Morse Fellows

Morse College is a vibrant community. We would love to count you among us. The Fellows meet a few times per semester at the Head of College’s house, to interact with friends from all parts of the University and from the broader community. Many play the role of Advisor for a student or two. We extend invitations to student functions such as performances and college-wide social events, welcome participation at intramural sports, provide dining privileges in the college at lunch or dinner, all so you can meet with students, faculty and friends. Please join us - we welcome you!

A (7) | B (11) | C (10) | D (5) | E (2) | F (3) | G (7) | H (3) | K (12) | L (4) | M (10) | N (2) | O (1) | P (7) | Q (1) | R (6) | S (15) | T (2) | V (3) | W (5)

Kevin Adkisson

Curatorial Associate, Cranbrook Educational Community

Biography

Kevin Adkisson assists in the preservation, interpretation, and programming across the many buildings and treasures of Cranbrook, an educational community north of Detroit designed by Finnish-American architect Eliel Saarinen. Kevin’s work is focused on the community’s three historic homes, now operated as museums: the Albert Kahn-designed Cranbrook House (1908), Saarinen House (1930), and the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Smith House (1950). He has curated exhibitions on Cranbrook history and legacy of craft, design, and architecture, as well as guiding countless students and visitors through Cranbrook each year. Kevin writes and edits the weekly Cranbrook Kitchen Sink history blog, and teaches an annual course on the history of American architecture.

A native of north Georgia, Adkisson has his BA in Architecture from Yale, where he lived in architect Eero Saarinen’s Morse College and worked in the Yale University Art Gallery’s American Decorative Arts Furniture Study. Adkisson is completing his MA from the University of Delaware’s Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, with a thesis examining the role of postmodernism in shopping mall architecture. Previously, Kevin worked for Robert A.M. Stern Architects in New York as a research and writing associate and at Kent Bloomer Studio in New Haven, where he designed and fabricated architectural ornament. Kevin served as the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research Collections Fellow from August 2016—June 2019.

Kevin is more than happy to answer any questions about the design and history of Morse College.

Contact Information:


Madeleine Albright (deceased)

Chair, Albright Stonebridge Group and Albright Capital Management; Former U.S. Secretary of State

Biography

Morse shares condolences with the Madam Secretary’s family and the nation at her passing. She was a beloved Morse Fellow. 
 
Madeleine K. Albright was a professor, author, diplomat and businesswoman who served as the 64th Secretary of State of the United States. In 1997, she was named the first female Secretary of State and became, at that time, the highest ranking woman in the history of the U.S. government. From 1993 to 1997, Dr. Albright served as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and was a member of the President’s Cabinet. She was a Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Dr. Albright was Chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm, and Chair of Albright Capital Management LLC, an investment advisory firm focused on emerging markets. She also chaired the National Democratic Institute, served as the president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation and was a member of the U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Policy Board. In 2012, she was chosen by President Obama to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in recognition of her contributions to international peace and democracy. 
 
Dr. Albright’s book, Fascism: A Warning (2018) debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. She is the author of five other New York Times bestselling books: her autobiography, Madam Secretary: A Memoir (2003); The Mighty and the Almighty: Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs (2006); Memo to the President: How We Can Restore America’s Reputation and Leadership (2008); Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box (2009); and Prague Winter: A Personal Story of Remembrance and War, 1937-1948 (2012). Dr. Albright’s upcoming book, Hell and Other Destinations will be published in April 2020. 

Frederick L. Altice

Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology and Public Health

Biography

Frederick Altice, M.D., M.A., is board-certified in both Infectious Diseases and Addiction Medicine and is Director of Clinical and Community Research, the Community Health Care Van, the HIV in Prisons Program. Professor Altice is also a Senior Investigator at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA) and the Global Health Initiative.  

Interests:

Prof. Altice is interested in the interface of infectious diseases and substance use disorders, including clinical trials, intervention science development, cohort studies and implementation science, primarily in low and middle income international settings. He is interested in advising and interacting with students interested in global health, health disparities, vulnerable populations such as people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, female sex workers and criminal justice populations.  

Please contact me or my administrative assistant, Paula Dellamura (paula.dellamura@yale.edu) for appointments. 

Offers assistance in:

Advising and mentoring for upperclassmen, Connecting students to internships or other opportunities

Contact Information:


Tarren Andrews

Assistant Professor of Native American and Indigenous Studies in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration

Biography

Professor Andrews works on contemporary Indigenous literature and theory, as well as Old English studies. She came to Yale in the Fall of 2023 after finishing her Ph.D. at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Professor Andrews is from the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwest Montana and takes any chance she gets to visit home. 

