Eight New Faculty Join Westminster

Westminster School is extremely pleased to welcome eight new faculty members to appointments in a number of departments this fall. These new faculty bring myriad accomplishments and diverse backgrounds that will greatly enrich our school’s community.

Donna Balcezak
Mathematics
B.S., Worcester Polytechnic Institute
M.B.A., Rensselear Polytechnic Institute

Donna brings a love of mathematics and real-world applications of math to her classroom teaching. She is the designer of Kart Trak, one of the first indoor karting facilities for adults in the United States.  She also has worked as a chemical engineer in design for the U.S. Army Research and Development Center, and as a Quality Systems Professional and Computer System Implementation Manager for Loctite Corporation.

Turning to teaching, Donna was a substitute mathematics teacher at Northwest Catholic High School in West Hartford and recently received her State Teaching Certificate. Donna also has competed nationally as a gymnast, and coached and judged gymnastics.

Dana Chapin
Associate Director of Admissions
1st Girls’ Hockey, 1st Girls’ Lacrosse
B.A., Middlebury College

Dana joins Westminster as Associate Director of Admissions following two years as Assistant Director of Admissions for Santa Catalina School in Monterey, CA. Her knowledge of private schools is personal, having graduated from St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire, where she was on the varsity ice hockey team. Dana received her bachelor’s degree from Middlebury College where she majored in environmental studies and geology, with a minor in teacher education. She spent a semester in New Zealand, where she completed coursework in Maori Culture, human development and education, and geophysics.

Dana is an accomplished athlete and coach.  At Middlebury, she was a member of the National Champion Women’s Lacrosse Team and captain in her senior year. She also was Assistant Women’s Lacrosse coach at Middlebury, where she helped coach the team to the NCAA finals.

Grant Gritzmacher
Science
Swimming & Diving, 2nd Baseball
B.A., University of Texas at Austin
M.A., University of Connecticut

After two years as a part-time faculty member while earning a master’s degree, Grant begins full-time teaching in the Science Department. He also takes over as head coach of the swimming and diving program after working as an assistant coach with the team. A native of Essex, CT, Grant attended the Hopkins School in New Haven. While there, he played soccer and baseball, earned All-American honors in swimming, and was crowned All-American National Champion three times in diving. Grant was a five-year member of the U.S. Junior National Diving Team, and continued to dive at the University of Texas at Austin. There, he achieved NCAA All-American honors and studied environmental resource management and geology. After graduation, Grant continued to pursue his love of athletics and the outdoors as a swim coach and ski instructor in Colorado. Grant started the girls’ swim team at Aspen High School and coached the Aspen swim team. His experience as a coach and a counselor at a summer ski camp on Mt. Hood, Oregon, and his tenure as a coach at the prestigious Longhorn Swim Camp in Austin, Texas, are testaments to his commitment to the development of young student-athletes.

Laurie MacDougall
Mathematics
Cross country, 2nd Girls’ Hockey
B.A., Central Connecticut State University

Before joining Westminster as a math teacher and coach for cross country and girls’ hockey, Laurie worked as an independent math and SAT tutor.  Prior to that, she served as a substitute teacher in the Simsbury School District and the Leander Independent School District, Cedar Park, Texas. This past summer, Laurie attended a state teaching certificate program. Laurie also has been a work-study teacher’s aide at DiLoreto Magnet School, New Britain, CT, and piloted and coached the Odyssey of the Mind Program at Central Elementary School, Simsbury. An avid hockey player, Laurie helped found the “Mother Ducks,” a women’s hockey program in Simsbury. She also has been a coach and girls’ division director for the Simsbury Youth Hockey Association, a vice president and coach of cheerleading for the Simsbury-Avon Pop Warner Youth Football League, and a volunteer for the Youth for United Survival in Hartford.

Lisa J. Perry
Director of Multicultural Affairs
Associate Director of Admissions
B.A., Thiel College
M.P.M., Carnegie Mellon University

Lisa joins Westminster as Director of Multicultural Affairs after serving as Associate Dean of Students at Ethel Walker School in Simsbury since 2004. In that position, she worked as Director of Residential Life, Diversity Coordinator, and Director of Student Activities and Community Service. She also served on various school committees including Master Planning, Wellness, SPHERE, and CORE. From 2001-2003, Lisa was the Associate Director of Admissions and Coordinator of Multicultural Recruiting at St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire. Lisa holds a degree in communications from Thiel College, and a Master of Public Management with a concentration in Human Resource Management from the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon. She has worked in career placement at both Duquesne University and the University of Pittsburgh.

Sarah Dalton Quinn
Director of Reunions/Special Programs
B.A., College of the Holy Cross
M.A., International Education, Framingham State College

Sarah returns to New England to direct alumni and reunion programs at Westminster following a two-year tour as an English teacher at Seoul International School in Korea where she and her husband, Tim Quinn, taught middle school. Sarah also has taught English and coached co-ed tennis and Girls’ Lacrosse at Dedham Middle School in Massachusetts, and was the summer school Assistant Head of School and Duty Dean at Northfield Mount Hermon, her alma mater. Her activities have included dormitory life, athletics, academics and off-campus field trips. A graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, Sarah served on the Presidents’ Task Force on Diversity, and also held the position of Director of Multicultural Affairs in the Student Government Association. She was selected for the Holy Cross Mexico Program where she traveled to many impoverished areas of rural Mexico and attended educational lectures about Mexico. Sarah played intramural field hockey and volleyball at Holy Cross.

Timothy Quinn ’96
English
2nd Football, 1st Boys’ Hockey, 3rd Boys’ Lacrosse
B.A, Amherst College
Ed.M., Harvard University Graduate School of Education

Tim joins the faculty as a teacher in the English Department and as a teacher at the Crossroads Cooperative Learning Program (CCLP) sponsored by Westminster School and Hartford Public High School. From 2004 to 2006, Tim and his wife, Sarah Dalton Quinn, taught at Seoul International School in Korea. In 2002, Tim was recognized in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, one of five percent of the nation’s teachers who receive this honor of academic excellence from their students. A 1996 Westminster graduate, Tim graduated from Amherst College with a degree in political science, and was elected captain of the varsity ice hockey team. He has taught at Avon Old Farms School; at Trinity Catholic High School in Boston, and served as a master teacher and dormitory head at Northfield Mount Hermon Summer School.
 
An exceptional hockey player and coach, Tim formed and taught at the Kor-Am Hockey School while in Korea. He also was the assistant varsity hockey coach at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, where the team advanced to the 2003 NCAA Quarterfinals. At Westminster, Tim will be coaching football, boys’ hockey and boys’ lacrosse.

Darlene Skeels
Director of Publications and Marketing
M.J., UCLA
B.A., UCLA

Darlene joins Westminster as Director of Publications and Communications following positions in communications in both the public and private sectors.  Most recently, she served as an adjunct faculty member in the English Department at Tunxis Community College where she taught composition.  Prior to that, she worked as a senior public relations strategist for a public relations agency in Hartford. While living in California, Darlene was Director of Public Information at UCLA, directing communications programs for all academic units, the Center for the Health Sciences, and public arts programs. Before assuming these responsibilities, she was UCLA’s Director of Health Sciences Communications, managing communications for the UCLA Medical Center and the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, and Public Health. Prior to joining UCLA, Darlene was Assistant Director of Hospital and Clinics, Institutional Relations, at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, CA.

One of Darlene’s special accomplishments was serving as the press chief for the Olympic Village at UCLA during the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games. Throughout her career, she has spoken and written about communications issues for numerous professional associations.