2023-2024 College Advisers

Nathaniel Adam

Lecturer, Department of Music

I teach classes on popular music analysis, classical music theory, and musicianship skills, and am particularly eager to answer any questions about taking music classes here at Yale (or studying music generally). I was born in New Haven, studied music theory and piano at Eastman School of Music (BM) and the University of Michigan (PhD), and my connection to Davenport goes all the way back to my great-grandfather, Emerson Tuttle, who was the original Head of College. Before joining the Yale faculty in 2016, I taught at Western Connecticut State University, the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven, and the New York State Summer School for the Arts. In addition to teaching and theorizing, I am a composer, choral conductor, pianist, harpsichordist, and music editor. I have a house in the woods in Hamden with my wife, Laura, who works in Yale’s Office of Institutional Affairs. In my free time I enjoy film, hiking, and the beach.

Lincoln Caplan

Lecturer, Yale Law School

I am delighted to continue as a freshman adviser, as I have been for the past 15 years, and to be a visiting lecturer in law at Yale Law School, where I was on the faculty as a journalist from 1998 to 2006. I am also a member of the editorial board of The American Scholar, for which I write regularly, and a contributor of journalism to other publications. In addition, I am Davenport’s writing tutor and look forward to working with D-port students and students in other colleges. 

Ned Cooke

Charles F. Montgomery Professor of American Decorative Arts in the Department of the History of Art

Professor Cooke focuses upon American material culture and decorative arts. His books include Making Furniture in Pre-industrial America: The Social Economy of Newtown and Woodbury, Connecticut (Johns Hopkins Press, 1996) and Inventing Boston: Design, Production and Consumption in the Atlantic World, 1680–1720 (Yale University Press, 2019), both of which focus upon the context of craftsman-client relations in colonial North America. He has also written extensively on modern craft, historicizing and explicating more recent forms of production.

At Yale, Cooke teaches lecture courses on American material culture from the fifteenth century to the present as well as an introductory course on global decorative arts and offers seminars on a variety of topics including material culture theory, material literacy, the American interior, American furniture, and modern craft. He has also taught seminars on craft and design in India and in Australia.

He served as the Chair of the department from 2000 to 2006 and from 2012 to 2016. Since his arrival at Yale in 1992, he served as Director of the Yale Center for the Study of American Art and Material Culture, a group of interested Yale faculty, graduate students, and museum professionals who meet weekly during the semester for presentations on the theme of that academic year. 

Basie Gitlin

Director of Development, Yale University Library and Yale Collections

A long-term Yalie and proud D’porter, I grew up outside New Haven and attended Choate Rosemary Hall before coming to Yale College, graduating with a B.A. in history in 2010. I was active in Davenport, serving as a FroCo, manager of the Davenport-Pierson Press, co-captain of IM squash, and lead organizer of the Mellon Forum. I then pursued an M.Phil. in early modern history at Pembroke College, Cambridge, before returning to work in fundraising at Yale more than a decade ago. These days, I lead development efforts for Yale’s libraries, as well as some related areas such as Yale University Press and the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. Elsewhere at Yale, I also serve as Librarian of the Elizabethan Club and Co-Chair of the Adrian Van Sinderen Book Collecting Prize Committee. In my spare time, I enjoy collecting books and manuscripts, rowing and playing squash, traveling, honing my cocktail-making skills, and of course being a part of the Davenport community!

Jay Gitlin

Lecturer; Associate Director of Howard R. Lamar Center on the Study of Frontiers and Borders

I am a proud member of the Class of 1971—the first Yale class with women and the next-to-last class required to wear a coat and tie for dinner in the dining hall. I majored in history and have always been interested in cities and urban life, which explains why I wound up specializing in the fur trade, the frontier, and the French experience in North America. I am from New York (Long Island: Mets and Jets fan) and joined the musicians’ union at the age of 12.  I love used bookstores and am writing a book on the “Rise and Fall of Modern Shopping.” I have a degree from the Yale School of Music as a percussionist, but mostly play piano in the Bales-Gitlin Band with my wife, Ginny Bales. Our son Basie (Davenport 2010) was a freshman counselor and has recently returned from Cambridge with an M.Phil. in Early Modern History.  A cold glass of milk and chocolate thin mints (any variety of dark chocolate) will bring an instant smile to my face, in case one is not already firmly planted there. 

