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A Closer Look: Highlights from the Yale Center for British Art
Thursdays, March 12 - May 7,
12:30-2pm ET
(No class April 2)
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New Faculty to YACOL
Meet the talented Yale alumni who bring a wealth of expertise to our program, and discover the engaging courses they are offering.
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Robert Barsky is teaching:
Online-Spring 2026
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Robert Hahn is teaching:
Online -Spring 2026
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Betsy Golden Kellem is teaching:
New Haven -Spring 2026
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Elisabeth Anton is teaching:
Online -Spring 2026
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David Ward is teaching:
Washington, D.C. -Spring 2026
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DISCOVERY, REFLECTION, AND COMMUNITYYACOL outings across the country
View a gallery of images from a variety of outings that Yale Alumni College held throughout 2024 and 2025, and in early 2026.
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HOCKEY—AND A GREAT BIG HEART!
By Laurie Treuhaft
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Meet Tera Hofmann, Class of 2020, a member of YACOL’s Recent Alumni Advisory Council and a former professional hockey player, depicted here playing goalie for the Buffalo Beauts during a 2022–23 season game against the Connecticut Whale.
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Tera Hofmann is not your ordinary 2020 grad: she has already enjoyed a career as a professional hockey player with the Metropolitan Riveters, the Toronto Six, and the Buffalo Beauts and is now “happily retired.” In this new phase of her life, Tera is the director of operations and girls programming for a nonprofit hockey organization called Hockey in New Jersey that provides hockey and educational resources to underserved youth in Newark and surrounding communities.
Tera is also an avid Yale Alumni College (YACOL) student and serves on its newly formed Recent Alumni Advisory Council. Having graduated so recently, she welcomes the chance to look beyond the four-year range of campus life and interact with classmates of all ages. “Bringing together so many thinkers in one space with a broad range of life experiences is a powerful thing,” she says.
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A Conversation with Professor Joseph Luzzi
By Patricia Dorff
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Professor Joseph Luzzi (PhD, Yale 2000) is a scholar who makes big ideas feel wonderfully human. A professor of literature at Bard College, Luzzi is best known for his work on Italian culture and the great books, from Dante to Ferrante, and for his gift of bringing the classics into lively conversation with modern life. His most recent book, The Innocence of Florence: The Renaissance Discovery of Childhood, blends memoir, literary criticism, and cultural history, reflecting his signature approach: erudite, personal, and deeply readable. Beyond the page, Luzzi is a beloved teacher, whether in his Bard courses, his popular Virtual Book Club, or his Yale Alumni College (YACOL) classes, where he invites alums to read slowly, think deeply, and rediscover the joy of learning for its own sake.
YACOL Board member Patricia Dorff recently spoke to Professor Luzzi about his research, his teaching, and his love for Dante. This conversation has been condensed and lightly edited.
Patricia Dorff: Professor Luzzi, your work often explores the intersection of literature, culture and personal identity, particularly Italian American. What most animates your research?
Professor Joseph Luzzi: From my time as a graduate student at Yale, Dante has been at the center of my research—I’m especially drawn to Dante’s experience of exile and his complicated portrayal of his muse, Beatrice Portinari. My last couple books have actually taken me out of Dante’s medieval period and into the Renaissance. Botticelli’s Secret: The Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance immersed me in art history, and my new book, The Innocence of Florence, was my most historical work, as it tells the dramatic story of a groundbreaking orphanage in Florence, the Hospital of the Innocents, which cared for nearly 400,000 children after opening its doors in 1445. I think the one concept that holds all my books together is a belief that truly great creative works can change our lives—that they’re not just something we study in a classroom or cultivate as connoisseurs. Rather, we can turn to them as guides, in our own life and as touchstones for a sense of who we are. I think Dante especially has been fundamental for me because he’s impacted so many readers over the centuries. When I take on a new subject, whether it’s Botticelli’s art or a Florentine orphanage, my question is always: Why does it matter now? What makes it relevant to us in the present tense?
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~ In Memoriam ~
John Morris Johnson
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The board of Yale Alumni College (YACOL) is saddened to announce the passing of Board member John Morris Johnson. A dedicated supporter of YACOL, John was a longtime and enthusiastic participant in Yale Alumni College programming. His commitment to lifelong learning exemplified the values at the heart of YACOL.
