Tara Performing Arts High School

Faculty and Staff

Resident Faculty	Laurel Fisher, Artistic Director Laurel received her education early from master teachers and continued at the University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University. She brings a wide range of professional musical experience to Tara, both as a performer and a teacher. Her musicianship and interests span a wide range including opera, folk, rock 'n' roll, musicals and many kinds of choral/choir music. A trained Waldorf teacher, Laurel was chairperson of the music department and choral director in a large Waldorf school before co-founding Tara. She combines expert technical direction with enlivened dramatic instruction, and her ability to teach singers and non-singers alike to sing with pure tone is unparalleled.
	Betsy Barricklow, Co-director Betsy, a Waldorf graduate, taught elementary and high school students in traditional Waldorf schools for 23 years before co-founding Tara with Laurel and Greg Fisher. Betsy has always recognized the enlivening and healing power of music and drama. Throughout her teaching years, she has been highly appreciated by parents and students for the innovative experiences she provided in the performing arts. She directed high school musicals, created soul-filled school festivals and initiated and coordinated music/drama festivals for Western-area Waldorf schools. Betsy received her college education from California State University, Northridge, and her Waldorf training at Emerson College, England. In addition to her co-directing activities Betsy also teaches History through Drama, Bible Literature, Russian Literature and various English classes.
	Greg Fisher, Administrator Greg is an administrator, musician and professional actor. He finds that the ideals of Tara combine his love of drama, music and a meaningful approach to education. Greg is a Tara co-founder, administrator, and teacher. He has managed a public radio station as well as a successful record company, where duties included developing the artist roster as well as record production. He has been on the board of KGNU Community Radio in Boulder and served a five-year term on the Boulder Arts Commission. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Johnston College, University of Redlands, California.
	Pamela Shaver, Enrollment Coordinator Pamela is a Tara parent and Tara costumer as well as the new enrollment coordinator. She was trained as a graphic designer (BA in Visual Design, UC Berkeley 1980), but her employment record is checkered with other jobs, including but not limited to: writer, editor, translator, baker, on-board chef, water-ski instructor, and manager of a 16th-century Tuscan pig-farm-turned-vacation-rental.
	Patty Piper, Bookkeeper AA, accounting, Front Range Community College. Bookkeeping and tax work, 25 years. Banking industry, 10 years.
	Blane Barber, Office Manager
	Tom Barricklow Tom earned a BA in political science from California State University, Northridge in 1970. He completed the Foundation studies in Waldorf teacher education at Highland Hall (later to become the Waldorf Institute of Southern California) in 1974. He worked as an electric trouble dispatcher at the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power for 31 years and as a dispatcher for Boulder Special Transit for 7 years. He has an intense interest in history, particularly Civil War history. At Tara: American history and all-around helper.
	Jessica Bartley Jessica Bartley earned a MA in physics and mathematics from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2009. Graduating cum laude in physics, she has helped teach several courses at CU in the physics and math departments. Her emphasis while in school was in physics education research. Her work has been published in various journals and conference proceedings. At Tara: Mathematics, Physics.
	Nancy Candea Nancy has worked as a dance professional for 26 years. During that time she created a yoga-based dance curriculum for children and adults, and directed yoga based performing arts camps for children in Hawaii. She has directed and danced with professional and teen dance modern dance and aerial dance companies, including the Baha’i Youth Workshop, a youth-based dance company that danced about global and social issues. Her work was supported by many foundations including the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. To find out about Nancy’s Yoga Therapy work in Boulder please visit her website: www.nancycandea.com At Tara: Yoga, Dance.
	Nita Davanzo Nita, a Shining Mountain Waldorf graduate, received her BA in Theater and English from Barnard College of Columbia University in 2003, then graduated with her MFA in Contemporary Performance from Naropa University in May of 2009. She has taught and performed in New York, London, San Francisco and Los Angeles, but her students in Boulder make her feel more inspired than all these big cities put together. At Tara: English, Transcendentalists.
	Karin DiGiacomo Karin's many degrees and certifications include: M.A., psychology, University of Cologne, 1978;. Doctoral studies, University of Frankfurt, 1976; M.A., economics and sociology, University of Cologne, 1974. Certified Gestalt trainer, therapist, and child psychotherapist. Her work history includes: Professor of psychology, Boulder College, 1985-1988. Founder, board member, and trainer, Gestalt Therapy Institute, 1985-1987. Instructor, developmental psychology, Evangelische Akademie Tutzing, 1980-1985. Lecturer and instructor, economics and sociology, University of Cologne, 1974-1977. Instructor Berlitz School, Cologne, 1972-1974. At Tara: English, German; languages chair.
	Colleen Hauschild At Tara: English, Administrative assistant.
	Alison McCormack Alison earned an MA in Mathematics and Statistics from Washington University in 1985. She also has an AB in Mathematics from Washington University, 1983. She has been teaching at Tara since it became a high school, and her students believe she may be the best math teacher in the world. At Tara: Mathematics; mathematics chair.
	David-Michael Monasch David-Michael earned a BFA in theatre at the University of Minnesota and received a diploma from the Academy for Eurythmic Art at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland. His teaching experience includes: Antioch University Seattle; all of the Waldorf schools in Washington state; Waldorf early childhood and teacher training programs; Seattle Public Theatre. He has had numerous other teaching and performing experiences in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and New Zealand. He is also co-founder and co-director of Sound Circle Eurythmy, now based in Boulder, Colorado. For information about public eurythmy courses, including the new 4-year training program, please see www.soundcircleeurythmy.org. At Tara: Eurythmy, Commedia dell'Arte, Fairy Tale, Faust, Ancient History, World Religions.
	Glenda Monasch Glenda earned eurythmy and therapeutic eurythmy diplomas from the Goetheanum, Switzerland, in 1981. She completed the teacher training program at University of Witwatersrand, South Africa. She has been a eurythmy teacher for 25 years, and currently teaches at Shining Mountain Waldorf School in addition co-directing Sound Circle Eurythmy (For information about public eurythmy courses, including the new 4-year training program, please see www.soundcircleeurythmy.org.) She is in private therapeutic eurythmy practice and is the resident therapeutic eurythmist for the International Post-Graduate (Anthroposophical) Medical Training. At Tara: Goethe and Schiller, Parsival, English.
	Heidi Ogletree Heidi earned a BS in Physical Education from Plymouth State College, Plymouth, NH in 1997 and an AS in Nursing from Maine Technical College, South Portland, ME in 2001. She is a specialized pediatric RN, currenly working at Longmont United Hospital. Previous experience includes travel nursing and camp nursing. At Tara: Physiology, Embryology.
	Carl Plehaty Wesleyan University, 1968. AA, fine arts, Silvermine College of Art. Blacksmith, 1977-present. Engineer, Ball Aerospace, 1968-present. At Tara: Blacksmithing.
	Courtney Reed At Tara: Spanish, Geology.
	Anne Starke A Waldorf student herself (Highland Hall, Northridge CA '87), Anne has an ongoing interest in learning, and hopes never to stop. Her degrees and certifications include: BA in Music from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA, 1992; AS in Graphic Design from Lane Community College, Eugene, OR, 2003; BA #2 in Art from University of Oregon, Eugene, 2006; Certificate of completion from Waldorf Teacher Education Eugene, 2007. At Tara: History through Art, History through Music, History through Architecture, music theory, art, handbells, choir assisting, and is the resident graphic designer.

