Faculty

Our outstanding educators bring their many years of education, experience, travel, and community work into the classrooms. The faculty includes PhD’s in Biology, Chemistry, and English, an MFA in Media Art and Art History, and a history instructor who has studied at Oxford and traveled in over thirty-five countries.

Sara C. Johnson
Head of School
Instructor, Visual Arts and College Counseling

Sara C. Johnson was born in Louisville, KY and graduated with honors from Indiana State University where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Art degree in painting and photography, with a minor in art history. Sara continued her studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she earned a Master of Fine Art degree in media art (photo, video, film). While living in Knoxville, Sara taught video and photo courses for the University of Tennessee School of Art. Her work has been exhibited throughout the US in galleries and public spaces including the Knoxville Museum of Art and the Swope Museum of American Art. Sara is the recipient of numerous awards and grants for her media work including the Knoxville Legacy Grant Award for Interdisciplinary Art.

Sara has been at Charlottesville’s Renaissance School since 2002 when she began teaching studio art. During her years with Renaissance School, the art program has grown to include photography, integrated Art History and portfolio development work on an individual basis. Students have gone on to pursue continued studies at some of the most competitive and prestigious art schools in the nation.

In 2009, following the departure of founding Head of School Patterson Cunningham, Sara was welcomed as Renaissance School’s second Head of School. As Head of School, Sara enjoys working with the Renaissance School community of students, parents and faculty.

Ezekiel Fugate
Instructor, Science

Ezekiel is a native of Hiltons, Virginia, a small town nestled in the Clinch Mountains near the Tennessee and North Carolina borders. He graduated with highest distinction from the University of Virginia in 2007, earning degrees in civil/environmental engineering and mathematics. He went on to complete an M.S. degree in environmental engineering at Yale University in 2009. Ezekiel has worked in a variety of locations on a hodgepodge of topics: he implemented a ceramic water filter production system in Cameroon, extensively researched a cactus that can be used to treat water, helped to start a non-profit in Guatemala dedicated to sustainable agriculture, studied resource use and consumption in Hawaii, edited academic research articles for non-native English speakers, and wrote a number of successful grants on topics ranging from socioeconomic metabolism to community food system diversification. Ezekiel is a trained vinyasa yoga teacher and a hopeful banjo player. He is also an aspiring farmer, and he plans to use his knowledge and experience from working on small vegetable farms and dairies in Hawaii and Washington to establish his own farm in Orange County. He hopes to incorporate this living laboratory into his Environmental Science and Physics classes.

Nell Halladay
Instructor, Science & Mathematics

Doc Nell is originally from New Jersey where she lived for 39 years. She is a graduate from Glassboro State College with a B.S. in chemistry and also holds M.S. and Ph. D. degrees in chemistry from Seton Hall University. Following a postdoctoral position at City University of New York, Nell began a 12 year career as a pharmaceutical chemist. She switched gears in June of 2000, moved to Charlottesville, and attended the Virginia School of Massage. Nell received her national certification as a massage therapist in December 2001. She opened her massage therapy business in February 2002 and loves doing massage. She also does message therapy as a volunteer for Hospice of the Piedmont and works on both patients as well as their caregivers. She taught introductory level chemistry classes at Seton Hall University and Piedmont Virginia Community College and tutored chemistry and math at both the high school and college level. Nell enjoys reading, hiking, and gardening.

Marianne Lund
Instructor, Spanish

New on the Renaissance faculty in 2010, Marianne Lund was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Before the age of five she could speak three languages and had lived in two countries, a pattern that continued throughout her childhood as her father’s job took their family all over the world. By the time she turned 18, Ms. Lund had lived in Belgium, England, Italy, Spain, Germany, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Columbia, and the US (Boston, and New York). Her mother, a homemaker, spoke Danish, French, Flemish, English and Spanish and Ms. Lund adds to the list of international family and friends a Dutch Aunt, a German Uncle, and many Italian friends. No surprise that she loves languages, culture, history, music and food! At Mount Holyoke College, Ms. Lund studied Latin American Literature, Politics, and Women’s Studies. She was a recipient of the Ford Mellon Award, and spent a summer researching the role of women in Chilean Politics, working with a feminist organization, and teaching women to read, write, and experience art. She earned her Masters in Teaching at the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She has taught in both independent and public schools, and is excited to return to teaching at the Renaissance School. Marianne Lund lives with her husband, Jim, and four children in Charlottesville. In addition to teaching and motherhood, she enjoys gardening, which includes growing fruit trees and medicinal plants.

