Faculty & Staff

Stephen Sagarin, Ph.D., received his doctorate in U.S. History from Columbia University and his B.A. in Art History and Fine Art from Princeton University. He is a graduate of the Waldorf School of Garden City, NY, where he taught for 12 years before moving to Massachusetts. He is Associate Professor in Waldorf Teacher Education at Sunbridge Institute and former editor of the Research Bulletin of the Research Institute for Waldorf Education. He has taught at Teachers College, NY, the City University of New York, NY, and Berkshire Community College, MA. His blog is called “What is Education?” Dr. Sagarin’s most recent book is The Story of Waldorf Education in the United States: Past, Present, and Future.

Susan Bilodeau has an MA in Mathematics Education from Lesley University and a BS in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she also studied physics, chemistry, and engineering. She has taught mathematics in the Berkshire Hills Regional School District since 2009, and she holds four different teaching licenses in the State of Massachusetts. Ms. Bilodeau teaches two sections of math, as well as physics, chemistry, and various electives.

Genève Brossard has a Ph.D. in art practice from Goldsmiths College, University of London; an MA in sculpture from Pratt Institute; an MA in art education from Brooklyn College; and a BA in fine art from Mt. Holyoke College. Ms. Brossard has taught and developed art curricula for the New York City Department of Education and many cultural organizations, as well as teaching in undergraduate and graduate art education and fine art programs internationally. She is a practicing artist, with work in exhibitions in London (U.K), Florence and Assisi (Italy), NYC, Mexico City, and locally in Brattleboro, VT and Great Barrington. In addition to art, Ms. Brossard is offering Boxing as an after-school elective. She is a two-time Golden Gloves New York State Boxing Champion and former athlete on the USA Boxing Team, with over a decade of international competition experience.

Julia Nuñez earned her B.A. in French, with a minor in Spanish, from Wichita State University, Kansas.  She did graduate work in French at Middlebury College, in Spanish at Hunter College, studied in Morelia, Mexico, and was in a doctoral program in French and Linguistics at Georgetown University. She received her Waldorf teacher training certification from Emerson College, England and taught French at Michael Hall School.  She also taught Spanish at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York. She is a founder of the Berkshire Waldorf High School,  taught for us for our first six years, and has now returned after eight years from The Waldorf School of San Diego where she was a founder and the lead teacher of the high school. There she taught French, Spanish, humanities main lessons, dance and led the community service programs.

Elizabeth Orenstein has a degree in botany, ethnobotany, and botanical illustration from Goddard College. She also studied classics, Abrahamic religions, and art history at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Since returning to the Berkshires, she has worked with local organizations on environmental education programs, volunteered with the Sheffield Contra Dance, and produced swing dances. Ms. Orenstein is also a proud member of Berkshire Waldorf High School’s Class of 2010.

Samantha Eliot Stier has an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles and a BA in Film from California State University Long Beach. She taught English as a second language at an academy in Los Angeles, California, and at a bilingual high school in Madrid, Spain. Her short stories have been published in several literary journals and magazines, and in 2014 a selection of her stories was featured as part of the New Short Fiction Series, LA’s longest running spoken-word series. She was part of the first ever class at Berkshire Waldorf High School and is a Waldorf graduate. In addition to teaching all levels of English, she teaches various seminars and electives. https://samanthastier.com/

Edward Hamelrath has his doctorate in modern European history from the University of Memphis, his MA from the University of Nebraska, and his BA in German Studies from the University of Memphis. He also has a BBA in business and marketing from Mississippi State University. He lived and worked in Dresden, Germany, for 20 years, including teaching at the Dresden International School, the Dresden State Art Collections Museum, the Technical University of Dresden, the Independent Waldorf School of Dresden, and the Hannah Arendt Institute for Totalitarian Research. When not engaged in academic pursuits, he has played bass in a power-klezmer band throughout Germany.

Peter Elliston majored in history at Pomona College, graduated from Georgetown Law School, and worked for Legal Aid in New Mexico, before buying and managing a small bookstore in Albuquerque, NM. Ten years later, he attended Emerson College in England, leading to further study in eurythmy, which he completed in Spring Valley, NY. He taught grades 6 through 8 at the Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School and then became a full-time high school teacher at the Hawthorne Valley School through 2005. Mr. Elliston continues to teach history and U.S. Constitution at our school and at the Hawthorne Valley School.

Beth Robbins has been a teacher at Berkshire Waldorf High School for over 10 years. Ms. Robbins has a BA in English from Barnard College, Columbia University, graduating cum laude, and an MA in English from Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College in Vermont. After receiving her M.Ed. in Waldorf Education from Antioch New England, Ms. Robbins was a class teacher at Hawthorne Valley School in Harlemville, NY. She has been an editor at Steiner Books / Anthroposophic Press. Ms. Robbins directs our annual theater productions and studied directing at Shakespeare & Company as part of our school’s Shakespeare & Company residency program.(Photo: Susan Copich)

Patrick White, business manager, owns a boutique marketing communications agency in Stockbridge, focusing on direct mail, design, copywriting, and database management. Previously, he founded several start-ups where he raised more than $30 million in venture capital. He is a 1980 graduate of Monument Mountain Regional High School and a 1984 graduate of Boston College, where he won the Finneran Commencement Award, one of the University’s highest honors. He lives in Stockbridge with his dog Sadie.