The Biographical Sketch Of The Commonwealth Faculty

Jason C. Altieri President 

Jason C. Altieri earned a B.S. in Funeral Service Education from the University of Central Oklahoma and an M.S. in Management Science from Southern Nazarene University. Altieri is currently completing his dissertation for a doctorate in higher education administration from Texas Tech University. He is a licensed practitioner in both Oklahoma and Texas 

The native of Massachusetts’ South Shore moved to Amarillo, Texas, in 1998 to start the Amarillo College Mortuary Science program. He served there, as a faculty member and program administrator, until 2005, when he became president of Commonwealth Institute. He has designed and taught numerous academic and continuing education courses, including: business law, mortuary jurisprudence, history of funeral directing, funeral directing practices, small business management, accounting, restorative art, technical procedures and regulatory compliance. 

In addition to administration and teaching, Altieri serves on the curriculum study committee of the American Board of Funeral Service Education; the programs and education committee for the Texas Funeral Directors Association; and the Editorial Review Board for the Journal of Funeral Service Education. 

Christopher C. Layton

Christopher C. Layton 

Dean of Students 

Christopher Layton has a bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University and a master’s degree from the University of Houston. Layton graduated from the mortuary science program at Cypress College in Cypress, Calif., and is a licensed funeral director and embalmer in Arizona, California and Texas. 

Layton  began working, as a teenager, for his cousin’s funeral home in Safford, Ariz. While attending Arizona State University, he served his apprenticeship at Messinger Mortuary in Scottsdale, Ariz. After graduation, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he taught school and continued working in the funeral profession on the weekends. In 1988, he joined the training department of Pierce Brothers Mortuaries, one of the largest and oldest funeral firms in Los Angeles. In 1991, he accepted a position with the training department of Service Corporation International in Houston, the world’s largest provider of funeral and cemetery services. At that time, he began teaching part-time at Commonwealth Institute and full-time in 1992, he accepted it. He is currently Dean of Students and teaches mainly in the funeral service arts. 

In Los Angeles, Layton was a board member of the Los Angeles County Funeral Directors Association. He currently serves on the board of the Houston Metropolitan Funeral Directors Association and chairs the Programs and Education Committee of the Texas Funeral Directors Association. r />

Stuart Moen

Stuart Moen 

Dean and Instructor 

Stuart Moen graduated with distinction from the University of South Dakota at Vermillion in 1978 with a B.S. in Mortuary Science. In 1980, he graduated from the University of Minnesota—Dept. of Mortuary Science. 
The Rapid City, S.D., native also has an M.A. in Adult and Higher Education. 

Patricia Ann Tamayo Moreno

Registrar 

Patricia Ann Tamayo Moreno

 
Patricia Ann Tamayo Moreno graduated from Commonwealth College of Sciences in 1980 and began her apprenticeship with Darling Mouser Funeral Home in her hometown of Brownsville, Texas. She completed her apprenticeship at Heights Funeral Home in Houston and came to work for the Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service in 1981. She is married to Jesse B. Moreno, who is also a graduate of Commonwealth College of Sciences. 

Jessika Jenkins

Instructor, Student Services Coordinator 

Lisa Conley and Brad Conley

Clinical Coordinators