At fall 2026 convocation August 24, FIT welcomed 22 new classroom and nonclassroom faculty members. Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs Yasemin Jones introduced the new hires.
Here is the complete list.
School of Art and Design
Joan Nicosia joins the Communication Design Pathways Department. Nicosia is an award-winning brand strategist with over 35 years of industry experience. As the founder and creative director of Nico Design Group LLC and former EVP/chief creative officer at Futurebrand Coleman LLC, she has led branding and sustainable design strategies for global giants like Coca-Cola, Nestlé, and Snapple.
An FIT alumna with a BFA in Packaging Design and graduate work at Fordham University, she also serves on the FIT Packaging Design Advisory Committee, actively mentors rising talent, and has been recognized by the Clio Awards, American Graphic Design Awards, and Graphic Design USA.
Mary Capozzi joins the Fashion Department in the Fashion Design–Art area. Capozzi is a fashion designer with over 16 years of teaching experience in her previous role as an adjunct instructor. Recognizing her exceptional contributions to student mentorship and curriculum development across AAS and BFA programs, she was honored as a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Adjunct Teaching winner in 2023.
Capozzi holds a Bachelor of Science from Empire State College. Her professional background includes two decades of industry experience as a senior designer specializing in children’s wear, sportswear, denim, and swimwear. In this capacity, she led trend forecasting and technical workflows for major retailers such as Target, Kohl’s, and JCPenney.
Eugene Ree joins the Fashion Department in the Fashion Design–Art area. Ree is a design director, consultant, and educator with an extensive track record of building multimillion-dollar global lifestyle brands. Ree holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and a BFA from the Parsons School of Design. His commercial background features nearly a decade as the senior director of design for men’s wovens at Banana Republic. His corporate background includes senior design roles at Ralph Lauren, DKNY, Gap, and Brooks Brothers. As a strategic consultant, he has led collection strategies for Vera Wang Black, Tahari, and West Elm, and spent a year as the lead wardrobe stylist for WNBC. His work and style have been featured by The Wall Street Journal, CBS Sunday Morning, and The New York Times.
Anastasia White joins the Fashion Department in the Fashion Design–Apparel area. White is a fashion designer and educator. In 2019, she founded Crescent Bleu, an eco-circularity-focused swimwear brand where she serves as creative director. Her entrepreneurial work has earned recognition, including the Silver & Riley Women Entrepreneurship Grant and first place in the Brooklyn Entrepreneurs Pitch Competition.
Before launching Crescent Bleu, White spent over a decade as design director and lead designer at Republic Clothing Group, where she led product development for major private label brands to retailers such as Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, and Macy’s. Earlier in her career, she held design roles at May Merchandising Company and Chelsea Cambell. She holds a BFA in fashion design from Washington University’s School of Art.
Georgina Bartlett joins the Fashion Department in the Fashion Design–Apparel area. Bartlett is a women’s wear design director, luxury apparel consultant, and fashion educator with experience spanning luxury ready-to-wear, outerwear, and couture. She holds an MA in fashion design womenswear from the Royal College of Art in London and a BA from the Winchester School of Art, complemented by a tailoring apprenticeship on London’s Savile Row. As an educator, she has taught at Bath Spa University and the Winchester School of Art.
In the high-fashion sector, Bartlett has spearheaded creative visions for premier fashion houses in New York and London. Her leadership includes roles as design director of precollection for Tory Burch, senior designer for Burberry, and a near-decade tenure as design director for runway at Donna Karan International. Her portfolio also features design roles for Calvin Klein Collection and Urban Zen, alongside high-profile special projects, including designing the 2005 royal wedding dress for Queen Camilla and crafting the wardrobe for Barbra Streisand’s U.S. tour.
Vera Iliatova joins the Fine Arts Department. Iliatova grew up in Leningrad (former Soviet Union) before immigrating to Brooklyn at 16. She received a BA from Brandeis University and an MFA in painting/printmaking from Yale University, with further study at the Skowhegan School of Art. Most recently, she has served as the Alex Katz Chair in Painting at Cooper Union and was a faculty member at Sarah Lawrence College. Her academic career also includes previous faculty positions at the University of California, Davis; Ursinus College; Pratt Institute; and the New York Academy of Art.
In her studio practice, Iliatova has earned recognition with recent solo exhibitions at Nathalie Karg Gallery in NYC and Fahrenheit Madrid in Spain, alongside museum group exhibitions at the Katonah Museum of Art and the Contemporary Jewish Museum. She has received prestigious accolades, including a New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellowship in painting, a Cafe Royale Cultural Foundation Grant, and a Marie Walsh Sharpe studio fellowship. Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Art in America, and Artforum.