John graduated from Yale College (Pierson, 1971) and Fordham Law School (1976). He built a distinguished career in New York City as in-house corporate counsel and legal advisor, specializing in pension fund investment and employee benefit plan administration for BASF Corporation and Dun & Bradstreet Corporation. In 2023, John retired with his wife, Carol Storey-Johnson (Calhoun College, 1973), to the Hudson Valley town of Ghent, New York.
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Introducing our new YACOL Board MembersThe Yale Alumni College (YACOL) is excited to welcome three new board members: Beth Clearfield, Lane Heard, and Richard Hurowitz.
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Lane Heard is a graduate of Yale College (’73) and Yale Law School (’78). He is senior counsel at Williams & Connolly LLP, where he has practiced law since 1979. Lane subscribes to the maxim, “So many books, so little time.”
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Beth Clearfield graduated from Yale in 1983 with a major in economics and political science, and also studied at the School of Drama. She worked for many years at BBC Studios in New York, where she led the company’s global digital business development initiatives, creating relationships for BBC’s entertainment, news, and audio content with partners like Amazon, Apple, and Netflix; and developing services like BritBox. She has taken numerous YACOL classes in literature, history, and art history.
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Richard Hurowitz received his BA from Yale in history and a JD from Columbia Law School. He is a writer, investor, and executive. His writing has appeared in a wide variety of publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Time. His book, In the Garden of the Righteous, was nominated for the Wingate Prize. He is a member the governing board of the Yale University Art Gallery, a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonresident fellow of the Atlantic Council, and a fellow of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
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Eve Berenblum Goldberg Scholarship
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The board of Yale Alumni College is delighted to announce that our Founder and Emeritus Chairman, Marv Berenblum, ’56, has established a scholarship fund in memory of his daughter, Eve Berenblum Goldberg.
Eve was a remarkable human being who had the courage of her convictions and believed in elevating the younger generations. She was warm, caring and generous, and brought light onto the lives of so many people whom she befriended. Eve would have been excited to know that a Yale Alumni College scholarship foundation had been established in her memory to benefit a deserving group of "Bulldogs of the Last Decade" (BOLD alumni).
Scholarship recipients are able to join Yale Alumni College courses of their choice at no cost. Yale Alumni College aims to assist as many alumni as funds allow in joining our lifelong learning community each year.
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In the Spotlight: Scholarship Recipients
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 | Jasmine Stone, SY ‘20, is currently a neurobiology and behavior PhD candidate at Columbia University, where she investigates biological algorithms for learning using computational models. After receiving a BS in Computer Science, Jasmine developed methods for analyzing neural data as a Churchill Scholar at the University of Cambridge. At Yale she was part of the Yale Symphony Orchestra and Yale Women’s Water Polo. Now in New York City, she enjoys swimming, swing dancing, and playing chamber music. Jasmine is grateful and excited for the opportunity to take in-person seminar classes in the City. She hopes to use the YACOL scholarship to explore interests outside of her PhD and to meet other like-minded alums.
| |  | Reverand Curt Fuller graduated from Defiance College in 1970 with a degree in Social Work, and received a MA degree from Andover Newton Theological School, now affiliated with Yale Divinity School, in 1973. He was an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ for forty years, serving churches in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Nevada, and California. Curt retired in 2013, at which time he started taking lifelong learning classes at Northwestern University in Chicago, and now enjoys online courses in foreign affairs with YACOL. He currently resides in San Francisco.
| |  | Eunju Namkung graduated from Yale in 2013 with a major in film studies. Before transitioning into her current career in digital word games, she spent a decade in Washington, DC, dedicated to HR public policy and HR tech. Beyond her professional roles, Eunju has spent the years since Yale cultivating diverse teaching spaces, sharing her expertise in everything from the arts to outdoor athletics to give back to youth in her community. Eunju is deeply grateful to have received the YACOL Scholarship during a season dedicated to family care. The flexibility and modality options of the courses allowed her to ruminate on new ideas and learn actionable skills despite a rowdy schedule. She has recently moved to Philadelphia and loves it so far!
