About our Faculty

Learn more about the Fine Arts, Theatre Arts and Digital Media Department faculty.

Department Chairperson

Scott M. Hathaway

Professor and Department Chairperson
Email: s.hathaway@hvcc.edu

Scott Hathaway is a longtime faculty member at Hudson Valley, having taught English Composition, Public Speaking, Advanced Journalism and Media and Culture courses since 1993 before becoming department chairperson for the Fine Arts, Theatre Arts and Digital Media department in 2015. Hathaway received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2004 and a SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2010. An alumnus of Hudson Valley with an associate degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences, Hathaway also earned his bachelor's degree in English and Teacher Education and his MA in English from the University at Albany.

Full-Time Faculty

Justin Baker

Assistant Professor
Email: j.baker@hvcc.edu
Website: www.justintbaker.com/

Justin Baker grew up in Greenwich, NY. He attended Sage Jr. College of Albany for two years and studied photography; the next two years were spent playing music and writing songs with his friends. Purchase College came next, where his artistic strides led him to printmaking and, again, photography. In 2007, Justin earned his MFA with a concentration in Combined Media at SUNY Albany. Justin teaches Digital Imaging and Web Art and Design at Hudson Valley Community College, and is also a board member of Collar Works Gallery in Troy, NY. He currently lives in Troy, NY with his wife Kyra; daughters Lola and Rona; cats Lulu and Lilly; and dog Luna.

Tara Fracalossi

Associate Professor / Gallery Director
Email: t.fracalossi@hvcc.edu
Website: www.tarafracalossistudio.com

Tara Fracalossi’s photographs, installations and videos have been exhibited widely, including in solo and group exhibits in New York City, Philadelphia, Houston, London, Vienna, Slovakia and Belgium, as well as Woodstock, New Paltz, Kingston, Hudson and Albany. She has received two Photographer’s Fund Fellowships from the Center for Photography at Woodstock, a Fulbright-Hays grant from the US Department of State, several grants from the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Mona Ruth Brickman Memorial Artist of the Year Award from Albany Center Gallery in Albany, NY.

Born in Jersey City, NJ, Fracalossi holds an MFA from the University at Albany, SUNY and a BA from the University of Vermont. A recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, as well a Museum Association of New York Merit Award, she has curated and organized exhibitions in galleries and museums for more than 25 years and is the founding director of Hudson Valley’s Teaching Gallery. She lives and works in a converted tractor barn on an aging orchard in Kinderhook, NY with her husband, artist Thomas Lail, and their son and dog.

Kyra Garrigue

Assistant Professor
Email: k.garrigue@hvcc.edu
Website: www.kyragarrigue.com/

Kyra Garrigue has an MFA in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BFA in Photography from The School of Visual Arts. In addition, she studied classical music at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She began working with electronic media in the mid-1990s, after purchasing her first video camera and experimenting with combining her backgrounds in music and photography to create audio-driven single- and multi-channel video pieces. Exploring the relationship between technology and art has continued to be an area of interest for her work, driving her to produce pieces that combine programming, video, audio and photography. Garrigue has presented her works throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, in exhibitions such as: “The New York Video Festival at Lincoln Center” in New York City; “The International Media Art Festival” at The Armenian Center for Contemporary Experimental Art; “CITYZOOMS” at The Uebersee Museum, in Germany; “Photophobia” at The Art Gallery of Hamilton, in Canada; and “Pulse” at The Bass Museum of Art, in Florida. Garrigue is an assistant professor of Digital Media at Hudson Valley Community College.

Thomas Lail

Professor
Email: t.lail@hvcc.edu
Website: www.thomaslailstudio.com

Professor Thomas Lail has taught drawing and painting at Hudson Valley Community College since 1993, and is a recipient of both the President's Award and the State University of New York Chancellor's Award. Lail exhibits his work widely in the region, as well as nationally and internationally. He holds an MFA from the University at Albany and a BS in Studio Art from The College of Saint Rose. He is a past recipient of numerous New York State Foundation for the Arts Special Opportunity Stipend awards, as well as a Fulbright-Hays award from the United States Department of State. A native of Upstate New York, Lail grew up across the street from a geodesic dome-- perhaps foreshadowing his current interest in utopian dreams.

Jean O’Malley

Assistant Professor
Email: j.omalley@hvcc.edu

Rosanne Raneri

Assistant Professor
Email: r.raneri@hvcc.edu

Instead of attending high school her senior year, Rosanne Raneri completed a year-long internship with the Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts (ESIPA) at The Egg in Albany. The experience fueled her love of theatre and immersed her in technical theatre training, acting and theatre studies, and professional production work. She went on to complete her BA in Theatre at SUNY Geneseo and her MA with concentrations in directing and feminist theory from SUNY Empire State College. She also completed actor training with Keith Eagle, student of Sanford Meisner.

Rosanne began teaching at Hudson Valley in 1996, becoming full-time in 2009 with the establishment of the college’s Theatre Arts Degree Program. In addition to teaching a variety of courses, Rosanne has directed numerous productions at the college. She received the President’s Award in 2009 and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018.

In addition to her work in theatre, Rosanne has enjoyed a regional career as a singer-songwriter for twenty years; her performances and recordings have received critical acclaim. She still loves making music and can occasionally be found playing the piano at the college's Maureen Stapleton Theatre.

Jason Kates van Staveren

Instructor
Email: j.vanstaveren@hvcc.edu
Website: www.jasonkatesvanstaveren.com

Jason Kates van Staveren’s works in photography, video and installation have been exhibited extensively across Upstate New York.

In 1999, a severe bicycle racing accident led him to study photography, video and filmmaking. Prior to and while studying art, Jason worked in the food service and construction industries. Years spent learning to work hard to pay the bills served him well academically and helped shape his artistic practice.

In 2004, Jason earned an Associate of Science in New Media from Tompkins Cortland Community College, graduating summa cum laude. In 2007, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Cinema and Photography from Ithaca College’s Park School of Communications, graduating magna cum laude while working as a newspaper photographer for the Ithaca Journal. When the paper downsized, he worked for a period as a video editor at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Macaulay Library before moving to Albany, NY to pursue graduate school. In 2015, he completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography and Combined Media at the University at Albany.

Later that year he resumed the teaching career he had begun as a graduate student, serving as a lecturer at both the University at Albany, where he taught Darkroom Photography and Digital Imaging, and at Hudson Valley Community College, where he taught Digital Imaging and Animation. In 2019, Jason became a full-time member of the Digital Media faculty at Hudson Valley and added Graphic Design and Professional Portfolio Practice to his teaching responsibilities.

Originally from Ithaca, NY, art and career opportunities led Jason and his family to settle in Delmar, where he maintains a studio and spends his free time cycling, gardening and grilling food with his family.