TUCSON HEBREW ACADEMY has hired EMILY ERNST LUNNE as director of finance, a role that also includes human resources and building maintenance oversight. Lunne is a native of Wyoming and a graduate of the University of Wyoming. She has been involved with many nonprofit organizations as an auditor, a board member, and an employee. Lunne began her career with Ernst and Young in Denver. After leaving public accounting, she moved to Maine where she filled financial and HR management roles in education, public safety, and wildlife research. Most recently, she was the director of finance and administration for a nonprofit economic development arm of the state of Maine.
In a strategic expansion, INTERFAITH COMMUNITY SERVICES has integrated Helping Hands for Single Moms Tucson, a local nonprofit that provides assistance for single mothers pursuing a college degree, into its continuum of services. The program has been renamed Single Mom Scholars. Lia Pierse, former executive director of HHT, assumes the new position of ICS self-sufficiency director and will continue to oversee the Single Mom Scholars program.
MELISSA LANDAU joins TUCSON HEBREW ACADEMY as a third grade teacher. Landau, a Tucson native, completed her bachelor’s degree in elementary education at the University of Arizona. Landau started her teaching career in Sahuarita as a second grade teacher, then filled a position at Lineweaver Elementary School in the Tucson Unified School District, and spent the last three years as a third grade teacher at Fruchthendler Elementary School. Her experience includes working with students in gifted and talented programs.
TUCSON HEBREW ACADEMY has appointed JACQUELYN OESTERBLAD as the upper-school history teacher. Oesterblad graduated from the University of Arizona, where she taught credit-bearing courses in international relations and ran the statewide educational programs for Arizona Model United Nations. She also taught classes for English-language learners, both in Tucson and abroad. Upon graduation, she was a teaching fellow at BASIS before joining THA.