Daniel McCarthy
Instructor, Music

Daniel McCarthy joined the Renaissance faculty during the fall of 2010. Mr. McCarthy is an experienced classical and jazz guitarist with an extensive educational background and experience in performance. He earned his Bachelor’s in Music (Magna Cum Laude) from James Madison University studying classical guitar with Mr. Keith Stevens and his Masters in Music Performance from Appalachian State University studying classical guitar with Dr. Douglas James and jazz guitar with Mr. Andy Page. He also taught classical and jazz guitar at ASU as a graduate assistant. He has performed (as featured soloist) at the L’off Jazz Festival in Montreal, the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, and the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Locally, Daniel has given notable classical guitar recitals as a guest artist at JMU and the Charlottesville Classical Guitar Society. In addition to his experience as a performer and teacher, Daniel has arranged pieces for guitar and was commissioned by composer Jane Roman Pitt to arrange for two guitars her “Songs of the Season”, a piece originally composed for piano. In his free time he enjoys reading and composing original music.

Bridget Mitchell
Registrar
Instructor, Performance Arts and Independent Study

Bridget Mitchell is a native of Pittsburgh, though she’s called Charlottesville home for almost 15 years. Stella Adler, teacher to Marlon Brando, of Stella Adler Studio in New York had the greatest influence on her acting technique. She attended Otterbein college as a Drama Major and Adelphi University as a full-tuition talent scholarship recipient. A semester at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in Design and another semester of Drawing at PVCC helped sharpen her visual experience of the performing arts. Bridget taught Drama and Dance for Linda Schmidt’s School of Performing Arts in Somerset, PA and McGuffy Arts Center here in Charlottesville. She has performed at nearly every venue this area has to offer, including – Live Arts, Four County Players, MLK Performing Arts Center, Farmington Country Club and two one-woman acts at McGuffy Arts Center for Miki Liszt Dance Company’s First Fridays series. She was a part of the opening act for Tony Bennett for the grand opening of the Paramount on the downtown mall. She greatly enjoyed performing with the group she started with friends, the Fourtunettes, which sang Andrew Sisters and McGuire Sisters at community nursing homes. Recently she appeared in a commercial for Gilda’s Club and presently she’s working on a performance art piece about a World War II painter. Her favorite use of time is spent with her husband, Kevin and her kids, Sophie and Keenan – both Renaissance School graduates.

John Pillar
Instructor, Physical Activity

Before becoming the Mind Body Director and teaching Yoga at ACAC, John taught English at the Renaissance School for four years and writing at The University of Richmond for five years. John earned a BA (English and Philosophy) from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, , a MA (English) from California State University, Sacramento, and a MFA (Poetry) from UVa. He has studied with some of the world’s best writers–Charles Wright, W.S. Merwin–and some of the best Yoga teachers–Chuck Miller, Dharma Mittra. He follows the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda (Autobiography of a Yogi). John has traveled to Switzerland to study tai chi and Buddhism, and he recently spent three weeks in Central America visiting sacred Mayan sites. He is married to Cindy Fredrick. They have two sons, Samuel and Lucas, and a Border Collie, Lindy.

Andrea Rowland
Instructor, English

Andrea Rowland has a PhD in English from the University of Virginia. She taught at the University of Virginia, at James Madison University and at Wake Forest University. Most recently she taught for four years at Stuart Hall School in Staunton Virginia. She directed plays by Shakespeare and other early modern playwrights with the Midsummer Players in Charlottesville and with the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton. In addition to literature and theatre, she enjoys music, food, family and humor. She is pleased to be joining the faculty of the Renaissance School, where her son Liam Rowland is a junior this year.

