Meet the Summer Programs Office

Susan Farrell, a graduate of Yale (B.A.) and Wesleyan (M.A.L.S.), first came to Choate as a teaching intern in the Summer of 1987. She returned in 1990, joining the faculty and serving as an Associate Director of College Counseling and a coach for girls soccer and lacrosse. In the ensuing years, she worked in the Choate Admission Office and in Development and Alumni Relations before returning to Summer Programs in 2010.

Susan lives on campus with her husband Stephen, long-time member of the faculty, and has four children, all of whom attended Choate Summer Programs and are graduates of Choate Rosemary Hall: Garrett ’12, Dylan ’14, Caitlin ’15, and Tagan ’20. In addition to her work in Summer Programs, Susan is Assistant Coach for Girls Varsity Soccer, Assistant Coach for Co-ed Varsity Sailing, an adviser to day students, and adviser to Choate’s Women Student-Athlete Association. Outside of Choate, Susan was appointed in May 2020 to a three-year term on the board of Hoyas Unlimited, the alumni relations and fundraising arm of Georgetown University Athletics. She also continues to serve each year as an alumni interviewer for Yale University.

Julia Pucci received her BA from Yale University, where she later returned to complete a Ph.D. in Italian Language & Literature. Before joining the Choate faculty, she ran Yale’s first asynchronous Italian translation program in addition to serving as a professional development program manager at a Fortune 500 company.

Beyond the classroom, Julia is a published poet, classically trained violist, and self-taught steel-string guitarist. She lives in New Haven, CT with her husband, Matthew, and their boisterous cat, Daphne.

Yaser S. Robles, Ph.D., a graduate of Brandeis University (B.A.), State University of New York at Buffalo and Universidad de la Habana (M.A.), and State University of New York at Albany (Ph.D.), is a faculty member in the History, Philosophy, Religion and Social Sciences Department and Dean of the Class of 2022. Dr. Robles teaches courses in Colonial Latin America, World History, 20th Century U.S. History, Contemporary Issues, and Latinx in the U.S. He taught in higher education for several years and joined Choate Rosemary Hall in 2015.

At Summer Programs, he has held different positions including: teaching in the ELI Program, Middle School Dean, High School Dean, Dean of Students, and Interim Associate Director and Dean of Academic Affairs. Dr. Robles lives on campus with his wife Tâmara and children Luca and Maya. Dr. Robles was born in Honduras but grew up in the Bronx, New York City.

Debbie Carpenter is a graduate of Choate ’85, The University of Connecticut (B.A.) and Southern Connecticut University (M.S.). She worked in the Development Office at The Foote School for 9 years and was co-chair of Foote’s diversity organization MOSAIC (Multicultural, Open-Minded, Supportive, Accepting, Inclusive, Community) 2018-2019. She returned to Choate in March 2019 as a member of the Summer Programs Office. Debbie lives in Hamden with her husband, John and their son Nicholas.

Jennifer Sutera has recently joined our Summer Programs team as the Systems Coordinator. She has a B.A. in Psychology from Central Connecticut State University and an MBA from Texas Woman’s University. She has spent the last 9 years as an independent consultant in database development. Her background is in Training and Development as well as data management. After living in Houston, TX for 10 years, she has returned to CT and now lives here in Wallingford with her husband Paul and her two children, Tony and Ava.

The Summer Programs Office is delighted to welcome Caitlin Farrell back to help with applications, correspondence, and program preparation from January to June. Caitlin participated in Choate Summer Programs as both a middle school and high school student and graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall as a tri-varsity student athlete in 2015. She received her B.A. from Georgetown University in 2019 with a major in Government and minor in Spanish. While at Georgetown, she played for the women’s soccer team, winning the Big East Conference regular season title twice and the conference tournament championship three times, and advancing to the NCAA Division I College Cup Final Four in 2016 and 2018. In her senior year, she tied the program’s single season scoring record, garnered All American honors, and was one of three finalists in the country for the Mac Hermann National Player of the Year award. Following graduation, Caitlin played soccer professionally in the NWSL before COVID. She then helped the Summer Programs Office make the pivot online during the pandemic prior to taking a paralegal position at Murphy & Riley in Boston for two years.