Amy Crist

Amy received her B.A. from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Prior to joining the Campus Recreation staff in September 2007, Amy was an assistant fitness director, group exercise instructor and lifestyle consultant at City Club at River Ranch and a prevention and wellness assistant at a regional medical fitness center in Lafayette, Louisiana. Amy has also worked at Kinetics Adult Fitness and Gold's Gym in Amherst. A certified group fitness instructor, Amy holds certifications from Aerobics & Fitness Association of America & the American Heart Association.

Tracy Conner

Tracy Conner is a graduate student in the Department of Communications Disorders. During her first year at UMass, she was a member of the UMass Dance team, performing at football and basketball games, as well as competing in the Collegiate National Dance Competition in Daytona, Florida.  Before moving to Massachusetts, Tracy received a B.A. in linguistics and M.A. in sociology from Stanford University where she was a member of the Dollies, the university's official dance team. Also at Stanford, she developed a talent for innovative hip hop and jazz choreography as a member and choreographer of Jam Pac’d, Stanford’s oldest hip-hop group.  She was also the director of Urban Styles, an LA-style dance troupe. Come join Tracy and have a great time dancing.

Molly Francis

Molly received her B.A. from the University of Notre Dame where she implemented and instructed cardio funk a class that blends dancing and aerobics.  She has instructed cardio funk and yoga at gyms and personal studios in the Boston area.  Her love of dancing began at 5 years old.  Since then she has been exposed to jazz, ballet, tap, acrobatics, hip-hop, modern, NIA, African, Latin, and Celtic.  She draws upon all of these dancing forms to create the dancing in cardio funk.  Her love of dancing led to her love of yoga, two art forms that blend movement and breath.  Her knowledge of yoga helps her in teaching cardio funk by understanding the connections of the body including tone, alignment and breathing.  Most of all, she believes that people should feel good when moving their bodies, so she allows room for creative expression within her classes.  Besides teaching cardio funk, Molly is working toward earning her Masters in Speech Pathology from UMass.

Orlagh Gallivan

Orlagh is a junior at UMass studying Kinesiology.  She is working toward her ACE Group Fitness Instructor certification, as well as her ACE Personal Trainer certification.  She currently teaches Pilates, hardcore abs and a total body strength class.  Orlagh is a former UMass cheerleader and currently cheers on a competitive team in the Boston area.  She is a fun loving, energetic person who enjoys motivating people to reach their fitness goals!

Michaela Knyff

Michaela is currently a sophomore here at UMass Amherst studying the art of dance and working toward her BFA. She has taught and choreographed for The Patti Eisenhauer Dance Center for over three years in the idioms of jazz, lyrical and modern strengthening techniques. The Patti Eisenhauer Dance Center is also where she trained for fourteen years. Michaela has won many awards for her performances and creative choreography styles. Michaela enjoys a good workout that will leave your body feeling sore, but fantastic the next day. She takes great pride in motivating others to be fit through the art of dance.

Lauren Mackay

Lauren is currently a junior at UMass majoring in Kinesiology. A member of the UMass varsity tennis team, Lauren is a certified personal trainer through the American College of Sports Medicine, and is CPR/AED certified. Lauren is currently teaching many of our classes, including cardio blast and total body strength. For the past four summers, Lauren has been an assistant tennis pro at Rolling Hills Country Club in Wilton, Connecticut and will be serving as the assistant tennis pro this summer at Chatham Bars Inn in Chatham, Massachusetts. She is also working as a personal trainer on campus at the Totman Body Shop and is the strength and conditioning coach for the UMass women’s ultimate frisbee team. Lauren is a student-athlete devoted to strength and conditioning.

Elizabeth Russell

Elizabeth is a graduate student in the Kinesiology Department.  She currently teaches Spinning, sports conditioning and interval classes at Gold’s Gym and has been teaching group fitness and group personal training classes at sports clubs and fitness centers for several years.  Before graduate school, Elizabeth worked at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs with a wide variety of athletes and coaches in sports ranging from men’s gymnastics to weight lifting to track and field.  Her training styles center around motivating individuals to reach their short-term fitness goals while having a great time!