CAS Welcomes New Faculty

New Faculty

Gregory Bordelon

Assistant Professor
Political Science and Legal Studies Department

Professor Bordelon brings more than two decades of experience teaching, mentoring, and preparing students for careers in the legal field.

Before joining Suffolk, Bordelon was the director of academic success at the University of Maine School of Law, where he taught classes on legal methods and reasoning, foundations of bar skills, and trusts and estates. He previously was a professor of practice and the director of bar success at the University of Baltimore School of Law and taught in the Wichita State University Barton School of Business.

Bordelon has extensive experience in designing bar exam preparation and classes and many other aspects of student success. At Monmouth University, he served as university pre-law advisor, lecturer of legal studies as well as director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. There, he started both the mock trial and moot court intercollegiate competition teams, coaching both programs to national levels of competition. He also developed or co-created courses and programs at Monmouth in legal studies, the American judiciary, and social justice. Between stints in higher education, Bordelon returned to his native Louisiana to serve as executive director for the Louisiana Supreme Court Committee on Bar Admissions, overseeing Louisiana bar exam test development and assessment integrity as well as attorney admission character and fitness processes.

His research interests are primarily in the field of legal intersectional studies and how legal frameworks from one subject can be used to inform and resolve problems in other legal subjects. Bordelon’s secondary research field is in federalism and intergovernmental relationships. He also researches contemporary issues of legal education and comparative legal licensure and attorney professional responsibility.

Bordelon received his BA from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and his JD from Louisiana State University, Paul M. Hebert Law Center.

Pascale Florestal

Visiting Guest Artist Professor in Practice
Theatre Department

Pascale Florestal is the director of education at the Front Porch Arts Collective, a Black theater company founded in 2017 to advance racial equity. This year, she is joining the Suffolk faculty as a visiting guest artist and professor. In addition to teaching a First-Year Seminar on the Boston Theater Scene, Ensemble Singing, Arts & Culture from the African Diaspora, and Theater at Work she will also direct the fall main stage show at the Modern Theatre, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Professor Florestal is an Elliot Norton-nominated director, educator, dramaturg, writer, and collaborator. Her recent directing credits include: Fairview with SpeakEasy Stage, Spring Awakening at Brandeis University, The Colored Museum with the Umbrella Performing Arts Center, Once On This Island with SpeakEasy Stage, This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing with Emerson Stage, Everybody with Boston Conservatory, and others. She is the associate producer of The Reading Series, Black Out Events, and other productions. As an assistant to the director she has worked with Timothy Douglas, Liesl Tommy, Billy Porter, Paul Daigneault, and M. Bevin O'Gara. Florestal served as the associate director to Gil Rose on X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X with Odyssey Opera and Kimberly Senior on Our Daughters, Like Pillars at The Huntington Theater. She also serves as the associate director for The Broadway National Tour of Jagged Little Pill.

In 2021 Florestal was named one of the WBUR ARTery 25 Artists of Color Transforming the Cultural Landscape in Boston. In 2020 she won the Inaugural Greg Ferrell Award for her excellence in teaching and supporting young people. Florestal is an assistant professor of theater at Boston Conservatory at Berklee College of Music and is a full member of the SDC Union.

Brian Freeman

Clinical Coordinator and Instructor
Radiation Therapy program, Biology Department

Radiation therapy clinical coordinator and instructor Brian Freeman comes to Suffolk with extensive experience and insight in the field.

For 13 years, Professor Freeman honed his expertise in radiation therapy as a staff therapist at Lahey Medical Center in Peabody, Massachusetts, eventually advancing to the role of lead radiation therapist. In 2018, he embarked on a teaching journey as an adjunct instructor for the Radiation Therapy Program at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences (MCPHS), initially focusing on hands-on skills labs. He expanded his instructional responsibilities to include courses within the School of Medical Imaging and Therapeutics at MCPHS. In 2021, he became an active member of a grassroots initiative originating at Mount Sinai Health System dedicated to expanding the scope of radiation therapy and introducing a novel role in healthcare: the advanced practicing radiation therapist. Collaborating closely with fellow members, Freeman authored two publications, "An Environmental Scan of Advanced Practice Radiation Therapy in the United States: A PESTEL Analysis" and "Working Toward Advanced Practice Radiation Therapy in the United States," both released in early 2023.

Freeman is originally from New Jersey and relocated to New England to pursue his college education at MCPHS, earning a Bachelor of Science in Radiologic Sciences, specializing in Radiation Therapy.

Sarai Garcia-Santos

Instructor
History, Language and Global Culture Department

As she joins the Department of History, Language and Global Culture (HLGC), Saraí García is dedicated to incorporating cultural awareness into the classroom through language, literature, and the arts.

Professor Garcia looks forward to expanding the community of students interested in Spanish culture and language through a more cosmopolitan approach of what it means to understand and connect with the Hispanic world from the US. This fall, she will inaugurate the first sessions of the Spanish Book Club, as well as the Movie Club, and advocate for more visibility and diversity in the students’ academic life through the events and activities of the HLGC department

Garcia is a PhD candidate in Hispanic Language and Literature at BU’s Department of Romance Studies, where she will soon be defending her doctoral thesis. Her research focuses on the child subject as a fundamental agent for the reconstruction of the Nation-State consciousness during the post-revolutionary period in Mexico. She is particularly interested in revisiting those narratives that complicated the national project at its very inception, as well as the intersections with cultural institutions, identities, race, activism, literary traditions, geopolitical, and historical developments that gave way to a polyphony of perceptions and representations of childhood in the global scope. She has taught at the undergraduate level on these topics, as well as Latin American studies, and has worked as a copyeditor for children's literature books at Penguin Random House in the US and Mexico, where she has contributed to an ongoing relationship with the multilingual and intercultural exchanges in the editorial world.

