Administration

Shea Scruggs is an accomplished arts administrator, educator, and former professional oboist whose career spans leadership in top music institutions, orchestral performance, and advocacy for equity in the arts. With a background in admissions, institutional research, and student experience, he has led initiatives to expand access to classical music and support the next generation of artists.

Scruggs previously served as Chief Enrollment Officer and Director of Institutional Research and Musician Experience at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he played a key role in shaping student life, alumni engagement, and data-informed decision-making.

He holds degrees from Swarthmore College, the Curtis Institute of Music, and Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. As a performer, he held principal oboe positions with the San Francisco Opera, Cincinnati Symphony, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

A founding member of the Black Orchestral Network, Scruggs is a national voice for diversity and inclusion in classical music. His work has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and other national platforms.

Photo by Mike Peters

Stephanie Haggerstone is an experienced arts administrator whose career spans production management, arts programming, and nonprofit leadership across major cultural institutions in the U.S. and the U.K. She brings a deep understanding of both creative and financial operations in the performing arts.

Before joining the John J. Cali School of Music, Haggerstone served in the Office of Arts + Cultural Programming at Montclair State University for six years. She previously worked at the Metropolitan Opera as Production Finance Manager, where she supported large-scale productions through strategic budgeting and operational planning.

She earned her MBA from Ashridge Business School in England, completing her dissertation in partnership with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Her earlier career includes more than fifteen years in the nonprofit sector, with experience in regional, downtown New York, and Off-Broadway theaters.

Haggerstone is committed to building systems that support artistic excellence and long-term sustainability in the performing arts.

A specialist in Opera and Musical Theatre, Professor Richards teaches private composition students, Acting for the Singer (a course in which students learn to integrate their music theoretical/literary analysis with actor preparation), and the occasional course in Musical Theatre history.

He is an award winning composer/librettist whose creative works have resided at various addresses around the intersection of Jazz, Opera, and Musical theatre. His most recent opera, Blind Injustice (with librettist David Cote) premiered with direction by Robin Guarino at Cincinnati Opera in 2019 to a sold out run and national critical acclaim. The live CD/Album was cited by Opera News as one of the 5 Best New Opera Recordings of 2022 and was produced with great press fanfare by Montclair State’s Peak Performances in February of 2024.https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0jlhcq7q8cj1zo15hgc2d/PEAK-BI-NYT-Feature-Pring-021624.pdf?rlkey=pl9gt52dd8v1f5gy8afbuc523&dl=0

He has completed commissions for The Public Theater; The Rumble of Myth (with Marcus Gardley) and the TONY Winning Signature Theatre (VA) The Break (with Michele Lowe). The New York City Opera has performed two Richards works as a part of its Vox Festival of new opera; A Star Across The Ocean – Paris 1965 featuring Tony Award Winner, Chuck Cooper and Charlie Crosses the Nation, An Opera in Jazz Idiom. He was commissioned by Paulette Haupt, Artistic Director of The O’Neill Theatre Center’s National Musical Theatre Conference to compose A Thousand Words Come to Mind (with Michele Lowe) for the inaugural set of her Inner Voices one-person musical monologue series. Other musical theatre works include music for Coyote Goes Salmon Fishing (written with Deborah Brevoort) directed by Molly Smith at Perseverance Theatre/produced by Stuart Ostrow in Houston) and the original score for A Christmas Story The Musical at Kansas City Rep.

His play-scores have been heard at resident theatres around the country including The Yale Rep, Alliance, Center Stage, Madison Rep, Powerhouse and New Federal.

Works for children include a number of commissions from Theatreworks U. S. A.; Corduroy (music, lyrics, orchestration), Sundiata! The Lion King of Mali (music, lyrics, orchestration), Island of the Blue Dolphins (orchestrations) and Junie B. Jones (orchestrations.)

As an actor, Mr. Richards originated the role of Sylvester (the stuttering nephew who almost ruins the recording session) in the historic original Broadway production of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and assisted his father, Director Lloyd Richards in the origination and Broadway premieres of three other Wilson works.

