Meet Our New Faculty and Staff

SEPTEMBER 7, 2020

Each year the Associate Head of School—in partnership with department chairs, division heads, the HR director, and the Director of Equity and Inclusion—is charged with recruiting and hiring new faculty members. This year, Nightingale is delighted to welcome a truly amazing cohort of new adult members of our community.

In a year that is anything but typical, our new community members have jumped in head first with openness, optimism, and creativity. "It is always energizing to hear new ideas and new voices at our (virtual) lunch tables and meetings," said associate head of school Claire du Nouy.

The newest members of our faculty and staff bring with them years of experience, arriving from many different school settings, and each brings a unique and new perspective to our students and to the school. Please join us in welcoming the newest members of our community!

Sherraine Ashley ’10

Lower School Counselor

Sherraine Ashley is a native Brooklynite and Nightingale alumna. Sherraine returns to Nightingale with a BA in comparative human development from the University of Chicago and most recently a master’s degree from the Silberman School of Social Work. She has worked in a variety of settings across college admissions, women’s reproductive health, and foster care.

Elizabeth Cavanaugh

Associate Director of Admissions V-XI

Liz Cavanaugh comes to Nightingale as the associate director of admissions after twelve years at her alma mater, St. Mark’s School, a co-ed boarding school in Southborough, MA, where she served as senior associate director of admissions. A graduate of the George Washington University, Liz is currently enrolled in a Master of Education degree from the USC Rossier School of Education with a concentration in enrollment management and policy.

Daniel Chisholm

Modern Languages

A graduate of the College of the Holy Cross (BA) and of Middlebury College (MA), Dan Chisholm also studied abroad in Paris with Sweet Briar College Junior Year in France. After earning his BA, Dan was a Fulbright French Government Teaching Fellow at Lycée Léonard Limosin in Limoges. He has taught French at Philips Academy, Andover, Gilman School, Baltimore, Choate Rosemary Hall, and Collegiate School. He retired in 2018 and will be teaching French remotely from Lisbon, Portugal.

Malynda Colvert

Math

Malynda Colvert joins the Nightingale-Bamford community as a Middle School math teacher. Prior to teaching, she studied social change movements as a political science major at Barnard College. From Barnard, Malynda went on to earn an MPA from Baruch College and MAT from Relay GSE, focusing her studies on research and education.

Stephanie Crooks

Classics

Stephanie is thrilled to be joining the classics faculty at The Nightingale-Bamford School this fall. Previously, Stephanie was teaching Latin and literature courses at New York University, where she earned her PhD from the department of classics in September 2019. During her graduate work, Stephanie also had the opportunity to work as an adjunct instructor in the languages and literatures department at Hofstra University and as a substitute teacher at Friends Seminary for all subjects and grade levels.

Tina Chesterman

Library Assistant

Tina is joining Nightingale as the new library assistant. She comes to Nightingale with a BS from McGill University in environmental science and is currently completing her master’s in library information and science at the Pratt Institute. Before coming to Nightingale, Tina interned at New York Botanical Garden’s LuEsther T. Mertz Library and then as a records and archives management aide at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection.

John Gove

Class III and IV Groups Teacher

John comes to Nightingale with six years of teaching experience, working previously at both Ethical Culture and St. Luke's School as an Associate Teacher. He received his bachelor's degree in childhood education from SUNY Cortland and his master's degree in special education.

Angela Hines

History

Angela Hines joins the Nightingale community with fifteen years experience as a middle years teacher (grades 3-5) at Village Community School in Manhattan. She graduated from Tuskegee University with a BA in elementary education and went on to earn an MA from the University of Minnesota.

Emel Isikli

Modern Languages/French and Spanish

Emel comes to Nightingale as a Middle School French and Spanish teacher. She has a master’s in teaching French as a foreign language from Strasbourg, France and a diploma in Spanish from the Ministry of Education in Spain. She joins the Nightingale community after five years of teaching French and Spanish at the middle school level at the Hong Kong International School.

Shelina Massey

Math

A native New Yorker, Sheline joins the Nightingale-Bamford school as a math teacher. She received her BA in mathematics education from City College of New York and has worked as a math teacher in NYC for over ten years. She has also worked as a coach and mentor for fellow teachers.

Christina Milbourne

Class III Homeroom Teacher

Christina comes to Nightingale as a Class III homeroom teacher. Prior to coming to Nightingale she was an associate teacher at both the Spence School and the Chapin School. Christina earned her master’s degree in museum education from Bank Street College of Education and worked at several art museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of Art.

Rebecca Oshins

Class IV Homeroom Teacher

Rebecca will join the Nightingale community this year as a Class IV homeroom teacher. Rebecca comes to Nightingale as a graduate of NYU and Teachers College at Columbia University. She has previously worked at St. Bernard’s School and George Jackson Academy.

Peter Prince

Math

Peter will come to Nightingale as a member of the math department after fourteen years in numerous roles at Brooklyn Friends Seminary – most recently as the assistant head of Upper School. He holds a BS and MS from the University of Kansas School of Education and an MEd from Columbia University where he took part in the Klingenstein Private School Leadership Program.

Manisha Pohani

Kindergarten Homeroom Teacher

Manisha joins us for her first full year at Nightingale, following her addition to the Kindergarten class in early 2020. Manisha brings with her diverse experience, most recently including the Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, NJ; and previous lead teaching experience in Japan, India, Washington, D.C., and New York City. Manisha has a BS in economics from George Washington University, and a master’s in childhood education from NYU.

Samantha Prindilus

Kindergarten Homeroom Teacher

Samantha comes to Nightingale after working as a preschool teacher at Columbus Pre-school, Packer Collegiate, and The School at Columbia as an associate teacher in the Lower/Middle School Division.

Jessica Reich

Kindergarten Homeroom Teacher

Jessica Reich comes to Nightingale from the 92nd Street Y Nursery school where she taught for the past 8 years. Jessica received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008. After a brief stint in the publishing world, Jessica returned to school to get her master’s in child psychology at Teachers College. And finally, this past June, Jessica completed her master’s in early childhood/special education at Hunter College.

Emily Salitan

History

Emily joins the Nightingale community this year as a history teacher. After receiving her BA in sociology and Spanish from Bowdoin College she went on to pursue an MA in social studies education from Teachers College at Columbia University. She has taught in the Lower School at Horace Mann and Dalton, in the Middle School at the Center School (MS 243), and in the Upper School at Stuyvesant High School.

Maria Tovo

Modern Languages/Spanish

Maria Tovo comes to Nightingale after five years of teaching third grade in a Spanish immersion classroom at Avenues The World School in Chelsea. Most recently, she helped her high school in Argentina improve their remote learning plan. She holds a master’s of education in private school leadership from Teachers College at Columbia University.

Shreya Vora

English

Shreya is thrilled to join the Nightingale faculty as a member of the English department. A graduate of Harvard University, she holds an MA from Columbia and an MAT from Relay Graduate School of Education. She has taught for eight years, mostly, in her home state of New Jersey and more recently at Hunter College High School in New York.

Nkenge Walcott ’13

History

A Nightingale alumna and native New Yorker, Nkenge joins the Nightingale faculty with a BA in political science from Spelman College. She spent the last three years teaching seventh and eighth grade writing at a small charter school in Brooklyn.