Instructors

Tara is the youngest child in an intimate Irish-American family wonderfully full of musicians. She began playing the harp at a very early age. Now she is giving harp lessons both privately and for the Rockland Conservatory of Music. Her students and their teacher have won honors and awards both at home and abroad. She also performs professionally at private events and other venues, including Manhattan’s Waldorf-Astoria and Plaza hotels.

Susanne Kernan is a Rockland grassroots activist and volunteer Climate Reality Leader trained by former US Vice President Al Gore and The Climate Reality Project in 2020. She is a founding member of Rockland Citizens Action Network, and a long-time member of the Rockland Water Coalition. As one of over 20,000 trained Climate Reality Leaders from over 150 countries, Susanne has a deep understanding of the science of climate change, the impacts of the climate crisis, and possible solutions to the crisis that each of us can take individually at home and collectively in our community. Susanne guest taught about…

Louis is a composer and Steinway artist. He has toured internationally, playing classical music for Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jazz Fusion with the John Payne Band, Latin music with “Pucho and his Latin Soul Brothers,” Pop Music with Rupert Holmes’ “Pina Colada Song,” and Rock and Roll with the John Hall opening for “Little Feat.” He has released 39 albums/CDs – his latest is Provocative Piano. His mission is to create a more compassionate world by writing, recording, and performing music that inspires love, peace, joy and gratitude.

Arlene Leventhal’s interest in the Arts has developed throughout her life. At Music & Art High School she concentrated in ceramics as well as other media. She studied Art Education at Brooklyn College where she received both her Bachelor & Masters degrees. She took workshops in watercolors, stained glass, quilting, and beaded jewelry and taught art for 24 years at every grade level from kindergarten to college. She was involved in writing interrelated arts programs (a grant from the Kennedy Center), staged yearly art exhibits in schools, malls, and offices, as well as exhibiting and selling her own work. Inspired by…

Jim Levey, formerly a partner at American China Mercantile and a senior manager at IBM, holds an advanced degree from the China Studies Asian Institute of St. John’s University and is now working to introduce China education to mainstream Americans at various institutions.

Michael Loewenberg and his team at MESH WP Support built and maintain The Learning Collaborative website. He owns and manages the Agency that supports many local websites including e-commerce solutions and websites for nonprofits. He specializes in making technology easy to use and understand for his customers and their website visitors. Michael has a B.A in Economics from Hartwick College and an M.B.A. from Pace University.

Muddappa Lokesh grew up in India where he received a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Bangalore University. He later moved to the US and received an MBA in Finance from Iona College. He is currently working in Information Technology.

Dr. Anna MacKay-Brandt is a NYS licensed psychologist with specialized training in neuropsychology and geriatrics. She is a scientific investigator on a number of research studies, lead neuropsychologist for the Clinical Evaluation Center, and a NY State Research Scientist. Her research interests are in cognitive changes associated with aging, plasticity of cognitive function, and factors that can modify the preservation of cognitive abilities into later adulthood.

Marcelle Mase, M.S., is a New York State licensed Speech and Learning Pathologist.

Dr. Reji Mathew is an award-winning, expressive arts educator, psychotherapist, and intermodal artist. She is currently a clinical instructor in mental health at NYU. She is a frequent presenter for non-profits on disability and accessibility advocacy themes. She is also an Arts Reporter for the Disastershock Humanitarian Aid group and Advisor to the Rockland Conservatory of Music and Anti-Racist Art Educators. Her community-based arts workshops are to guide students to the joy and power of the arts as a tool for accessing daily resilience.

Ronni Miller is an award-winning fiction writer with eight published books. She created and founded Write It Out®, a motivational and expressive writing program in 1992 and teaches it in the US, Bermuda, and Italy at colleges, education centers, and private venues. She is a Book Midwife/Developmental Editor and guides her clients to birth their books from inception to delivery.

Michael Nevins, M.D., is a retired cardiologist and past president of the Medical History Society of New Jersey. Is the author of 12 books on various subjects in medical history.

Constantine Pavlov (“Kos”) is a Project Manager and Web Developer for MESH Business Solutions, the firm that built and maintains the Learning Collaborative’s new website. Kos lives in the Ukraine and works virtually with his clients in the United States. He is well versed in numerous technologies relating to software and database development

Dr. Alan J. Pierce, Ed.D., is the co-author of six textbooks on technology published by West Publishing and Glencoe McGraw-Hill. He was the technical consultant on the children’s book Discover How Things Work and was an editor for the six books created by The Techknow Project and published by Centre Pointe Learning. His magazine column on new and emerging technology is published monthly in the magazine TechDirections.

Dr. Carl Rattner is a graduate of Grinnell College (B.A.), Cranbrook Academy of Art (M.F.A.), and New York University (D.A.). He is a sculptor and a recently retired art professor.  

Mike Rossi was an undergraduate at Saint Thomas Aquinas College, a graduate of LIU, and a post graduate of Iona College. He taught high school social studies and was a high school administrator. As a retired educator, he has authored four mystery novels, has become an education consultant, and advocates for elder care providers.

Jeff Sherer holds a BA from SUNY Cortland in Theater Arts/English, with a minor in Performing Voice and an M.A. from NYU in Educational Theater. As a video DJ, Jeff presents a Memory Lane music program at Rockland’s libraries, senior centers retirement and assisting living sites, the JCC, RPC, social clubs and charitable events.

Zev Shanken has been literary editor of Response, A contemporary Jewish Review. His poems appear in Richard Light’s Jewish Rites of Death, Red Wheelbarrow, Brevitas Festival, and others. With Richard Siegel he developed How to be a Perfect Stranger: a Basic Guide to Religious Etiquette for Jewish Lights. Zev is a member of Brevitas, an on-line poetry organization and, with Alice Twombly, conducted poetry readings in Bergen County through their program, “Thursdays are for Poetry.” Zev’s two books of original poetry, Memory Tricks and If I Try to be Like Him, Who Will Be Like Me? are available on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Adam Sietz has decades of experience sharing enjoyable improvisation with all ages from 5–95. His career includes award-winning accomplishments on film (two times with Woody Allen), television, and three times on the Broadway stage. He is a co-founder of “Improvolutions,” an enterprise offering an “improv” approach to problem solving.

Mark Silberstein was a science teacher for 30 years and a professional development specialist and training facilitator for 14 years in the Yonkers public schools. He specialized in human relations skills and diversity and has trained students, teachers, school aides, and administrators. He has served on a community diversity committee for the Human Rights Commission of Rockland County.

Sandra Smith (NYU, the Sorbonne and Cambridge) taught French literature at Cambridge University for many years before moving back to New York. She has lectured at Barnard, Columbia, Harvard and Sarah Lawrence. She is also the prize-winning literary translator of Irene Nemirovsky (12 novels including Suite Francaise), Camus (The Stranger) and Guy de Maupassant, among others.

Rob Stoner has astounding credentials in classic rock including being Bob Dylan’s ex-bandleader and performing gigs with many world famous artists like Chuck Berry and Joni Mitchell. He is currently a guitar instructor in Nyack, specializing in beginners. His website is robstoner.com.