting, and gardening. 

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 the 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.

Hillary Sackett-Taylor, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Economics and Director of the Commonwealth Honors Program at Westfield State University, a small public comprehensive in Western Massachusetts. She holds a BA in Mathematics and Statistics from Smith College, MS and Ph.D. in Agriculture, Food, and Resource Economics from Michigan State University. Her academic expertise is in the field of environmental sustainability, with a focus on the management of ecology, food, and farming systems. Dr. Sackett-Taylor is a student-centered educator and passionate advocate for Honors education. She approaches her work through an anti-racist and anti-colonial lens, centering diverse lived experiences and ways of knowing. She believes in promoting the values of intellectual curiosity, community-engaged leadership, and social justice in her classroom and beyond. Hillary lives in Northampton, MA with her husband, Andrew, and 1 year-old child, Lenox. She loves practicing the eight limbs of yoga, reading historical fiction, and attending the Fresh Grass musical festival at Mass MOCA every year.

Dr. Michael Tasto is a Professor of Economics at Southern New Hampshire University. His primary research field of interest is urban and regional economics. He received his B.S. in Economics from St. John’s University in 2001, M.A in Economics in 2006, and 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 Northeast Regional Honors Council and was the Treasurer for the SNHU Professional Employees Association. He was also one of the lead negotiators for the Association’s 5-year faculty and staff contract (representing over 1,600 employees). Dr. Tasto can be reached at M.Tasto@snhu.edu.

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