Nurture meaningful and authentic communication.

Lara joins Walker’s World Languages faculty as a Spanish teacher. She presently teaches Spanish 4, Honors Spanish 5 and Advanced Spanish: Literature and Cultural Studies. Prior to joining Walker’s, Lara held academic, pedagogical and administrative positions, including roles as a visiting scholar at Brown University in their Middle Eastern Studies Department, an Assistant Professor of Modern Languages/Assistant Dean at Quinnipiac University and an adjunct professor at Drexel University. Lara is a published author, having published work in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. Her academic book, Immigration, Popular Culture, and the Re-Routing of European Muslim Identity, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in September 2012. Dr. Dotson-Renta is a Mellon Mays Fellow, and earned her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania with a concentration in Romance Languages and Literature and a certificate in African Studies. Lara also holds an MA in French Language and Literature from New York University in Paris, and a BA in Spanish and French from Dartmouth College. Lara’s daughter, Catalina, is a seventh-grader at Walker’s.

Betty joins Walker’s World Languages faculty where she will teach Spanish 1, 2 and 3. She has served as a bilingual tutor for several years for the Bristol (CT) Board of Education; she previously was a Spanish teacher in grades PreK-8 in Torrington (CT) and Bristol (CT) private schools and served as an English as a Second Language instructor. Betty holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Manizales (Colombia).

Maureen loves teaching Latin and is thrilled to be the Dean of Academic Technology and Innovative Pedagogy. Previously, she served as the Language Department Chair, Academic Technology Coordinator, and Latin and Ancient Greek Teacher at the Kingswood Oxford School and the Language Department Chair and Latin Teacher at the Westminster School. She also works as a Google Certified Trainer and educational consultant with districts across the country, and she teaches graduate courses in Language and Latin pedagogy and instructional technology with Idioma Education and Consulting. She teaches courses for the National Humanities Center and served on the Teacher Advisory Council from 2020-2021. She has been recognized for her work as the CT Council of Language Teachers Language Teacher of the Year 2017, the New England Council of Foreign Languages Mead Fellow, the Classical Association of New England Weincke Award, the American Classical League Elizabeth Watkins Award, and received a Fulbright to study for a summer at the American Academy in Rome. She is dedicated to creating an inclusive classroom environment, to using technology to enhance the student experience, and to making Classics comprehensible. She lives in Avon with her husband, Patrick, and their two children.

Karim joins Walker’s faculty on a full-time basis this year as a member of the World Languages faculty specializing in French; previously he served on the faculty on a part-time basis. Karim will teach French 1B, 2, and 4 this academic year. He is fluent in French and Arabic and has focused some of his work on teaching French for diplomacy and international affairs. Previously, Karim was a Graduate Fellow and Visiting Lecturer at Trinity College (Hartford, CT), an instructor at Yale University, and he held various teaching and administrative roles at the University of Connecticut. He is a Ph.D. candidate (ABD) at the University of Connecticut in French Language & Literature. He holds Master of Arts degrees from UConn in both International Studies and French Culture Language & Literature and a Graduate Certificate in Human Rights Studies. Karim earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in both International and French Studies from Iona College. Karim is a JV soccer coach and will coach swimming in the winter.