Mocha Herrup

Instructor
Communication, Journalism & Media Department

Professor Herrup brings a wealth of teaching experience to their role at Suffolk, as well as diverse professional experience as a scholar, producer, director, writer/creator, correspondent, educational outreach designer, storyteller, performer, crew member, and comedian. 

Starting as a senior lecturer at Suffolk in 2021, Herrup has taught courses in production, intros to speech communication and media/film criticism, as well as Documentary and Social Issues and Honors Visual Aesthetics. Before coming to Suffolk, they were a professor in the Radio-TV-Film Department at Austin Community College and served as an artist-in-residence in the University of Washington’s interdisciplinary arts program.

Herrup’s research includes computer mediated spaces, experimental documentary, and the performance of gender. Their award-winning short films have screened at SXSW, in festivals around the world, on the Sundance Channel, and the Walker Arts Center. In addition to teaching at Suffolk, Herrup is a film festival organizer and curates films for the New Bedford Art Museum.

Herrup holds a PhD in Radio-TV-Film from the University of Texas.

Ummul-Kiram Kathawalla

Assistant Professor of Clinical Practice
Psychology Department

Professor Kathawalla uses an integrative, person-centered approach in her teaching, supervision, and clinical work that focuses on an individual’s cultural experience, identity, and values. Her goal is to support supervisees and clients as they foster personal growth and live life according to their values.

She has expertise in conducting multiple evidenced-based treatments including, but not limited to: acceptance and commitment therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia, cognitive processing therapy for PTSD, dialectical behavioral therapy, integrative behavioral couples therapy, and career counseling; as well as group therapies, including pregnancy and postpartum anxiety group, and race-based stress and empowerment group. Kathawalla also has expertise conducting multiple psychological and diagnostic assessments (e.g., career assessments, MMPI, WAIS).

Kathawalla also conducts research on how discrimination, life stress, and sociocultural contexts contribute to the development and persistence of identity development and wellbeing in minorities. She uses this understanding to develop and examine culturally-informed interventions and technology that consider individual differences and experiences to serve marginalized populations. These lines of research build upon each other so that she can move the field of applied ethnic minority psychology forward using rigorous mixed methodology and transparent, open science research practices with a strong commitment to diversity and social justice.

Kathawalla received her BS in human development and psychological services with a minor in global health from Northwestern University. She earned both her MS and her PhD in counseling psychology from the University of Minnesota.

YiQing Lü

Instructor
Biology Department

Cancer geneticist YiQing Lü joins the Biology Department this fall, bringing a passion for science, teaching, and culture to Suffolk.

Lü’s research is in functional genomics and proteomics, with a focus on the cancer biology of the p53 tumor suppressor protein and human adenoviruses. His teaching interest lies in the scholarship of learning. He is excited to contribute to the continued excellence in both teaching and research within the biology department, and looks forward to hosting events focused on student life, learning, and community outreach, and to promoting research opportunities.

A native of Beijing, China, Lü completed his undergraduate and master’s study in biochemistry at McGill University in Montreal, followed by a doctoral program in cancer genetics at Mount Sinai Hospital and the University of Toronto.

Michele Ramirez

Instructor
Psychology Department

Deeply committed to mentorship, Professor Ramirez believes in the transformative power of personal guidance and support in the educational journey. She also studies how cultural and individual differences impact the learning process. In her teaching, she employs various experiential learning techniques to provide students with opportunities to bridge the gap between theory and real-life problem-solving.

Ramirez was on the faculty at Pine Manor College for more than 20 years, assuming administrative positions as department chair, internship coordinator, and assistant dean of foundational learning. She has developed hands-on courses in mentorship and community-based research. In her mentorship course, undergraduate students gain valuable experience while contributing positively to the development of children and adolescents in partnership with human service organizations. In her research course, students learn the skills they need to help local community organizations address pressing challenges. These initiatives not only benefit the community by providing valuable insights and support, but also allow students to apply their academic knowledge in a real-world context, enhancing both their skills and understanding.

Ramirez holds a PhD in educational psychology from the University of Connecticut with a concentration in cognition and instruction and master’s in counseling psychology from Boston College.

Harinder Singh

Instructor
Biology Department

Professor Singh combines expertise in the research setting with a focus on the wellbeing of his students, incorporating wellness practices into his teaching.

He comes to Suffolk’s Biology Department from the Department of Plant and Soil Science at Texas Tech University, where he taught courses in genetics and horticulture and prioritized a culture of lab safety. Before that, he developed his undergraduate teaching and mentoring skills through roles in the University of California San Francisco Fresno Medical Education Program and at Texas Tech University Waco.

Singh’s graduate research focused on the development of safe and effective nematicides utilizing organic chalcones and peptides derived from programmed cell death pathways. During years of experience in the laboratory setting, he has honed specialized expertise in various molecular biology techniques, including PCR, gel electrophoresis, protein expression and isolation, and UV-Vis Spectrophotometry.

Singh received his Bachelor of Technology degree in biotechnology from Punjab Technical University in Jalandhar, India, and his Master of Science in biology at California State University in Fresno, California.