Contact Us

Casey Brown

Administrative Operations Manager

• cas.brown@northeastern.edu

Dr. Brooke Shinnamon Tempesta

Associate Director

• b.tempesta@northeastern.edu

Dr. Brooke Tempesta is an Associate Director for the Honors Program.  She specializes in the Honors Living Learning Communities and Honors Admissions and Recruitment efforts.  Brooke brings over 20 years of experience in higher education to her role in Honors with experience in student activities, student conduct, graduate education, admissions, advising, program development, and faculty mentor relations.  She earned her Doctorate in Education (Ed.D) from Northeastern University, her MA in Higher Education Administration from Boston College, and her Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from Bridgewater State College.

Allison Kurthy

Program Manager, Honors Student Recruitment and Success

• a.kurthy@northeastern.edu

Allison Kurthy is the Program Manager for Honors Student Recruitment and Success for the University Honors Program. Allison specializes in enrollment management efforts for the Honors program, including internal and new student admissions and the recruiting, training, and advising of our team of upper-class Honors Ambassadors. She is also passionate about working with student success and retention efforts to support Honors students as they navigate the requirements to earn Honors Distinction and thrive as members of the Honors community. Allison earned her B.A. in Psychology as an Honors student herself at Nazareth College, and her M.S. in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration from Canisius College.

Dr. Becca Berkey

Interim Director

• r.berkey@northeastern.edu

Becca has been at Northeastern University since February 2013, where she serves as the Director of Community-Engaged Teaching & Research in addition to the Interim Director of the University Honors Program. She has more than 15 years of experience in higher education, and is an interdisciplinary learner, researcher, and educator with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Butler University, a Master’s degree in College Student Personnel from Miami University, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies from Antioch University New England.

Dr. Berkey’s scholarly research is at the intersection of leadership, change, and environmental justice with a specific interest in the justice issues facing farmworkers. For her dissertation research (completed summer 2014), she collaborated with the Northeast Organic Farming Association for Just Farming: An Environmental Justice Perspective on the Capacity of Grassroots Organizations to Support the Rights of Organic Farmers and Laborers and in 2017 published Environmental Justice and Farm Labor through Routledge. She serves as a member of the EPA’s Pesticide Program Dialogue Committee, the Advisory Council of the Agricultural Justice Project, and the Farmworker Health and Justice Workgroup of Coming Clean, Inc. In addition, she does research, publishes, and presents in the field of service-learning and community engagement and a book she co-edited, Reconceptualizing Faculty Development in Service-Learning/Community Engagement, came out in 2018 through Stylus Publishing. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE).

Shaelyn Casey

Program Manager, Honors Learning Networks

• sh.casey@northeastern.edu

Shaelyn Casey is the Program Manager for Honors Learning Networks. She works closely with the Honors Living Learning Assistants (HLLA’s) as they support first year students participating in Northeastern’s signature Honors Living Learning Community Initiative. Additionally, Shaelyn advises the Honors Events Council to facilitate co-curricular programming for upper class students and provides developmental advising to Honors Students in their academic course selection and navigation of the Honors Program. Her background consists of work in student activities at Sarah Lawrence College, residential experience with Northeastern’s N.U.in program, and arts administration at Boston Ballet. She received a B.S. in Chemistry from Muhlenberg College and an M.F.A. in Dance from Sarah Lawrence College.

Emily Carchia

Graduate Assistant

Emily Carchia is a Graduate Assistant for the Honors Program. She is a first year student in the School Psychology M.S./C.A.G.S. program, with interests in supporting students’ mental health through comprehensive school-based mental health care. Emily advises students in the College of Science and teaches the Honors Discovery course. She received her B.A. in Psychology and B.S. in Education from the University of Virginia. 

Caitlin Corbett

Graduate Assistant

Caitlin Corbett is a Graduate Assistant for the Honors Program. Caitlin is in her second year of the School Psychology CAGs program here at Northeastern, having already completed one year of the program where she received her M.S. Caitlin specializes in First Year Advising and Teaching an Undergraduate Honors Discovery course. Caitlin is also a part time Elementary Special Education teacher. She received her B.A in both Elementary and Special Education from Providence College. Caitlin advises students in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences. 

Jasmine Haug

Graduate Assistant

Jasmine Haug is a Graduate Assistant for the Honors Program. She is an Honors Discovery instructor and advises students from Khoury College. She received her BA in Psychology from SUNY Geneseo and has a minor in communication. Jasmine is currently completing her MS/CAGS degree in School Psychology with a concentration in Applied Behavior Analysis at Northeastern University.

Sarah Haas

Assistant Director, Lifelong Learning Initiatives

• s.haas@northeastern.edu

Sarah Haas (she/her) is the Assistant Director of Lifelong Learning Initiatives for the Honors Program. In addition to providing general support to the Program, Sarah coordinates the Honors Alumni Mentoring Network, oversees Honors alumni engagement efforts, and specializes in developmental advising for Honors students. Prior to joining the Honors team, Sarah worked at both the secondary and post-secondary levels in Massachusetts, California, and her home state of North Carolina, with experience in college access, admissions, opportunity and new student programs, financial literacy, student success and advising, alumni affairs, and communications. Her research interests lie at the intersection of rurality and higher education. She received her B.A. in Women’s Studies with minors in Arabic and Education from Duke University in 2015 and her M.A. in Higher Education Administration from The University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2022.

Dr. Patricia Lin

Assistant Director, Curricular Pathways & Communications

• p.lin@northeastern.edu

Dr. Patricia Y.C.E. Lin is the Assistant Director for the Honors Program. She specializes in Honors Curriculum Planning and Honors Communication. Patricia brings more than 10 years’ experience in higher education to Honors, including as faculty, data analyst, creator and director of successful large-scale research/experiential programs to increase access to and graduation from highly competitive universities for high achieving low-income first-generation and URM students in STEM and all fields. Most of this occurred at the University of California, Berkeley where she also earned her MA/PhD in European History. She was a Fulbright Scholar to the United Kingdom. Her research and publications have focused on the impact of War on Families, Children and the State. She joins Honors after working in Northeastern University’s Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion in strategic planning. She graduated from Princeton University and as the child of immigrant parents who originally lived in Boston’s Chinatown, first learned English from Sesame Street.

Justin Silvestri

Associate Director

• j.silvestri@northeastern.edu

Justin Silvestri is an Associate Director for the Honors Program. Justin specializes in First Year Advising, Undergraduate Research, and Fellowship advising. He oversees Honors’ undergraduate research initiatives. He is a 2007 Fulbright Fellowship Alumni, having taught at conversational English in Sartrouville, France. He received his B.A. in History & French at Union College and earned his M.A. in History at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He is currently working on his Doctorate of Education at Northeastern University.