Marcos Chin joins the Illustration and Interactive Media Department. Chin is an illustrator, commercial artist, and educator. A BFA graduate and department medal recipient from Ontario College of Art and Design University, where he has previously served as an adjunct undergraduate professor and graduate thesis advisor at the School of Visual Arts. His academic appointments also include illustration faculty roles at the Maryland Institute College of Art and Harbour Space in Bangkok, Thailand.
In his commercial practice, Chin delivers high-profile visual outputs for top tech, entertainment, and retail brands. His portfolio includes designing art for the Broadway musical Death Becomes Her, illustrating animation for a Mountain Dew commercial at the Sphere in Las Vegas, and collaborating with director David LaChapelle on character designs for Truly Hard Seltzer. He has also created visual campaigns for YouTube, Starbucks Reserve, and Banana Republic. A leader in the illustration community, Chin has served as chair for the Society of Illustrators 67th Annual Exhibition and has won multiple Gold and Silver Medals from the Society of Illustrators and the Society of Publication Designers.
Leoandy Santana joins the Illustration and Interactive Media Department in the Animation and Game Design area. Santana is an animator, visual effects artist, and educator with a background in compositing for major Hollywood blockbusters. He holds a BA in computer animation and visual effects from the School of Visual Arts. In his studio career, he has shaped visual effects, camera choreography, and dynamic simulations for premier firms like Framestore in London and The Third Floor in Los Angeles. His cinematic credits include the Marvel Cinematic Universe and other major franchises, including Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Thor: Love and Thunder, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Ms. Marvel, For All Mankind, Wicked, and How to Train Your Dragon.
Brice Garrett joins the Jewelry Design Department. He is a practicing artist, jeweler, and educator with over a decade of expertise in jewelry, metalsmithing, and small-scale sculpture. He holds an MFA from Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, Sweden, and a BA from San Diego State University. Previously, Garrett has taught at the Pratt Institute and the Parsons School of Design. In his professional practice, he manages Brice Garrett Fine Jewelry, works as a fabricator for the renowned artist Kiki Smith, and has designed private labels for Anthropologie and Free People. His work has been exhibited at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) and Urban Glass. His awards include a NYFA Award, a Center for Craft grant, and an international residency at the Jakob Bengel Foundation in Germany.
Amie Cheong joins the Textile/Surface Design Department. Cheong is a textile designer and design executive. She holds an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and a BFA from FIT, graduating as the college’s 2008 Valedictorian. She currently serves on the FIT Industry Advisory Board for the Textile/Surface Design department, helping align higher education curricula with evolving sector standards.
In the professional sector, Cheong most recently was the head design manager at West Elm, leading teams in conceptualizing and launching major home categories, including rugs, window treatments, and bedding. Her corporate background also includes serving as design director for BCP Home and creating hand-drawn, production-ready artwork for Fortuny’s 100th anniversary collection in Venice, Italy. As an educator, she has served as an assistant professor at Keimyung University in South Korea and as an adjunct faculty member at both FIT and RISD, teaching advanced CAD, dobby weaving, and jacquard design. An award-winning artist, her work has also been recognized and exhibited globally.
Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology
Jamyn Edis joins the Marketing Communications Department. He is a seasoned executive, data strategist, entrepreneur, and educator with nearly three decades of leadership at the intersection of tech, media, and artificial intelligence. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and both a BA and an MA from the University of Cambridge. In higher ed, Edis has served as an adjunct at NYU Stern, developing and teaching the MBA/EMBA “New Media and Marketing” curriculum. He has also taught at Columbia University and served as an executive-in-residence at the Berkeley Center for Innovation. He is the author of the forthcoming book, The Fifth Horseman: AI and Humanity’s Judgment Day.
In his corporate career, Edis has served as a corporate consultant and private equity operating partner, leading AI initiatives for Fortune 500 companies. His executive background includes serving as the head of corporate data and analytics at Pearson, head of data science and analytics at Take-Two Interactive, and vice president of consumer technology and R&D at HBO, where he patented broadcast data software. As an entrepreneur, he was the CEO and co-founder of Dash Labs, a venture-backed connected car platform named one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Companies of 2018 for Data Science.” He is a frequent speaker whose insights have been featured in the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wired, and Bloomberg.