Diane Auger Smith
Instructor, Mathematics

Ms. Smith was born in Newport, Vermont, near the Quebec border. Diane’s parents are French Canadian immigrants and her first language was French. Having spent her early years in Vermont and Florida, her family eventually settled in Virginia. Diane attended the Universityof Virginia, earning a degree in mathematics. She went on to work as a management consultant in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore for Andersen Consulting serving various manufacturing, investment banking, government and utilities clients in designing and implementing large automated systems, and she was frequently called on to facilitate between programmers and clients because of her effective communication skills. She later returned to the Charlottesville area with her husband, Garrett. Diane worked a number of years at the University of Virginia with the Office of Management and Budget, and was awarded an Administrative Internship to assist with “Process Simplification”, an initiative to streamline numerous central administrative processes. A mother of three children, Diane spent a number of years as an at-home mom and school volunteer, starting a professional organizing business in her spare time. She returned to school to earn her teaching license in grade 6-12 mathematics, graduating from the Mary Baldwin College Post Baccalaureate Teacher Licensure Program. She was one of a handful of students selected by Mary Baldwin College as a “Teacher of Promise”. Diane developed her math skills through sheer hard work, and the support of her father, who has a Ph.D. in math. He worked at NASA during the Apollo missions, and trained the astronauts how to operate the computers on the Lunar Module. Her dad always made sure Diane understood her math, and she looks forward to doing the same for her students.

Lou Tanner
Instructor, History

Mr. Tanner has been teaching History and Government at Renaissance School since its founding in 1999. After first receiving a B. A. from University of Virginia in 1975, he later studied Russian, European, and American History in Graduate School. Along the way he took or audited courses in numerous other fields as well, including Ancient, Middle Eastern, and South and East Asian History. Within a somewhat narrow range he reads widely, with interests tending to History, Travel Writing, Biography, Current Affairs, and Non-Fiction in general. With wife Stephanie, whom he met while backpacking in Australia light years ago, he enjoys traveling, gardening (mostly as an armchair hobby–it is her passion), reading, hiking, and birdwatching. In addition, he speaks Russian and French –though only passingly–and has a smattering of Spanish and Latin. Extensive travel in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia — where he also lived for almost five years — has only deepened an abiding conviction that the study of History is not only essential, it is also–dare it be said–fun.

Louise Trudel
Business and Marketing Manager

Louise Trudel joins the Renaissance School in 2011 as Business and Marketing Manager. She was previously Business Manager at the Virginia Discovery Museum and has worked in other nonprofit and for profit organizations. Louise was raised in New Jersey, and lived in Rhode Island, Connecticut and Singapore before settling in Charlottesville in 1996. She has two grown children and a grandson. Louise is a graduate of Brown University and has a MA in Educational Psychology.

Jennifer Waine
Instructor, French

Jen Waine has taught French at UVA, Western Albemarle High School, Tandem Friends, Ecco Italy (now Speak!), Governor’s School for French, French for OUI ones, and to private clients. She was a Dean for the Oxbridge summer program in Montpellier, France. Jen enjoys children’s books, film, theater, and music and weaves them into her French classes as much as possible. Jen is a yoga instructor and a Mom. When not doing French, yoga, or hanging with her little peep, she enjoys time in New York City where she grew up and dancing. Lastly, she is excited to join the faculty at Renaissance.

Becky Wilbur
Dean of Academics
Instructor, Science & Mathematics

Dr. Wilbur grew up in the Midwest (Minnesota), went to college on the west coast (Stanford University, BS Biology), spent some time north of the border (Canadian Outward Bound Wilderness School Assistant Instructor), and went to graduate school on the east coast (Duke University, PhD Botany). In 1991, she and her husband and two daughters moved to Charlottesville where Henry assumed the directorship of the University of Virginia’s Mountain Lake Biological Station. During the past 16 summers she has been a mentor, teacher, and researcher at the station. Her main interests are Forest Ecology and Ecosystem Function, and she has also taught Biodiversity of the Southern Appalachians. During the last 16 winters, she has worked with the Environmental Education Center and Ivy Creek Foundation, helped teach science at the elementary school level, taught a non-majors Biology class at UVA, tutored math and science at the Learning Center of Charlottesville and coached many Odyssey of the Mind and Destination Imagination teams. In her spare time, she enjoys whitewater canoeing, volleyball, playing the cello, baking bread, reading, and taking long walks in the woods with the family dog.