Visiting Faculty	Bill Fisher MA, PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara. BA, Stanford University. Teaching experience: Harvard School, North Hollywood; Nyakato School, Tanzania; University of California, Santa Barbara; Westlake School, Los Angeles; St. Martin's University, Lacey, Washington. Professional writer, 25 years' experience. Published author of fiction and poetry. At Tara: College application essay intensive, language arts and literature.
	Jim Kotz PhD, physics, Wayne State University. BS, physics, University of Michigan. Waldorf teacher training, Waldorf Institute, Los Angeles. Jim has 14 years of experience teaching physics, chemistry and math in Waldorf middle grades and high school. He contributed to the Waldorf high school curriculum research conference. He has over 20 years of experience working in advanced semiconductor electronics. He is a former editor of the Newsletter of the Society for the Evolution of Science. He is a board member of the Nature Institute. He is presently researching a Goethean approach to science. At Tara: Physics.
	Robert Mays BS, chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Certificate, Waldorf high school teacher education in the physical sciences, Center for Anthroposophy, Wilton, NH. Robert teaches chemistry and physics blocks at several Waldorf schools. He is a co-founder of the Emerson Waldorf School in North Carolina. He worked for many years as a software engineer at IBM. At Tara: Chemistry.
	Elizabeth Moran MFA , Dance with emphasis in Education Administration, University of Colorado at Boulder. BFA, Musical Theatre with emphasis in Dance , Avila University. Teaching experience: Instructor, University of Colorado at Boulder; Director of Dance and Professor of Musical Theatre, University of Northern Colorado; Director of Dance, Kansas State University; Assistant to the Headmaster, Barstow School, 1999-2006. Elizabeth recently completed her Juris Doctorate and is now an Associate at a law firm in Kansas City, MO. At Tara: Choreography, dance.
	George Russell National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow, Brandeis University and Cornell University. PhD, biology, Harvard University. AB, biology, Princeton University.Professor of biology, Adelphi University, 1977-present. Editor-in-chief Orion Magazine. At Tara: Zoology; teacher mentor, financial advisor.
	Leonore Russell MA, Adelphi University. BA, Sarah Lawrence College. Eurythmy diploma, Goetheanum, Switzerland.Adjunct professor, Waldorf teacher training, Antioch New England Graduate School. Teacher of eurythmy and English, Waldorf School of Garden City, New York, 25 years. At Tara: Art history; teacher mentor, curriculum advisor. (Back to top)