Jeanne Salvatore joins the Marketing Communications Department. Salvatore is a PR executive, consultant, and author specializing in corporate communications, crisis management, and media relations. She is widely recognized by her peers as a top-tier leader and authority in the communications industry. She is the recipient of the Public Relations Society of America’s prestigious John W. Hill and President Awards. Previously a lecturer at Seton Hall University, she has taught integrated communications and crisis management and co-authored Strategic Public Relations Writing (Routledge), with an updated edition releasing in 2027 with a focus on the ethical use of AI in PR writing. Her extensive academic background includes prior faculty roles at City College of New York, Iona University, and Columbia University.
Professionally, Salvatore was the president of JMS Consulting and a certified executive coach. She previously spent decades at the Insurance Information Institute as chief engagement and communications officer, serving as an industrywide spokesperson through historic disasters such as hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. A regular expert commentator on networks including ABC, CNN, and the BBC, she is a past president of the Public Relations Society of America’s New York chapter and serves on the board of the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation. Salvatore holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Villanova University and a master’s in communications from Columbia University.
Christina Lee joins the Fashion Business Management Department. Lee is a fashion branding executive and entrepreneur. An FIT graduate with a BFA in Fabric Styling and an AAS in Fashion Merchandising Management, she has served as an FIT adjunct faculty member and Sustainability Council Board Member since 2018. Within the Fashion Business Management Department, she has taught fashion industry fundamentals, sustainability, and social media branding, while also developing certificate programs in Personal Branding and Startup Marketing for the Center for Continuing and Professional Studies.
In the commercial sector, Lee is the principal of The Branding Team, a New York–based agency she founded in 2010 specializing in brand development, creative direction, and PR strategy. Previously, she spent a decade at Kellwood Corporation, rising to vice president of branding for Baby Phat and Kimora Lee Simmons. In this executive role, she worked directly with Simmons, managed over 20 licensees, and spearheaded global partnerships with Hello Kitty, Motorola, Mattel, and Coty, playing an integral role in driving Baby Phat to global retail sales exceeding $700 million.
Anthony Millero joins the Fashion Business Management Department. Millero was most recently a lecturer of fashion merchandising at Marist University and is a doctoral candidate in consumer and design sciences at Auburn University. Millero’s research and teaching focus on sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and ethical labor practices. Over his academic career, he has developed curricula spanning product development, trend forecasting, and supply chain management at institutions including the Miami Fashion Institute and Auburn University. Prior to entering higher education, Millero spent nearly two decades leading merchandising strategies for major global brands, notably serving as the director of merchandising for Donna Karan. He holds an MPS in Global Fashion Management from the Fashion Institute of Technology and a BA from New York University.
Kristin Cella joins the Home Products Development Department. Cella is an accomplished senior-level merchant and collaborative leader with nearly two decades of experience driving high-volume retail and e-commerce strategies. An FIT graduate with a BS in Fashion Business Management, she was also a Fashion Scholarship Fund Scholar. Most recently, she served as senior buyer for housewares and tabletop at Big Lots.
Cella’s career also includes a nine-year tenure at Ross Stores Inc., where she scaled direct import businesses and successfully launched a sustainable private-label cookware program that delivered $24 million in sales. She also brought omnichannel expertise from her foundational years at Macy’s.com, where she optimized “bricks and clicks” merchandising and site strategies across home and apparel categories. An expert in global supply chains and cultivating international vendor partnerships, Cella is equally dedicated to mentorship, actively coaching and designing customized learning plans to develop the next generation of retail buyers.
School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Amy L. Frick, PhD, joins the Science and Math Department in the biomaterials area. Frick is a neuroscientist, researcher, and educator with expertise spanning biological sciences, neuroscience, and data analytics. She holds a PhD and an MSc in biomedical sciences from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and a BSc in cognitive neuroscience from SUNY Empire State College.
In her research career, Frick utilizes bioinformatics—including RNA-sequencing and epigenetic modeling. Her findings have been published in major journals such as Biological Psychiatry and Cell Reports. Beyond higher education, she tutors students with diverse learning differences through Bespoke Education and the Churchill School, and maintains active memberships in the Biomimicry Institute, the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, and the New York Academy of Sciences.
Lindsay Sabatino, PhD, joins the English and Communication Studies Department. Sabatino’s areas of focus are composition, digital rhetoric, and multimodal design, with experience in writing and communication center administration. She holds a PhD in English: composition and applied linguistics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, an MA from St. John’s University, and a BA from Drew University. Most recently, she was an associate professor of English and director of the Writing Center at Wagner College, where she led major programmatic initiatives, including designing undergraduate minors in communications and digital studies and enhancing multimodal composing curricula.
