We want to extend a warm welcome to our new faculty members. Thank you for joining Team Northern!
Sneha Chakradhar
Assistant Professor of Arts and Human Services
Born in a family of littérateurs, professors and musicians in New Delhi, India, Sneha Chakradhar has carved a niche for herself in the invigorating worlds of academia and performing arts. An academic enthusiast, Sneha received her Ph.D. in Sociology in 2015 from Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi. Her case study of the Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam focused on the sociology of dance and performance. She was assistant professor in the Sociology Department at Janki Devi Memorial College, Delhi University from 2010-2013 and worked as a consultant for Shiv Nadar School in Delhi, India from 2015 to 2020, coordinating the arts program and designing the integrated arts curriculum. She has master’s degrees in Sociology (Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India) and in Theatre (UNSW, Sydney, Australia) along with a post-graduate diploma in Development Communication (AJKMCRC, New Delhi, India)
Sneha is an accomplished performing artist and has been practicing Bharatanatyam for over three decades. She has been trained by legendary gurus in India and has been a senior dancer with the Natya Vriksha Dance Company in New Delhi. She has traveled the world with her dance and performed at prestigious venues such as New York’s Lincoln Centre. In 2017, she had the privilege to perform for President Barack Obama on his official visit to India. A thinking artist and a passionate teacher, Sneha has always attempted to bring the arts into mainstream academic discourse and found it deeply enriching to understand social change through the prism of the arts.
Silvana Hernández Ortiz
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Silvana Hernández Ortiz has a master’s in Psychology from Universidad del Desarrollo and a PhD in Psychology from Universidad Católica del Maule, both universities in Chile. She has experience in organizational psychology and educational psychology. In recent years she has worked as a psychologist in educational environments of high social risk and with students at academic risk. Her doctoral thesis is in Critical Psychology, focusing on school repetition and school failure. Her research interests focus on the concept of subjectivities developed by Michel Foucault in school contexts, particularly with students and their families.
She was a speaker at the 2019 Critical Psychology Congress held at Northern New Mexico College, where she was able to share with the NNMC community.
Rachel Meiklejohn
Assistant Professor of Language and Letters
Rachel Meiklejohn expects to receive her PhD in Language and Literacy from the University of New Mexico this fall. She holds a master’s in education from Western New Mexico University and a bachelor’s from Colby College.
Over the past 20 years, Rachel was a classroom teacher on the Navajo Nation and in New Haven, CT, as well as an instructor at University of New Mexico, Gallup before transitioning into teacher development and curriculum design. For the last nine years, she has taught composition and technical communication classes as an adjunct faculty member at Northern New Mexico College. She looks forward to continuing this work as an assistant professor in the Language and Letters department.
Tara Terry Voit, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor/Director of Early Childhood Education
Dr. Voit earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and a Master’s in Business Administration/Organizational Psychology from American Intercontinental University and a PhD in Early Childhood Education from East Tennessee State University. She has taught early childhood education since 2016 at East Tennessee State University, Santa Fe Community College and Northern New Mexico College. Before assuming her current position, Dr. Voit was employed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Dr. Voit’s early advocacy work with minority children began in her own community: inspiring, engaging, and serving as a board member with the B.E.L.L. Foundation, Cambridge, MA. As an executive director, Dr. Voit managed, directed and taught in often marginalized preschool programs for public, private, Pueblo and Early Head Start/Head Start in Tennessee and New Mexico. She serves as a core board member for the New Mexico Reggio Emilia Exchange. Dr. Voit’s goal is to seed stronger educational models, provide hope and increase the value of New Mexico communities whose generations will benefit from directly resourced opportunities.
We also want to congratulate Johanna Case-Hofmeister on her promotion from Adjunct Faculty to Assistant Professor.
Johanna Case-Hofmeister
Assistant Professor of Arts & Humanities
Johanna Case-Hofmeister is a photographer and multimedia artist based in Tesuque, New Mexico. She holds an M.F.A from Yale University and a B.F.A from SUNY Purchase. Her work has been exhibited at the Aperture Foundation, Jenkins Johnson Gallery and the Bolinas Museum. In her work she employs the use of animal as metaphor to investigate difficult subjects centered around death, abuse and systematic oppression, whether affecting the personal, global or societal. In her most recent project, “Rib”, she has collaborated with scientists and a First Nation community in the Canadian Arctic researching the processes that occur after a whale mortality. In opera and theater, she has worked on productions for The Juilliard School, The Metropolitan Opera and LA Opera. Her work is held in national and international collections and can be seen at www.casehofmeister.com. She has taught as an adjunct faculty member at Northern New Mexico College since 2020 and is excited to bring her experience as an artist, researcher and educator to her new position as Assistant Professor of Arts & Humanities.
