Faculty
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. Layto
Christopher C. Layto
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.
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.
Moen came to the Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service in 1984. He teaches speech, anatomy, embalming, forensic pathology, microbiology and thanatochemistry. In May 1998, Moen became Dean at the Commonwealth Institute.
Patricia Ann Tamayo Moreno
Registrar
Patricia Ann Tamayo Moreno
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.
Moreno is a member of the National Funeral Service Honor Society; president of Commonwealth Institute Alumni Association; member of Texas Funeral Directors Association; and past-president of the Houston Metropolitan Funeral Directors Association.
Samantha Perez
Clinical Coordinator, Embalming Lab Supervisor
Samantha is a Marine Corps veteran, mother of two teenagers and holder of an A.A.S. from Funeral Service Institute. Since joining Commonwealth Institute in 2006, as instructor of Occupational Safety and Computers in Funeral Service, she has shared with students her “field experience,” gained from both independently owned funeral homes and Levy Funeral Directors. She also holds the position of Clinical Coordinator and Embalming Lab Supervisor.
Jessika Jenkins
Instructor, Student Services Coordinator
Jessika Jenkins received a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University and, subsequently, attended Commonwealth Inst. of Funeral Servuice, emerging as a fully licensed funeral director and embalmer. She has been working at Commonwealth Institute since 2005, serving as Student Services Coordinator, teaching Business Communication and Sociology of Funeral Service in the classroom and online, and processing financial aid for the student body. She is also pursuing her Master’s Degree in Education from Texas Tech University for Instructional Technology.
Kenneth Ball
Instructor, U.S. History II
B.A., M.A., Texas Southern University
Dr. Jose Cortes
Instructor, Biology
D.V.M., National University of Colombia
M.Sc., Lousiana State University
GUSTAVE MILBURN, JR.
Instructor: College Algebra
B.S. Texas A&M University
M.A. University of Texas at San Antonio
JENNAFER SCHNAUTZ
Instructor: College Algebra
B.S. Rice University
M.S. Texas A&M University
KIRSTEN VAN CLEAVE
Instructor: Composition and Rhetoric
B.A. North Texas University
M.A. University of Houston
OPHELIA BINKLEY-WEBB
Instructor: General Psychology
B.S. Houston Baptist University
M.A. Texas Southern University
THERISA MASSEY, Librarian
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