History Department Faculty

History Department Chair
History Instructor

rebekah_barry@cate.org / 805-684-4127 x228

BA, Fort Lewis College
MA, Brown University
MA, John Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)
Appointed: 2011

After graduating from college, Rebekah moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked in national security (including positions at the Pentagon and National Defense University). Rebekah then went on to earn an MA in international relations at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Relations (SAIS), ultimately moving to Istanbul to complete her thesis research as a National Security Education Program (NSEP) fellow. She later returned to the East Coast to pursue a second graduate degree in Anthropology at Brown University. It was as a graduate teaching assistant at Brown that Rebekah discovered her longer-term interest lay in curriculum design and teaching. Prior to joining Cate, Rebekah served as Adjunct Faculty, Adjunct Faculty Advisor, and Curriculum Developer for Air University’s “Introduction to Culture” program.

Rebekah currently is the Chair of the History Department; teaches in the 10th grade World History program; and offers advanced senior electives on the “Anthropology of Global Issues” and “Gender Matters.” During her time at Cate, Rebekah also has served in a variety of formal capacities to advance Cate’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programming and inquiry-based learning. Rebekah lives on Mesa with her husband and two sons. When they are not immersing themselves in boarding school life, Rebekah and her family enjoy exploring the beaches, foothills, and mountains of Southern California as well as traveling internationally.

History Instructor
Humanities Department Chair
Assistant Swimming Coach

ivan_barry@cate.org / 805-684-4127 x233

BA, Georgetown University
MA, Johns Hopkins SAIS
MA, Bosporus University (Istanbul)
Appointed: 2010

Very familiar with the world of boarding schools, Ivan both grew up at and attended Phillips Academy, Andover. Following his undergraduate degree in history from Georgetown University and his graduate degree in international affairs and finance from Johns Hopkins SAIS, Ivan spent numerous years in the world of global finance and international management consulting with firms located in Washington, DC, Istanbul, and Boston.

Deciding to return to his passion of teaching, Ivan joined the Cate faculty in 2010. He currently serves as Chair of the Humanities Department, wherein he is a key proponent of both inquiry and interdisciplinary learning at Cate School. He also teaches in the History Department where he interweaves his extensive international and private sector experience with his global history teachings on the Middle East, Asia, and Europe.

Ivan lives on the Mesa with his wife Rebekah, also a member of the Cate faculty, and their two boys, Kiyan and Aydin.

History Instructor

PhD, Brandeis University
Appointed: 2023

Though born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, Clair has spent the last 12+ years in a decidedly different locale: the chilly suburbs of New England. After completing her PhD at Brandeis University – where she had the opportunity to teach seminars in U.S. Legal History, Political History, and Writing – Clair’s passion for teaching inquisitive and empathetic students in small groups drew her to adolescent education, and she accepted a position at Phillips Academy, Andover. While there, Clair taught across the curriculum, served as the course head for U.S. History and Assistant Chair for the department, and contributed to DEIJ curricular review and programming.

Clair is thrilled to be joining the Cate faculty and to be living on the Mesa, among the eucalyptus trees of her home once more. She lives in ’25 House with her husband, Zack, and their two rambunctious pups: Harvey and Jo. In the classroom, Clair is eager to encourage her students to revel in the nuance and complexity of historical change and to grapple with the power and art of analytical writing. Whether working with seniors in an elective on Comparative Revolutions or introducing freshmen to the field of history in Cate’s Humanities program, Clair’s focus is on fostering intellectual curiosity and supporting students’ development of their own voice.

Assistant Head of School
History Instructor
Junior Varsity Boys Basketball Coach

jay_dorion@cate.org / 805-684-8409 x207

BA, Colby College
MALS, Wesleyan University
Appointed: 2002

Jay started his career in boarding schools in 1993 at Cheshire Academy in Cheshire, Connecticut. Teaching runs in his blood (both of his parents were educators), but what drew him to boarding school was the sense of community that he found—a community that reminded him of the small town in Maine where he grew up. After nine years at Cheshire Academy, Jay came to Cate in 2002 to pursue a teaching position that included classes in the history and English departments. Jay was the Dean of Students for four years, and he currently serves the School as the Assistant Headmaster.

Beyond his duties at Cate, Jay enjoys baking bread, playing basketball, running, and reading. He lives on campus with his wife, Margot, and his three children, Molly, Olivia, and Charlie.

Dean for Faculty
History Instructor
Assistant Girls Varsity Soccer Coach

lisa_holmes@cate.org / 805-684-8409 x202

BA, Colby College
MALS, Wesleyan University
MEd, Columbia University
Appointed: 2001

Lisa Holmes arrived at Cate in 2001 after fifteen years of living and working in the Northeast. She brings to Cate a deep interest in the humanities, teaching in both the history and English departments, and a love of the game of soccer, coaching the girls varsity team.

As an undergraduate at Colby College, Lisa majored in history and American studies and was captain of the women’s soccer team in her senior year. After college, Lisa taught for ten years at Cheshire Academy, a small boarding and day school in Cheshire, Connecticut. In addition to teaching, Lisa chaired the history department for five years, coached girls soccer, basketball, and lacrosse, and served as a dorm parent. While at Cheshire, she worked part-time on a Master’s degree at nearby Wesleyan University. She left Cheshire in 1999 to pursue a second Master’s in educational administration at Columbia. She spent her time in New York City as a full-time student and part-time teacher at the Calhoun School.

