• Administration

  • Leading Parsons is a team of administrators, academics, and staff committed to supporting your learning. Listed below are members of the community entrusted with helping you make the most of your Parsons education. You benefit from access to them all, from the dean to those overseeing your admission, curricula, housing, health, learning resources, and career services.

  • Dean's Office

    Florence Leclerc

    Dean

    Florence Leclerc is the dean of Parsons Paris. She is also the senior director of Strategic Academic Partnerships and works on both campuses—New York and Paris—of The New School. Leclerc has spent most of her life abroad and currently lives in the United States and France. She obtained her master's degree in translation from the École de Traduction et d’Interprétation of Geneva, Switzerland, and an MBA in Marketing from SUNY New Paltz. For a number of years, she chaired the Foreign Languages Department at The New School in New York, where she taught French language and culture at all levels. In 2013, she moved back to France to relaunch Parsons Paris. Leclerc is also an associate professor of foreign languages and a novelist.

    Edward S. Mills III

    Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, Academic Planning, and Registration

    Edward Mills began as the director of Student Life and Advising at The New School Parsons Paris in June 2013, building and heading the offices of Student Life, Student Services, and Academic Advising. Before joining Parsons Paris, Mills served as the director of Auxiliary and Summer Programs at Hackley School in Tarrytown, New York. Before that, he served for six years as the academic director of the International School of Management in Paris. Mills earned his MA in Political Science at the University of North Carolina, jointly with Sciences Po, and his BA at Skidmore College. He also completed the Management Development Program at the Harvard Institutes for Higher Education.

    Arnaud Hédin

    Assistant Director of Faculty Affairs and Academic Planning

    Arnaud Hédin studied French as a foreign language (Maîtrise FLE) at the University of Nottingham and the Université Paris V Sorbonne and French literature at the University of Chicago. He holds a Maîtrise in LCE anglais (Université Paris Diderot). He taught French courses at both the University of Chicago and the University of Chicago Center in Paris and currently teaches French at Parsons Paris. 

    Karen Decter

    Administrative Services and Events Manager

    Originally from Boston, Karen Decter graduated with a BA in Political Science from Denison University in Ohio. She studied at Sciences Po through the Sweet Briar College Junior Year in Paris program. She moved back to Paris upon graduation and has never left. Decter has held administrative and project management positions at international companies in the television production, retail, financial guarantee insurance, renewable energy, and real estate management industries in Paris.

    Decter also holds a floral arts degree from TECOMAH in Jouy-en-Josas and has worked as a florist at a Parisian palace hotel. She is a triathlete and has been an official Fédération Française de Triathlon (FFTRI) referee for seven years and a volunteer at Fédération Française d'Athlétisme (FFA) road races for nine years.

    Lisa Sarma

    Director of Communication and Marketing Initiatives

    Lisa Sarma has been leading the Communications and Marketing department of Parsons Paris since 2018, defining and executing its multichannel marketing strategy and developing online, print, and social media content. Sarma gained marketing experience working for start-ups and brands in the beauty and fashion sectors. Before joining Parsons Paris, she spent eight years at the head of the Digital Marketing department at Givenchy Beauty, part of the LVMH group. Before moving to Paris, she worked in environmental consulting and communications in San Francisco. Sarma holds degrees in civil and environmental engineering from Columbia University (BS) and Stanford University (MS).

    Admission

    Mike Fakih

    Senior Director of Enrollment and Admissions and Assistant Vice President for International Recruitment 

    Mike Fakih has lived in North America, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East and for eight years worked at Sciences Po Paris as director of the Europe-Africa Program and associate director of the Middle East program. His role encompassed project development, institutional partnerships, and the development of international admissions and promotion. He also taught seminars on corporate social responsibility and media studies. Previously he worked on the founding and launch of an international sustainable development forum in France and was a journalist in the Middle East. Fakih earned his MPA from Sciences Po and completed an MA and a BA in Political Science at Saginaw Valley State University in the United States.  

    Laura Fried

    Assistant Director of Admissions

    Laura Fried graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA double major in Psychology and Journalism & Mass Communication. Fried previously worked as a pre-college and high school completion advisor at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Before moving to France, she lived and worked in Germany, the Czech Republic, Australia, and New Zealand.