Anjelica Gonzalez

Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and the Faculty Director of Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking, Head of Davenport College

Anjelica’s work is centered on the development of artificial human tissues, but spans a range of applications from drug discovery to medical device development.  Anjelica spends a lot of her time writing scientific articles, opinion pieces on topics of diversity in STEM and creating ways in which Yale students can launch their own start-ups and explore their own innovative pathways. These are all related to the classes Anjelica teaches that are related to development of biotechnology with ethics, culture, politics and affordability as the central tenants of appropriate design. Beyond her academic work, Anjelica is eager to engage the Davenport community through intellectual and cultural events in the college’s common room.

Karsten Heeger

Paul Kennedy

Paul Kennedy, the J. Richardson Dilworth Professor of History, Director of International Security Studies at Yale, and Distinguished Fellow of the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy, coordinates the ISS programs funded by the Smith Richardson Foundation. He is internationally known for his writings and commentaries on global political, economic, and strategic issues.

Born in June 1945 in the northern English town of Wallsend, Northumberland, he obtained his BA at Newcastle University and his DPhil at the University of Oxford. He is a former Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton University, and of the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, Bonn. He holds many honorary degrees, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (C.B.E.) in 2000 for services to History and elected a Fellow of the British Academy in June 2003.

Prof. Kennedy’s monthly column on current global issues is distributed worldwide by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate/Tribune Media Services. He is the author or editor of nineteen books, including The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism, The War Plans of the Great Powers, The Realities Behind Diplomacy, and Preparing for the Twenty-First Century. His best-known work is The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, which provoked an intense debate on its publication in 1988 and has been translated into over twenty languages.

In 1991, he edited a collection entitled Grand Strategies in War and Peace. He helped draft the Ford Foundation-sponsored report issued in 1995, The United Nations in Its Second Half-Century, which was prepared for the fiftieth anniversary of the UN. His 2006 book The Parliament of Men contemplates the past and future of the United Nations. Prof. Kennedy’s most recent book Engineers of Victory, history through the eyes of problem-solvers during the Second World War, was published in 2013. He is currently writing a book about seapower and global transformations during World War Two.

Albert Ko

Associate Professor, Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) and of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) Division Head - Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases

I was raised in New Jersey by parents who emigrated from Korea and after finishing my undergraduate education at MIT and medical training at Harvard, set off with my wife Delphine to Salvador, Brazil where I have worked for the past 16 years on the health problems of urban slum communities.  We returned to the US last year with three kids, Tongil (16), Aline (13) and Minjae (10), who despite their French mother and American father, grew up to be typical baianos.  I spend my spare time wandering around book stores and doing a not very good job of kicking the soccer ball with my children

Kate Krier

Assistant Dean for the Arts, Director of Production

I discovered theater when I played the dormouse (a silent role) in my elementary school production of Alice and Wonderland.  By high school, I had discovered that being backstage was more fun than being onstage and I have been working there ever since.  I was born in Connecticut, but grew up in Florida, and eventually found my way back for college (Wesleyan) and then again for grad school (Yale School of Drama).  At Yale, I oversee Undergraduate Production (the office that supports all undergraduate theater, dance, opera, and comedy), the Center for Collaborative Arts and Media, and the Yale Ensembles (Bands, Glee Club and Yale Symphony Orchestra). Outside of Yale, I love cooking/eating, gardening, and reading, and I volunteer at a cat rescue organization in North Branford.

Bluma Lesch

Assistant Professor of Genetics

luma (Bibi) Lesch works on the genetics and epigenetics of reproduction and development, with a special interest in the evolution of epigenetic and chromatin states in mammals. Understanding the evolution of gene regulation in gametes requires integrating information across a wide range of biological scales, from the regulation of molecules to the development of individuals to the evolution of species. Dr. Lesch’s work brings together these divergent approaches to thinking about biology.

Dr. Lesch earned her B.S. from Yale University in 2003. She obtained her Ph.D. in 2010 from Rockefeller University and her M.D. in 2011 from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge, MA, from 2011-2017, where she was awarded an NIH Kirschstein postdoctoral fellowship and also named a Hope Funds for Cancer Research postdoctoral fellow. She received a Burroughs Wellcome Career Award for Medical Scientists in 2015, and returned to New Haven to join the Yale faculty in 2017.

Maureen Long

Bruce D. Alexander Professor and Chair of Earth and Planetary Sciences

I am an observational seismologist who works on problems related to mantle dynamics, with a focus on subduction zone processes, the structure and evolution of continental lithosphere, and the dynamics of the deep mantle.  In particular, my group work on the dynamics of subduction systems, using seismic observations and geodynamic models to understand subduction geodynamics, including volatile cycling, the generation and transport of melt, and slab morphology, rheology, and evolution. We also investigate seismic anisotropy and flow in the deep mantle, including the transition zone, uppermost lower mantle, and the core-mantle boundary region. Finally, we are interested in the structure, evolution, and deformation of continental lithosphere, both in regions of present-day tectonic activity (such as Cascadia and western South America) and in regions that have been affected by subduction and continental breakup in the past (such as eastern North America). My research encompasses a substantial field component, with recent or ongoing seismometer deployments in the Pacific Northwest, Peru, the central Appalachian Mountains,  offshore eastern North America, and New England.

