Berkshire Community College Welcomes New Staff Members

Berkshire Community College (BCC) announces the addition of five new staff members.

Meghan Callaghan joins BCC as Dean of Teaching and Learning. She will lead the Division of Teaching and Learning Innovation. Callaghan arrives from Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC), where she worked in several roles over the past 13 years. Her responsibilities included coordinating the Office of Community Engagement, expanding outcome and assessment work into the co-curricular, serving as BHCC's Massachusetts Community College Council union president, being a founding member of the Center of Equity and Cultural Wealth and, most recently, serving as the Associate Director of Academic Innovation and Distance Education. She received a master of arts degree in Critical and Creative Thinking from UMASS Boston and a bachelor of arts degree in English Literature from Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. She will be relocating to the Berkshires with her partner and two aging cats after living in the Boston area for the past 15 years.

Jennifer Filippi joins BCC as Accountant III in the Business Office. Filippi was most recently an assistant accountant for the Town of Dalton. She has more than ten years of accounting-related experience, including payroll, billing, accounts payable, bank reconciliations, collections, purchase orders and various reconciliations. Filippi is also familiar with the Massachusetts Management Accounting and Reporting System (MMARS) through her experience working at the Dalton and Pittsfield town halls. Currently a student at BCC, she anticipates graduating in December 2022 with a major in business management and continue on to MCLA to obtain her accounting degree. In her spare time, Jennifer enjoys walking her dogs and scuba diving.

Dr. Erin Lynn joins BCC as Director of Academic Operations. With nearly 18 years of experience in student affairs, she most recently served as an academic learning specialist at the New York College of Podiatric Medicine (NYCPM). She began her career at her alma mater, Arkansas State University, working first as an administrative assistant, then as an academic advisor and finally as student outreach coordinator. She then moved to New York to be the Director of Retention and Student Success at LIM College prior to her position at NYCPM. Dr. Lynn earned a bachelor of arts degree and a master of arts degree in sociology, an education specialist degree in community college administration and, in 2021, was awarded a doctor of education in educational leadership. She is moving to the area with her fiancé Alan and her dog Lea, and she has an adult son in graduate school in Louisville, Kentucky.

Matthew Palardy joins BCC as Tutorial Assistant after 11 years as a community tutor at BCC specializing in humanities and social sciences. During that time, he developed innovative ways to impart academic, organizational and research skills to BCC students and was named BCC's Tutor of the Year in 2014. He has also worked as a private tutor for students in high schools and in other colleges, homeschooled students and taught English-language learners. Palardy is currently completing a master of arts degree in philosophy through St. Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry while regularizing a bachelor's degree by testing equivalency through Excelsior College. He serves as a liturgist for Traditional Latin Mass communities in the Diocese of Albany and a coordinator of international discussion groups concerning philosophy, politics, religion and culture. He resides in Richmond.

Seth T. Tuper joins BCC as Institutional Security Officer. A lifelong resident of Berkshire County, he is married with four children. Tuper graduated from St. Joseph Central High School in Pittsfield in 2003 and attended Castleton State College from 2003 – 2007; he continues to work on completing his bachelor of arts degree in psychology. He is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, with 14 years in the Massachusetts Army National Guard and four state activations for emergencies. Tuper has more than 20 years of experience in emergency services, with the last 10 years specifically dedicated to the security field. He prefers hot chocolate to coffee, finds thunderstorms relaxing and dabbles in paronomasia (play on words) — in fact, he once sent 10 entries into a pun contest hoping to win. Unfortunately, no pun in ten did.