Sabatino’s administrative background includes founding and directing the first Digital ACT Studio at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and directing the Online Writing Center at IUP. An active researcher, she is the co-editor of Multimodal Composing: Strategies for Twenty-First-Century Writing Consultations (Utah State University Press), with scholarship published in journals such as Computers and Composition. Her work has been recognized with the Wagner College Faculty Exceptional Performance Award and an Andrew W. Mellon grant, and she serves on the steering committee for the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing.
Kendall Stephenson, PhD, joins the Social Sciences Department in the Economics area. Stephenson is an economist, policy analyst, and researcher specializing in public finance, political economy, urban/regional economics, and labor. He holds a PhD in economics from Colorado State University, an MA from The New School for Social Research, and a BS from the University of Utah. Professionally, Stephenson served as a senior fiscal policy analyst for the Colorado Fiscal Institute, developing data-driven research to inform economic proposals. Previously, he spent five years as a senior economist for the New York City Council, providing technical and financial guidance to the city’s budget negotiation team.
Stephenson has also contributed to regional and equity-focused initiatives through fellowships at the Regional Economic Development Institute (REDI) and the University of California, Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute. As an educator, he has taught courses in public finance, international finance, and macroeconomics at Colorado State University. His peer-reviewed research has appeared in journals such as Occupational Health Science and Economies, and he regularly presents at national conferences, including the Association for Budgeting and Financial Management.
Dorota Szlek, PhD, joins the Science and Math Department in the biomaterials area. Szlek holds a PhD in fiber science from Cornell University’s College of Human Ecology, researching sustainable fibers and nonwovens derived from agricultural residues and biobased materials. Working in the Frey Lab Group, she investigated lignin valorization through electrospinning and wet-spinning to develop plant-based alternatives to petroleum textiles. Szlek brings a unique interdisciplinary perspective to her work, combining materials science with over a decade of industry experience in accessories design and fabric development at companies like Calvin Klein and PVH Corp.
She holds dual master’s degrees in forest biomaterials and textiles from North Carolina State University and an AAS in Accessories Design from FIT. Her peer-reviewed research has appeared in the journals Fibers and BioResources, and she has presented at major conferences including the American Chemical Society. Her work has been supported by multiple fellowships, including a Northeastern Sun Grant and Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability funding. Alongside her research, Szlek is an active educator, mentor, and advocate for neurodiversity and LGBTQ+ inclusion in STEM.
Mikayla Torres, PhD, joins the English and Communication Studies Department. Torres holds a PhD in communication from the University of Colorado Boulder, specializing in the intersection of rhetoric, race, migrant rights, and urban displacement. Her scholarship utilizes rhetorical theory and archival methods to examine how race, empire, and elimination shape public discourse around space and belonging. She also holds an MA from Syracuse University—where her thesis focused on antidisplacement activism in Boyle Heights—and dual BA degrees from St. John’s University.
An active contributor to her field, Torres serves on the Rhetoric Society of America Board of Directors. Her research is published in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Environmental Communication and the Routledge Handbook on Rhetoric and Power, and she regularly presents at major national conferences. Torres is also an award-winning teacher, having served as instructor of record for courses on social movements, rhetorical methods, and identity, and is committed to community engagement and institutional DEI initiatives.
Enrollment Management and Student Success
Ze-Enna Jenkins joins Admissions as an admissions counselor. Jenkins brings extensive expertise in higher education and community engagement to FIT. Most recently, she was the associate director of admissions at Mercy University, leading enrollment initiatives. Her background also includes management roles at Westchester Community College, the New York Urban League, and NBCUniversal. Deeply committed to service, she is also an active volunteer with the First Corinthian Baptist Church and the Urban League. Jenkins holds a master’s in organizational leadership from Mercy University and a BS in International Trade and Marketing from FIT.
Vasiliki (Vicki) Torres, PhD, joins the Counseling Center. Torres is a licensed clinical social worker and suicidologist with over two decades of experience in college mental health, crisis intervention, and clinical leadership. She holds a PhD in suicidology and psychodynamic theory from Smith College School of Social Work, along with an MSW from Hunter College and advanced trauma certification from NYU.
Torres has held senior clinical leadership roles at some of New York’s leading academic institutions, including associate director of counseling and medical health services at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, director of counseling services at CUNY Bronx Community College, and director of counseling and psychological services at Mount Saint Vincent University. Across these roles, she has led crisis-response and threat-assessment programs, supervised large clinical teams, developed suicide-prevention and peer-mentorship initiatives, and provided care to tens of thousands of students navigating psychiatric crisis, trauma, and identity-based challenges. She currently maintains a private practice and consults with Columbia University, NYU, and Manhattan College.