I’ve been at Yale since 2009, and I teach courses (both undergraduate and graduate) on seismology, natural disasters, and forensic geosciences. I currently serve as Chair of the EPS department; in the past, I’ve served as Director of Graduate Studies and chair of our departmental IDEA committee.  I am particularly interested in cultivating diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice within the EPS department and the field of Earth science. I’m committed to public education and outreach, and I run the Field Experiences for Science Teachers (FEST) program at Yale, which provides one-week field experiences for Connecticut-based high school science teachers. 

Reina Maruyama

​Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Professor Reina Maruyama is exploring new physics in nuclear and particle astrophysics, in particular, in dark matter and neutrinos. Her group is carrying out direct detection of dark matter experiments in terrestrial-based detectors and searches for neutrinoless double beta decay. The current experiments include COSINE-100 located at the Yangyang Underground Laboratory in South Korea, DM-Ice, and IceCube located at the South Pole, and CUORE, located at Gran Sasso, Italy.

Srinivas Muvvala

Dr. Muvvala is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Program Director for the Addiction Psychiatry Residency at the Yale School of Medicine. He is the Medical Director of the Substance Abuse Treatment Unit (SATU) at the Connecticut Mental Health Center. His research and clinical interests are in investigating and disseminating optimal therapies for the treatment of opioid, tobacco and alcohol use disorders and in providing comprehensive treatment for individuals with co-occuring addiction and psychiatric disorders.

Rob Nelson

Robert Lehman Professor Emeritus in the History of Art

Originally from Texas, Rob Nelson is an emeritus professor of History of Art with a specialty in the Middle Ages.  Currently he is writing a book about the long history of a particular illustrated medieval manuscript from its creation in medieval Constantinople to the present with chapters about Renaissance Rome and Florence and the Italian Enlightenment.  In collegeHe went through five or six majors, because everything seemed so fascinating, and he still enjoys learning about the wide interests of Yale students, especially those fields in which he could not major.

Stephanie O’Malley

Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and director of the department’s Division of Substance Abuse Research, has received the 2004 Dan Anderson Research Award. The award, sponsored by the Butler Center for Research at the Hazelden Foundation, honors researchers who have advanced the study of addiction recovery.

Ismene Petrakis

Dr. Petrakis is a Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine and the Director of the Mental Health Service Line at VA Connecticut Healthcare System (VACHS) since July 2010. Dr. Petrakis completed residency training at Yale School of Medicine and then a NIDA-funded addiction psychiatry clinical/research fellowship. She joined the faculty in 1992. Prior to July 2010, she was the Director of the Substance Abuse Treatment Program of the VACHS since 1996.

Dr. Petrakis is also the Director of the Addiction Psychiatry Residency at Yale, an ACGME-accredited program and the PI of both an NIAAA-funded and a NIDA-funded training grant (T32).

Her research interests are predominately two-fold: (1) finding appropriate treatments for dually diagnosed individuals and (2) understanding the neurobiological mechanisms underlying alcohol dependence. She has received funding from the Department of Defense, NIH-NIAAA, the VA, NARSAD and the Stanley Foundation.

James Silk

James J. Silk is the Binger Clinical Professor of Human Rights at Yale Law School, where he teaches the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic. He is director of the Law School’s Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights. He founded and directs the Multidisciplinary Academic Program in Human Rights in Yale College. In the 2016-2017 academic year, he initiated and directed JUNCTURE: Explorations in Art and Human Rights, a year-long program of collaborations with artists; a multidisciplinary graduate seminar; fellowships for Yale School of Art MFA students; a public lecture series; and a symposium. He was formerly the director of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights in Washington, D.C. After completing law school, he was an attorney at the Washington law firm of Arnold & Porter, where his pro bono work included representing a Virginia death-row inmate in his appeals. Before attending law school, Professor Silk taught English in Shanghai, China, for a year and then was editor, policy analyst, and senior writer for the U.S. Committee for Refugees. Professor Silk has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan, an M.A. in the Humanities from the University of Chicago, and a J.D. from Yale.

