More New Faces

Picture above from left to right: Jennifer Chassman, Kirsten Miller, Allen Riedel, Yixuan (Maisie) Luo, and Jonathan Wickremasinghe-Kuhn.

Besides the new faculty members in our Music and Film & Digital Media Departments, Idyllwild Arts Academy has brought several other brand-new people on board for the 2019-2020 school year and beyond.

Jennifer Chassman fills the new position of Director of Innovative Curriculum and Instruction. She is the former Associate Head of Upper School for Academics at Francis Parker School, in San Diego, and an expert at finding and strengthening intersections between academics and the arts.

Kirsten Miller holds a BA in Human Development and an MA in Education from Azusa Pacific University. She comes to the ESL Faculty from Idyllwild School, where she taught Language Arts, History, and Math in addition to ESL.

Yixuan (Maisie) Luo is an Idyllwild Arts Academy alum. She returns to the Academy as the Arts Enterprise Laboratory (AEL) intern after studying at the Maryland Institute of College of Art (MICA) and Swarthmore College.

Allen Riedel joins us as Dean of Students after two years as Headmaster of Pegasus California School, in China. He holds a BA in English from UC Santa Barbara and an MA in Education from Chapman University, in Orange, California.

Jonathan Wickremasinghe-Kuhn will be Director of College Counseling and Arts Enterprise Laboratory (AEL). Jonathan has worked as a program coordinator for USC’s Thematic Honors Options Program and as Senior Assistant Director of the College Admissions office at USC’s largest and oldest school, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. He holds a BFA in Writing for Screen and Television and an MPW in Professional Writing from USC.

We wish them the best!