Lisa has traveled in more than twenty foreign countries and has completed three marathons. Though all of her working life before Cate was spent in the Northeast, she grew up in Colorado and feels a strong connection to the West. She lives on the Mesa with her husband Will, and their sons, Scott and Matthew.

History, English, and Humanities Instructor

lauren_jared@cate.org / 805-684-8409 x284

BA, Scripps College
MA, University of California, Santa Barbara
Appointed: 1991

After graduating from Scripps with a major in history, Lauren received her master’s degree in history from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Though she did not complete her dissertation, Lauren gained an extensive background in the Middle Ages while finishing her coursework and exams towards a PhD. As a teaching assistant, she also taught undergraduate courses at UCSB before arriving at Cate in 1991. Here at Cate, she has taught in both the history and English departments. Currently, she typically teaches US History and Freshman Humanities, a team-taught, inquiry-based course designed to give students an interdisciplinary understanding of Western European culture. In October 2015, to honor Lauren’s teaching and leadership in the history department, she was awarded the endowed O. Curtis Crawford Chair.

In her free time, Lauren enjoys reading, traveling, hiking, swimming, and playing piano. She lives off campus with her husband, Todd. Lauren and Todd are the proud parents of two Cate graduates, Alissa ’12 and James ’15.

History Instructor, ’25 House Dorm Parent, Head Girls Varsity Basketball Coach, Assistant Swim Coach

laura_moore@cate.org / 805-684-8409 x212

BA, University of California, San Diego
MA, University of California, Santa Barbara
PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara

After studying Irish history in Dublin, Ireland and graduating from the University of California at San Diego where she played collegiate basketball, Laura received her doctorate in history from the University of California at Santa Barbara. While completing her PhD, she taught a range of undergraduate courses in gender and women’s history, U.S. history, world history, Black Studies, and writing. Most recently, she served as the Public History Fellow at UC Santa Barbara. It was through growing up in Oakland, California, conducting her dissertation research across the United States, and teaching at the university level that Laura discovered her passion for sharing with students the compelling and often-forgotten stories of the past. She loves incorporating primary sources and archival materials in daily class activities with the intention of empowering students to form their own informed historical interpretations. At Cate, Laura teaches Advanced Politics in Contemporary America, Advanced Supreme Court, Advanced U.S. and world history, coaches the girls varsity basketball and swim teams, and is the Dorm Head in Schoolhouse

In her free time, Laura enjoys traveling, reading historical works, hiking, camping, trips to the beach, working out, playing basketball, and walks with her dogs. She lives on campus with her husband, Casey, and their two golden retrievers, Gracie and Charlie.

Director of Student Activities, History Instructor, and Football Coach

juarez_newsome@cate.org / 805-684-8409 x133

BA, Washington and Lee University
Appointed: 1997

In 2013, Juarez received the Colin Day Chair for Cross-Curricular Studies, and he teaches several upper-level history courses (United States History, World History, The Great Migration, Lincoln and His Words, The LA Landscape, The Evolution of Science during WWII). He also serves as director of student activities, MOD for the residential program, offensive coordinator for the football team, advisor to the Class of 2017, and co-director of the Model UN Program. His professional activities include numerous NEH Fellowships 1996, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2010 and 2015, and he has attended two Gilder Lehrman conferences, one at the University of Southern California and the other Oxford University in England. In 2003, he presented at the Organization of American Historians: “A Jim Crow Nation Fights for Democracy: a Comparison between the Nation’s Widely-Circulated Newspapers and the Black Press.” In addition, he received the Spittler Cup from the Class of 2006, and the Burleigh-Pattee Fellowship in 2007. Lastly, the Class of 2014 dedicated the yearbook to him. Juarez lives off campus in Carpinteria.

History Teacher
Cross Country Assistant Coach

Hannah_Solis-Cohen@cate.org

BA, University of Virginia
M.Ed., University of Pennsylvania
Appointed: 2020

Hannah Solis-Cohen joined the Cate community as a history teacher, cross country coach, and dorm parent. Born and raised in New York City on the Upper West Side, Hannah attended boarding school at Northfield Mount Hermon in Western Massachusetts. Upon graduating from NMH, Hannah studied history at the University of Virginia, where she was also a four-year scholarship member of the UVA Varsity Rowing Team. During her tenure at UVA, Hannah won NCAA’s in 2015 in the Varsity 4+ and helped the Hoos place third at NCAA’s in 2016. Hannah was also the 2016 recipient of the Craig Fielder Memorial Award for Leadership and a four-year member of the ACC Academic Honor Roll. Eager to return to boarding school after college, Hannah worked in admissions at Blair Academy until she began her graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania in the Independent School Teaching Residency Program. Hannah comes to Cate from the Hopkins School in New Haven, Conn. where she spent two years teaching history with a specific focus on exploring the role of first-person narratives in secondary history education as part of her graduate work. Hannah lives on campus with her dog, Sadie.