Albert Sinusas

Professor of Medicine (Section of Cardiovascular Medicine) and Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale University School of Medicine, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, and Director of the Yale Translational Research Imaging Center (Y-TRIC), and Director of Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging at Yale New Haven Hospital. He received a BS degree at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, MD degree at University of Vermont, College of Medicine, and completed training in internal medicine at the University of Oklahoma, and training in cardiology and nuclear cardiology at the University of Virginia. He joined the faculty at Yale University School of Medicine in 1990 where he has remained. Dr. Sinusas has served as a standing member of the Clinical and Integrated Cardiovascular Sciences (CICS), and standing member and chair of Medical Imaging (MEDI), and Clinical Translational Imaging Sciences (CTIS) study sections of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Sinusas has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Cardiovascular Council (CVC), Molecular Imaging Center of Excellence (MICoE), and Center for Molecular Imaging Innovation and Translation (CMIIT) of the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM), and Board of Directors of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology. He was the 2008 recipient of the SNMMI Hermann Blumgart Award. His research is directed at development, validation and application of non-invasive cardiovascular imaging approaches for the assessment of cardiovascular pathophysiology, including the targeted molecular assessment of myocardial ischemic injury, angiogenesis, arteriogenesis, and post–infarction atrial and ventricular remodeling, and peripheral artery disease. The investigation of these biological processes involves, ex vivo and in vivo imaging in animal models of cardiovascular disease and humans. This translational research employs the 3–D modalities of X-ray computed tomography (CT) and fluoroscopy, SPECT/CT, PET/CT, echocardiography, and MR imaging in an animal physiology laboratory and clinical environment. Dr. Sinusas is the principal investigator of several NIH grants involving multi-modality cardiovascular imaging, and directs a NIH funded T32 grant providing training in multi-modality molecular and translational cardiovascular imaging. He is the author of over 250 peer reviewed publications and invited reviews related to cardiovascular imaging, and co-edited a textbook entitled Cardiovascular Molecular Imaging published in 2007 and Hybrid Imaging in Cardiovascular Medicine in 2018.

Candace Skorupa

Sr Lector French; Lector Comparative Lit

Candace Skorupa loves to teach first-year students of French in FREN 110, 120, and 121, as well as advanced students in FREN 150 and 151.  In the department of Comparative Literature, she is the Senior Essay Coordinator and guides the seniors through their senior essay projects.  She has been a lector at Yale since 2005.

She received her Ph.D. (2000), M.Phil. (1996), and B.A. (1992) in Comparative Literature from Yale University.   Her dissertation, “Music and Letters: Correspondances of Notes and Narrative from Berlioz to Proust,” was directed by Peter Brooks. 

She has taught French at Harvard University (1999-2002) and at Smith College (2002-2005), and she taught English at Lycée Saint-Exupéry in Lyon, France, with the Fulbright program (1992-93). 

Jason Strong

Associate Athletic Director, Compliance at the Yale Athletic Department

Jason Strong oversees of the Athletics Compliance Office, education and monitoring, amateurism, recruiting processes, and waiver requests of Ivy League and NCAA regulations.

Strong has sport oversight over Yale’s gymnastics, rowing and squash programs and serves as a member of Yale Athletics’ Education & Workshops Committee.

Prior to Yale, Strong served as the assistant athletic director for compliance at Oregon State University from 2014-2018. His responsibilities at OSU included education and monitoring, personnel, amateurism, recruiting processes, playing and practice season schedules, and writing waiver requests at both the Pac-12 Conference and NCAA levels.

Strong spent four years as the director of compliance at Boston University of the Patriot League from 2010-2014.  While at Boston University, Strong helped the Terriers’ transition from the America East Conference to the Patriot League. He was responsible for all NCAA and league compliance interpretations.

Michael Warner

Weimin Zhong

Associate Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology

Dr. Zhong earned his PhD at Rockefeller University. His current interests are in the molecular and cellular mechanisms that govern the behavior of stem cells, in particular how they balance the needs for self-renewal and differentiation during mammalian organogenesis and tissue maintenance. 

Zhong’s laboratory studies the molecular and cellular mechanisms governing how stem cells balance the competing needs of self-renewal and differentiation during mammalian organogenesis and tissue maintenance. He uses the mammalian Numb proteins, Numb and Numblike (Numbl), as entry point, and neurogenesis in the developing neocortex and mammary gland development in mice as model systems, to probe the contribution of two modes of cell division – symmetric vs. asymmetric – in regulating stem cell behavior, in particular how changes in cell division pattern affect organ development, tissue regeneration and tumor formation, as part of an effort to achieve a key goal of stem-cell research to repair tissues and organs damaged by disease, injury or aging.