Montserrat College Elects Five New Trustees

BEVERLY – Montserrat College of Art announces the election of five new members to the Board of Trustees. College President Dr. Kurt T. Steinberg says, "We are excited to welcome these accomplished individuals to round out our diverse board of trustees at Montserrat. The depth and breadth of their career and educational experiences will help us to move the college forward as look toward the college's future."

Two of the newly-elected trustees, Joseph Giso and Tony Laing, PhD, come bearing robust expertise from outside of the college’s immediate. Giso, who now serves on the college’s executive board, brings with him years of accounting and financial management experience in the non-profit sector. Dr. Laing wields robust experience across the educational field on both K-12 and collegiate levels. The remaining three trustees—Blyth Hazen, Sarah Dineen, and Josue Bessiake—will be representing the perspectives of the college’s faculty, alumni, and students respectively.

Joseph Giso
Joe Giso has over 35 years of experience working with non-profit organizations in the human services, healthcare, education, and cultural sectors. Giso holds a BFA with a concentration in accounting from Suffolk University and a MS in taxation from Bentley University. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants, where he serves on MSCPA’s Nonprofit Committee and the Nonprofit Conference Committee. He is a partner at the firm Johnson O’Connor Feron & Carucci, LLP.

Currently, Giso serves as a board member of Cambridge Family and Children’s Services, Inc. and Kestrel Educational Adventures, Inc. He is also a member of the Essex County Community Foundation’s County Leadership Council.

“I am very proud to become a member of Montserrat,” says Giso. “Their commitment to education through the practice of art, design, and research is essential to bringing about healthy and vibrant communities that enhance all our lives on a daily basis. The Arts have been a staple of our humanity and the consistent theme of our evolution as compassionate and caring individuals. The Arts brought us through the Dark Ages and guided us through the golden age of the Renaissance Period. Today’s Montserrat students’ have the resources and capabilities to bring about another period of change that will hopefully enlighten all of us in our present journeys. I look forward to seeing this change and contributing in some way to each student’s success.”

Dr. Tony Laing
Dr. Tony Laing is a K-12 and higher education scholar-practitioner. He writes and teaches in the area of gender and sexuality studies. Specifically, his scholarship and publications focus on the intersection of youth studies, gender studies, single-gender schools, queer theory, and African-American Studies.

Dr. Laing obtained a Doctorate in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Master of International Management from NYU Wagner, completed the Management Development Program at the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education, and obtained a Master of Specialized Studies Program/Education Management Concentration from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Prior to serving as the K-12 METCO Director, which provides educational opportunities for students of color to attend suburban schools, he worked in higher education as a lecturer, in diversity affairs, student affairs, study abroad, and academic advising. His work at the collegiate level centers on creating more welcoming campuses for students, faculty, and staff of color.

“I am deeply honored to serve on the Board of Trustees,” says Laing. “My connection to Montserrat College of Art is through three individuals: president Dr. Kurt Steinberg, Board chair Mercedes Evans, and Council member and former chair Henrietta Gates. I also recently worked with members of the admission staff to set up a partnership with an organization I am affiliated with, the METCO Directors ́ Association, to recruit students to the summer pre-studios program. I look forward to continuing my service with members of the Board of Trustees, the administration, and other stakeholders, in our collective work on behalf of the college.”

Blyth Hazen
Blyth Hazen has a BA in Art and Philosophy from Austin College in Sherman, TX and an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art in Boston, MA.

Her creative and teaching practice involves making things that move. Sometimes they appear to do this on their own. on a screen, while other times they need more human engagement to be activated – like a puppet, robot or automaton. Blyth first came to Montserrat College of Art in the late 1990’s to help integrate digital tools into the curriculum. Since then she has worked with students from their first year to their senior year, teaching tools and concepts as diverse as drawing, 2D animation, 3D modeling, game development, stop motion, kinetics and robotics and puppets. Blyth is currently the Coordinator of the Animation + Interactive Media (A+IM) Program where she is inspired every day by the characters and the worlds her students create.

“I am deeply honored to serve on the Board of Trustees. My connection to Montserrat College of Art is through three individuals: president Dr. Kurt Steinberg, Board chair Mercedes Evans, and Council member and former chair Henrietta Gates. I also recently worked with members of the admission staff to set up a partnership with an organization I am affiliated with, the METCO Directors ́ Association, to recruit students to the summer pre-studios program. I look forward to continuing my service with members of the Board of Trustees, the administration, and other stakeholders, in our collective work on behalf of the college.”

Sarah Dineen
Sarah Dineen is a multidisciplinary artist based in New York City and Massachusetts. Her work focuses on the physicality of painting and its capacity to echo sculpture and architecture. She holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York and a BFA from Montserrat College of Art. She has been published in “New American Paintings” and “Hyperallergic” and awarded multiple artist residencies, including at Columbia University and the Sam and Adele Golden Foundation. Dineen has been part of the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Studio Program in New York and has shown her work widely in the United States and Germany, including at the Pulse Contemporary Art Fair, NY; LeRoy Neiman Gallery, NY; Edward Hopper House Museum, Nyack; Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Direktorenhaus and Johanssen Gallery in Berlin.

“As a practicing artist and Montserrat Alumni, I am thrilled to be on the Board of Trustees to support an institution that played such a huge role in shaping my development as an artist. The experience of a strong foundations program in drawing and painting, art history and critical thinking, prepared me well for a career as an artist. I look forward to supporting Montserrat’s mission and continued success.”

Josue Bessiake
Josue Bessiake is a Montserrat student concentrating in Painting. He’s loved the arts from a young age, since first drawing on the walls of his childhood home. Bessiake is a transfer student, having discovered Montserrat while working for a mural painting program and subsequently choosing to relocate. In addition to his role as student trustee, Bessiake also works as a resident assistant and as the co-leader of the Black Student Union. His extracurricular work in the arts has ranged from murals to commissions, and he plans to work full time in the arts industry upon graduation.

“Montserrat has been pivotal in my creative journey and has allowed me to create a positive space around me and my work. I look forward to creating the same positive experience I’ve had for others and supporting them as much as I can, so that they too can find their means of expressing their creativity.”

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Montserrat College of Art is a private, residential college of visual art educating the designers, artists, entrepreneurs for a rapidly changing world that requires creative solutions to new challenges. At the intersection of art, design and technology, the college offers three international programs, 12 concentrations and a required internship program. Montserrat alumni are employed by some of the country's biggest brands including Disney, Puma, Hasbro and more. Students earn the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and develop their skills for success in today's growing creative economy. The college also offers year-round classes for youth, teens and adults through its Continuing Education Division, and has four public galleries offering year-round, free, exhibitions and lectures. Montserrat is "Where Creativity Works." www.montserrat.edu