    Yun Hye Jang

    Admissions Counselor

    Originally from South Korea, Yun Hye Jang attended Ewha Womans University in Seoul, where she studied English literature and language. She spent two semesters as an exchange student in Bristol, Tennessee, where she discovered the joy of being surrounded by people from different cultural backgrounds. She then moved to Lyon, France, to continue to explore the world and stayed there for one semester at University Lyon 3. After finishing her studies, Jang began working at the global research company TNS. She then took a position as an e-commerce specialist at Air France KLM Korea. In 2016, Jang moved to France and started writing articles about Paris, which were published on the Air France Korea blog. Jang worked as a student life coordinator at Academic Programs International in Parsons Paris from July 2018 until June 2021; she now works in the Office of Admission at Parsons Paris as an Admission counselor.

    Student Success

    Hala Dimechkie

    Dean of Students

    Hala Dimechkie is an international education professional with more than 14 years’ experience in higher education. She comes to Parsons from the American University of Beirut (AUB), where she served first as a communications manager and then, for eight years, as the director of the Office of International Programs, a position in which she developed her expertise in international student services, study abroad programs, and institutional partnership development. Before that, Dimechkie spent a number of years in the United States, where she worked in public relations and communications. Dimechkie was raised and educated in the UK, earning her BA at the University of Exeter and her MA in History at AUB. Dimechkie speaks English, French, and Arabic. She is passionate about intercultural communication, teamwork, and harnessing the power of peer-to-peer support. 

    Virginie Grillet

    Director of Career Development and Internships | Alumni Engagement

    Originally from Lille, a French city formerly known for its textile industry, Virginie Grillet studied business and harp. After graduating, she worked in marketing as a consultant and in home textiles as a product manager for 15 years. Grillet spent more than ten years working abroad (in Shanghai, Bangalore, Tokyo, and Düsseldorf), gaining valuable international experience that she is now bringing to Parsons Paris. Before joining Parsons Paris, she searched for young talent and leading figures in Europe for a Japanese recruitment company. She participated in career fairs, held seminars for students, and prepared them for job interviews at Japanese companies. Grillet is developing a number of student success initiatives and services, including internship opportunities, events on campus, relationships with employers, student mentoring, and alumni programming.

    Emily Jiang-Poulard

    Assistant Director of Student Success

    Emily Jiang-Poulard joined Parsons Paris as the coordinator of Student Success in August 2018. Before moving to France in 2017, she worked for more than seven years in higher education in the United States, specializing in international education. She holds an MEd in College Student Personnel Administration and a BS in Special Education from James Madison University. At Parsons Paris, Jiang-Poulard focuses on promoting student development, ensuring academic success, and helping students reach their potential in an inclusive global learning environment. 

    Brooke Berndtson

    Coordinator of Student Success

    Brooke Berndtson brings a decade of expertise in international education in Paris to her current role in Student Success. Before joining Parsons Paris, she held roles as a guidance counselor and as a lecturer in Psychology, Health, and Gender at the American University of Paris; served as an English Department coordinator at Ecole Internationale Bilingue Monceau; and worked as a self-employed student support specialist for neurodivergent youths. Berndtson holds a Master of Studies in Philosophy from the University of Oxford, a Master of Science in Mental Health in Children and Young People from the University of Edinburgh, and an Advanced Certificate in Disability Services in Higher Education from the CUNY School of Professional Studies. She is deeply committed to promoting students' well-being, engaging in disability advocacy, and creating accessible, inclusive multicultural learning environments.

    Technology and Campus Resources

    Ivan Twohig

    Director of Technology and Campus Resources

    Ivan Twohig is a visual artist, designer, and educator from Dublin. Before assuming his role at Parsons Paris, Twohig initiated the highly successful public making space Makeshop, and his artwork has been included in exhibitions in Ireland, France, Norway, Germany, and China. Twohig is curious about how things work and how materials and technology can be used to communicate ideas. Twohig received a BA in Fine Art Sculpture from the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology and a MA in Art in the Digital World from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin.

    Shaen Sellam

    Technology Systems and Resources Manager

    Dimitri Ghohari

    Building and Facilities Manager

    Pingfang Tsai

    Fashion Studios Technician and Tech/Making Facilities

  • Contact Us

    Parsons Paris
    45 rue Saint-Roch
    75001 Paris, France
    +33 (0)1.76.21.76.40
    Email us for information

    Parsons School of Design
    Office of Admission
    72 Fifth Avenue,
    2nd floor
    New York, NY 10011
    1.212.229.5900

  • Take The Next Step

Submit your application

Undergraduates

To apply to any of our undergraduate programs (except the Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs) complete and submit the Common App online.

Undergraduate Adult Learners

To apply to any of our Bachelor's Program for Adults and Transfer Students and Parsons Associate of Applied Science programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

Graduates

To apply to any of our Master's, Doctoral, Professional Studies Diploma, and Graduate Certificate programs, complete and submit the New School Online Application.

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