MATER DEI INSTRUCTORS

Brady received his Bachelors of Arts in Humanities from the College of St. Scholastica and his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing/Poetry from the University of Southern Maine–Stonecoast, where his research centered on English verse prosody and Modernist poetics. He has taught at the collegiate level at Lake Superior College and the College of St. Scholastica, in the areas of composition and rhetoric studies, English literature, and creative writing. An accomplished poet, Brady is known for his work published in journals such as 2River, SLANT, The Northern New England Review and Cave Wall. He currently resides in Duluth. A firm believer in education that is founded in the classical heritage, he looks forward to his role as Headmaster at Mater Dei, in addition to teaching literary subjects near and dear to him as part of the dedicated faculty.

Kevin comes to Mater Dei following a thirty-nine-year career in military and civil aviation and management. Born and raised in Rhode Island, he received his BA in History and MA in American History from Providence College. During his time in Rhode Island, he worked as a newspaper journalist and writer. In military and corporate settings Kevin has spent many hours instructing professional development in both the cockpit and classroom. Kevin, his wife Debra, and son Jack live in Cloquet and are active members of the Queen of Peace parish where he has assisted as a substitute teacher at the parish school. He has also served for many years as Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 171 in Cloquet, dedicated to developing strong character, good citizenship and physical fitness in young men. A lifelong writer, Kevin is eager to combine his love of learning and literature to assist in the intellectual and spiritual development of students at Mater Dei.

Caryn graduated in 2005 from the University of North Dakota with a master of science degree in speech and language pathology.  Caryn has worked as a speech therapist in a variety of medical and educational settings.  During her career, she established two speech pathology programs servicing pediatric to geriatric populations.  Most recently, she worked with the North Platte, Nebraska school district to provide speech therapy to 4th-8th grade students.  Caryn has been trained in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program at St Rose in Proctor, where she also taught CCD classes. Caryn, her husband and two children are transplants to the Duluth area for the past 10 years. She is excited to join Mater Dei and looks forward to helping students develop a love for writing and communication that will enrich their lives and highlight the beauty of their Catholic faith.

Loran received his Bachelor’s of Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota before beginning his career in the space program at General Dynamics, where he worked on the research and development of an innovative power distribution system for the International Space Station under contracts with NASA. In other projects, Loran worked on the research and design of an all-electric rocket engine gimbaling system for heavy-lift, launch vehicles. His rocket engineering extended to avionics circuitry design on the Atlas launch vehicles. During his time living in San Diego, Loran also began to pursue a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering at San Diego State University. With two young children at the time, he and his wife, Connie, escaped from San Diego and moved to Cloquet, where Loran became the first Chief Information Officer of Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College. Since his retirement in 2019, Loran has enjoyed substitute teaching at Queen of Peace Catholic School and teaching enrichment programs focused on electricity and computer programming. He also plays volleyball and has coached at the high school and collegiate level. Most importantly, he loves spending time with his grandchildren. Loran is excited to begin teaching at Mater Dei, where he hopes to share his love of exploring the order of the physical world to reveal the beauty that God has created.

Tom received his Medical Degree from the University of Minnesota after receiving a BA in Biology at the University of Saint Thomas. He is a practicing general surgeon and was the course director and instructor for the Advanced Trauma Life Support program at St. Luke’s hospital the past 25 years. Tom and his wife, Yolanda, have raised six children whom all together received 51 years of Catholic education at Holy Rosary Catholic School in Duluth, MN. Having witnessed the profound impact of Catholic education and the Catholic Faith, Tom is motivated to help Mater Dei in any way he can so that students achieve the most important goal in their lives—getting their souls to Heaven. He is excited to share with students about the intricacies of God's creation through the study of Biology.

Mary received her Bachelors degree in Natural Science from Doane College in Crete, Nebraska, after which she spent one year in Heidelberg, Germany, helping with acid rain research under a Fulbright Scholarship. Upon returning, she went on to pursue a degree in Physical Therapy at Northwestern University in Illinois. Before beginning her career as a physical therapist, Mary spent time serving at the Covenant House faith community in NYC. Since 1993, she has been employed as a physical therapist at St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth, where she eventually transitioned to on-call status, in order to focus on caring for and homeschooling her children for many years. Mary has enjoyed teaching hands-on science at a local homeschool co-op and is excited to bring her passion and experience to the chemistry program at Mater Dei, in particular, in the area of chemistry labs. She hopes to provide an encouraging learning environment and foster an enjoyment of the wonder of chemistry.

Andy graduated with honors from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota and holds a degree in Political Science/International Relations. He has lived in Carlton County his entire life, and currently resides in Cloquet with his wife, Dawn, and four of their six children. Andy has been a financial advisor for fifteen years, focusing on retirement and estate planning for his clients. He grew up attending Immaculate Conception in the 9-Man capital of the world, Cromwell, and is currently a member at Queen of Peace in Cloquet. He has taught religious education there for several years, and is a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus. Andy is looking forward to engaging with students as they learn about finance and business development.