A recipient of the Jonathan Larson, Frederick Loewe, Shen Family Foundation, Meet the Composer, and the NJ State Council on the Arts Composition Awards, he taught on the faculty of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program from 1997-2009 has remained a regular guest teacher.

As of today, he is hard at work on a new opera Robeson/Moscow with co-librettist David Cote which was workshopped at Cincinnati Opera’s Opera Fusion: New Works in 2023.

M. F. A. New York University Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program
B. A. Yale University

Andy Dickerson joins Cali from his most recent position at Montclair State University as Production Manager with College of the Arts Performance Operations (CPO).  Prior to joining Montclair, he served as Associate Technical Director and Facilities Manager with Performance Space New York, and Production Manager at the Times Center and for the New York Times Live department for the TimesTalks and ScreenTimes programs for off-site events.  Andy has been designing theatrical lighting for over 20 years with a focus on dance, working with local, national and international artists, having long-standing collaborations with the New York Butoh Institute/Vangeline Theater, Jessica Gaynor Dance, Peter Kyle Dance, and Launch Movement Experiment among many others. From 2002 to 2016 he was instrumental in the development of the facilities and presentation programs of Triskelion Arts in Greenpoint, Brooklyn where he also served as the President of the Board of Directors from 2016 through 2021.

B.S. New York University, Music Education

A resident of Nutley, NJ, percussionist and composer Taylor Goodson performs with some of the best musicians in the region and composes for a wide variety of ensembles. He is currently principal tympanist of the Montclair Orchestra and the FEA Symphony and performs with many other organizations such as the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the New Jersey Festival Orchestra. As a composer, his many works span a large variety of instruments and ensembles and have been described as cinematic and emotional. His music can be heard both online and on the concert stage from his theme music for the Voice of the Whills podcast to his Symphony No. 1 “The War of the Worlds” for symphony orchestra. At the Cali School, Taylor oversees all academic and event scheduling, including all Cali School academic courses, student and faculty recitals, special events, and outside bookings.

Heather Kern brings deep expertise in marketing and communication design, with a career spanning work for performing arts organizations, music institutions, foundations, museums, and retail clients. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Indiana University, studied Graphic Design and Photography at Parsons School of Design, and earned an MBA in Marketing from Montclair State University. Her creative work is both versatile and results-driven, with proven success across digital, print, and experiential media. Heather has managed high-profile projects for many of the tri-state area’s most respected arts-focused institutions.

At the John J. Cali School of Music, she leads all marketing and publicity efforts, including performance promotion, website strategy and maintenance, social media coordination, newsletter campaigns, print publications, and recital program production.

She also owns a violin—and occasionally threatens to play it.

A New Jersey native – Linsay Setzer comes to Montclair State University with a background and degree in Music Education. She’s previously worked as the Music Teacher, Director of Orchestras & String Specialist in the New Jersey Public School System, a Cello Teaching Artist for elementary students at the Paterson Music Project, and a freelance cellist performing in NJ, NY, and PA for over 10 years.

At The Cali School, Linsay oversees all aspects of auditions for all new and prospective students – including the application/audition process, admissions liaison and audition registration/scheduling. Linsay also manages the front office for the Cali School and assists with any school, faculty, and student day-to-day needs.

Letitia Stancu has been a part of the Cali School of Music community for over 20 years, having served as an arts administrator for 18, adjunct professor for 17, teaching Keyboard Musicianship and Rap and Rock as Cultural Phenomenon, and as an academic advisor for the past 3 years.  She holds a Bachelor of Music in piano performance from Oberlin Conservatory and has worked as a collaborative pianist, pit musician, and keyboardist/backup vocalist in various bands.   At the Cali School, Letitia especially loves collaborating with her Cali colleagues in the Faculty Rock Band!

As an academic advisor, Letitia works with all undergraduate music students providing guidance, advice, support and encouragement.  She finds great reward in being an integral part of each student’s journey.