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 | Roxann Callender graduated from Yale College in 2001 with a BA in women’s and gender studies. Her desire to be a lifelong scholar motivated her to attend Yale as a non-traditional student while navigating a career as a computer programmer. After Yale she graduated from a prestigious university in the Netherlands where she acquired an MPhil in gender and ethnicity studies. As her thirst for new knowledge continues, it is no surprise that after she retired as a computer professional in Spring 2024, she continued to explore learning opportunities through YACOL. Roxann is very grateful for the Eve Berenblum Goldberg Scholarship because since fall of 2024 she has already taken two courses and is looking forward to her third course this winter. She feels that the wide variety of courses offered allows her to experience various disciplines that she did not have the opportunity to explore earlier in her academic journey.
| |  | Hannah Levy earned a Master of Science in Genetics from Yale School of Medicine in 2023 and has an extensive background in translational oncology and rare disease research. While her training has been largely academic, she is actively positioning herself for a transition into industry and welcomes opportunities to connect and engage in relevant conversations. Receiving a YACOL scholarship has allowed her to pursue lifelong interests for which she had not previously received formal training—most notably Jewish studies and World War II history. She find the faculty are deeply engaged and generous with their time, and the cohorts are remarkably diverse in background, experience, and perspective. Having just begun her second YACOL course, Hannah is already equally pleased with the experience and deeply grateful for the opportunity and continued support that make such an enriching program possible for Yale alumni and affiliates.
| |  | Vimbai Ushe is a Yale college ‘19 alum from Rochester, New York, currently based in Los Angeles. She obtained a BA in history and film and media studies, with a concentration in screenwriting. After graduation, she was a Yale Postgraduate Fellow in London, where she interned at an educational charity and studied Black Georgian life in England. Vimbai currently works as an artist and educator in Los Angeles.
As a lifelong learner, Vimbai is incredibly grateful for the Eve Berenblum Goldberg Scholarship. It has allowed her to take a wonderful theater course in the fall and connect with thoughtful Yalies of all ages. Using the scholarship, she is excited to explore subjects she has previously never studied and meet more alumni in the spring! She would highly recommend taking YACOL classes as a way to engage with the alumni community.
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Shandra Ashan is a Yale College ‘24 alum from Amarillo, Texas, currently based in Washington, DC. She obtained her BS in biomedical engineering at Yale and now works as a government healthcare consultant working to expand access to Medicaid through state government. As an alum, Shandra continues to stay involved in the Yale community through her role as co-secretary for the class of 2024. She had this to say about YACOL: “As an active member of the Yale community, I was so glad to return to a Yale classroom through Yale Alumni College’s in-person class offerings in DC. As a recipient of the Berenblum scholarship, I was grateful to have this experience fully funded through the Yale Alumni College. Without it, I would have missed out on key connections I made through my experience. It was so enlightening to see how the experience of different classes across time differed from mine, and our different perspectives delightfully shined through in our class discussions. Not only did I have the opportunity to engage with academics in a way I seldom get to do as an alum, but I was also introduced to alumni that I would not have met otherwise! As a young alum, I highly encourage other young alum to take advantage of the scholarship to partake in this amazing opportunity with the Yale alumni community.”
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Julia Tofan is a Yale College ‘20 alum, currently based in Houston. She studied mathematics and philosophy at Yale and began her career at the Wesleyan Investments Office before transitioning into venture capital. She supported early-stage founders at Techstars and now works as a venture builder at Alloy Partners, where she partners with corporations to launch startups. Julia had this to say about Yale Alumni College and its programming: “Taking Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws with Professor Christopher Kelly gave me a grounding in political philosophy that I hadn’t had the opportunity to pursue while at Yale. I was grateful to explore ideas like separation of powers, federalism, and globalization—topics that feel just as urgent today—alongside classmates whose professional backgrounds in fields from law to psychology brought a depth to our discussions that you rarely get in traditional classrooms. Most of all, I appreciated the chance to be genuinely academically challenged years after graduating, in an environment built purely around a shared love of learning.”
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| | See what else is going on with YACOL!
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TRAVEL WITH US!
AUGUST 13-17, 2026
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