Faculty
Nancy Banks (History) received her B.A. in History and Religious Studies from New York University, her MA in political science from the New School for Social Research and her Ph.D. in American history from Columbia University. Dr. Banks’ is a specialist in 20th-century American political and labor history. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the struggle over affirmative action in the NYC building and construction trades during the 1960s and 1970s. She has taught courses at the New School, Columbia University, and Barnard College. A founding member of City Semester, Nancy is former chair of the Fieldston History Department and currently the Director of Student Programs.
Roy Blumenfeld (Director, Ethics) received his B.A. in Philosophy and Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins University and his M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin. He was studying for a PhD in Philosophy and Cognitive Science at the CUNY Graduate Center when he decided to try his hand at documentary filmmaking. Before arriving at Fieldston in 2014, Roy spent five years working on award-winning films, museum exhibits, and educational programming for PBS, National Geographic, and Radiolab, among others. He is an avid clawhammer banjo player and lover of folk instruments. Roy is proud father of future City Sem students Gabriel (5) and Benjamin (2).
Tom Christensen (Music) has been the director of the Fieldston jazz program since 1991 and on the faculty of Nyack College since 2007. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, he is currently an established teacher, saxophonist and composer in New York City. He can be heard with The Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra as well as on Grammy nominated albums with Joe Lovano, Paquito D’Rivera, David Sanchez and Don Sebesky. Christensen has also performed with The Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, David Liebman, the BMI Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra as well as for many Broadway shows, television and radio commercials and film scores. All About Jazz listed his latest CD “New York School” as one of the top ten jazz recordings of the year.
Melanie Cooper-Leary (French) is in her 26th year teaching at Fieldston. She is proud to be a senior faculty member and part of the City Semester team (French). Melanie is a proud mom to City Sem alum Jesse and Marcus ('24). She loves the camaraderie and creativity of her colleagues and the City Semester students. In her spare time, Melanie loves to work out (she has run 14 marathons) and watch horror flicks. Like fellow City Sem Teachers Maura Furfey, Howie Waldman and Hannah Oberman-Breindel, she is a die-hard Mets fan.
Stephen Chu (Math) received his B.A in mathematics from Columbia University and his M.S. in mathematics from the Courant Institute at NYU. He spent a few years working towards a doctorate at Stony Brook, but did not complete the degree. He spent three years working in the financial sector helping to manage risk of a portfolio of ABS. He has been teaching mathematics at Fieldston since 2010, and has been a part of City Semester team since 2015.
Maura Furfey (Culture) received her B.A. in Spanish and Anthropology from the University of Oregon. She has been teaching Spanish at Fieldston for over 18 years, and is one of the founding members of the City Semester Program. Her academic interests include indigenous history and culture as well as immigration. Currently she is teaching a course called ‘Multicultural New York’ that explores what it means to be a New Yorker and the nuances of how it can be defined, especially given the evolving cultural impacts of recently arrived immigrants in New York City.
Alba Santana (Spanish) Born in Caracas, Venezuela and a mother of two, Alba has been teaching at Fieldston for seven years. Last year, Alba joined the City Semester Program to teach Spanish. When asked about her experience last year, she said: “Understanding what students do in City Semester made me realize the importance of this program. I saw the students learn and deeply care about important issues that affect our city. In addition to that, knowing Spanish in NYC is without a doubt relevant. New York City is the largest Hispanic city in the United States with a population of 2.3 million Latinos according to the 2010 census. And of the NYC boroughs, the Bronx continues to have the largest percentage of Hispanics (54%). So, one of my goals in City Sem is to give students the opportunity to speak Spanish as much as possible. I am thrilled to work with an amazing group of teachers and I look forward to working with the students this year.”
Howard Waldman (Science) received his B.S. in Environmental Biology from Yale University and his M.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona. He has taught biology at Fieldston since 1999, during which time he has served as class dean for eight years and most recently, as Fieldston's "Green Dean", working on school-wide issues of sustainability. He has developed curriculum for the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and the NYC Parks Department, where he was an urban park ranger and ultimately, borough director of the Queens Rangers.
Ying Wu (Chinese) received her B.A. in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language from East China Normal University, and M.A. in Foreign Language Teaching Education from New York University. She taught Chinese at college level programs such as CIEE, NYU Shanghai, and UVa in Shanghai. She has been teaching Chinese at Fieldston since 2009.