Westminster College welcomed four new faculty members to the campus community for the 2024-2025 academic year. Joining the College in the School of Education are Dr. Emily Mazzant and Kristen Czubiak, while the School of Music added Aaron Himes and JaKobe Henry to its teaching and conducting roster.

From working directly with special education students, professionals and future educators, Mazzant, assistant professor of special education, brings 15 years of special education and early intervention experience to Westminster’s School of Education. She currently teaches courses in behavior management and high- and low-incidence strategies and provides observation and assessment for PreK-12 students.

Mazzant most recently was a full-time instructor in Slippery Rock University’s College of Education, where she taught courses in special education processes and procedures, early intervention practices and differentiated literacy instruction. She also supervised special education and early childhood education student teachers. She also was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh.

Mazzant has extensive experience working in the Pennsylvania public school system, having served as an intervention specialist for grades seven through 12 in the Pine-Richland School District. She has also worked as a special education teacher in the Mars, Bradford and Seneca Valley school districts. She was the director of special education, and later a consultant, for Promise Community Schools in Houston, Texas, and a learning specialist for KIPP Houston High School.

She earned an undergraduate degree in special education and teaching, a master’s in special education supervision and a doctorate in special education and teaching, all from Slippery Rock University. She also holds a Wilson Dyslexia Practitioner certification from Drexel University.

Czubiak M’11, lecturer of curriculum and instruction, has been a public school administrator and educator for more than 30 years. She teaches courses in educational psychology, educational foundations and general education methods.

From 2019 until her retirement in June, she served as the elementary school principal in the Slippery Rock (Pa.) Area School District, where she previously spent several years as the high school assistant principal. For 25 years prior, she was an elementary school teacher in the Laurel School District in New Castle, Pa., where she taught all grade levels from kindergarten through sixth grade. During that time, she also spent five years as the K-6 computer teacher and two years as the K-6 gifted teacher. During her tenure, she was a cooperating teacher and mentor for many student teachers placed in her district.

Czubiak earned her undergraduate degree in elementary education from Grove City College. She holds a master’s degree in education and a K-12 principal certification from Westminster College.

Himes, instructor of music, director of bands and coordinator of music education, teaches courses in music education and instrumental conducting. Additionally, he directs the Westminster College Titan Marching Band, the Symphonic Band and the Wind Ensemble.  

Himes had been serving as an instructor and graduate assistant at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., since 2019. His teaching duties included teaching brass methods and assisting with quantitative research methods and instrumental methods courses for undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to his teaching duties at Northwestern, he also conducted various ensembles including the Northwestern University Concert Band, the Northwestern University Purple Band, the Northwestern University Basketball Band and the Northwestern University Marching Band.

Prior to Northwestern, he served as a music teacher in the Juniata (Pa.) County School District, where his duties included teaching elementary and junior high bands, junior high choruses and teaching general music. He also taught in the Wyalusing (Pa.) Area School District, was an assistant director of bands to the Mifflinburg (Pa.) Area High School Band and taught tuba and euphonium at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa. He has performed extensively with various ensembles, offered regular recitals on tuba and served as a guest soloist in his career.

Himes holds an undergraduate degree in music education from Susquehanna University and a master’s in music performance from the University of North Texas. He is currently a doctoral candidate in music education at Northwestern University.

Henry, teaching fellow, has joined School of Music through the Westminster College Diversity Teaching Fellows Program. Henry directs the Jazz Ensemble, Trumpet Ensemble and teaches curriculum within the College’s First-Year Program.
    
Prior to earning the fellowship, Henry served as an adjunct professor at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill. He spends his summers working with the Sacramento Mandarins Drum and Bugle Corps and composing music.

He received his undergraduate degree in music education from Jacksonville (Ala.) State University in 2020. He holds a master’s degree in classical trumpet performance and literature from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he is also pursuing his doctorate degree in jazz performance.

For more information about academic programming at Westminster College, contact Dr. Jamie McMinn, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college, at 724-946-7121 or mcminnjg@westminster.edu.

Pictured above from left are Dr. Emily Mazzant, Kristen Czubiak, Aaron Himes and JaKobe Henry.

More Stories