Interests:

Poetry—medieval and modern, board games and puzzles, fishing, and really big dogs. 

Offers assistance in:

Serving as a reader for students preparing CVs and job or fellowship applications
Happy to serve as a general mentor, especially for Native students.

Contact Information:


Erin Lee Antonak

Artist

Biography

Erin Lee Antonak is a visual artist and a curator. She is a proud Wolf Clan member of the Oneida Indian Nation of New York. Erin is a graduate of Bard College and SUNY New Paltz and has studied at Lacoste School of the Arts and at Vermont Studio Center. While currently working as an independent curator, Erin has held curatorial positions at both The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum (Biloxi, MS), The Contemporary Arts Center (New Orleans, LA), and has been the Board Chair of The Indigenous Women’s Voices Summit (Hurleyville, NY). She has also developed and curated visual art shows in Europe, Asia, and North America. 
 
Erin’s own visual artwork fuses Iroquois sensibilities and traditional craft techniques with contemporary materials and concepts. Working in this way, she creates a link between herself, and her ancestors, claiming her place in the chain of Iroquois women before and after her and paints a portrait of a modern Iroquois woman.
 
Erin currently lives in New Orleans with her husband, Brian, and their children, Calder and Archer. She is interested in time travel, world travel, metal detecting, ceremonial dress, and coffee.
 
Her artwork can be viewed here: erinantonak.com

Jaime Arellano-Bover

Lecturer in Economics and Senior Research Scientist

Biography

Jaime Arellano-Bover is a Lecturer in Economics and Senior Research Scientist, with a joint appointment between the School of Management and the Department of Economics.
 
His research is in the areas of Labor Economics and Applied Microeconomics, typically using large-scale administrative datasets on individuals, workers, and firms. Some of his recent and current research studies the importance of young workers’ labor market entry conditions and matches to first jobs, how on-the-job learning varies across employers, immigrants’ labor market integration, the infiltration of organized crime in legal firms, and the long-run dynamics of the gender pay gap. Jaime’s teaching involves working as the Course Director of Econ 117 (Introduction to Data Analysis and Econometrics).
 
Jaime obtained a PhD in Economics from Stanford University in 2019, was a postdoc at Yale between 2019-2021, and worked in Rome (Italy) for two years after that.
 
Before moving to the US for his PhD, Jaime graduated in 2013 from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain), where he is originally from. He is married and has two small kids.
 
You can learn more on his website: https://www.jarellanobover.com/

Contact Information:


Sharyar Aziz

Managing Director at UBS Americas

Biography

For over forty years Shary has worked as an Investment Banker covering a wide variety of industries and transactions. In late 2016 he moved to be a Senior Partner within UBS Americas.  Prior to joining UBS he was Executive Vice President at Smith Barney, where he was responsible for the firm’s Investment Banking Group.  He has held executive positions at The First Boston Corporation, Dillon Read, and Guinness Peat plc.  He currently serves on a number of  civic boards of directors. His past corporate directorships include Northwest Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Cellular Information Systems.   Shary has served on the Yale World Fellows Program regional selection committee for the Middle East and Central Asia.  He and his wife, Laura Rose Aziz ‘79, support the Undergraduate Admissions Office outreach program for South Asian students.  On behalf of the Admissions Office, he has traveled to India and Pakistan and has provided support for financial aid for international students.  He is Chairman of Skillman Associates, the Yale Squash Alumni Association and is a fellow of Morse College.  He is Co-Secretary of his Yale College class and was Reunion Gift Chairman for his 25th, 30th,  35th and 40th reunions. He is a member of the President’s  Council on International Affairs.  Shary earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and serves as a member of the HBS Global Advisory Board.   His twins Sharyar, Jr. and Alia are graduates of the Yale College Class of 2010.  His son Pasha is a member of the Class of 2008. Alia was a Silver Scholar at the Yale School of Management and graduated in 2014. 


Catherine (Cat) Balco

Professor of Painting, Hartford Art School/University of Hartford

Biography

Cat Balco is a painter and a Professor of Painting at the Hartford Art School/University of Hartford. She makes bright abstract paintings that evoke joy, freedom, and physical movement. As an educator, she is committed to helping students develop grounded, individualized artistic practices. She has a special interest in connecting art making to personal and cultural healing, and has founded a number of Arts in Healthcare initiatives that connect students to patients in hospices, nursing homes, and other healthcare environments. Cat also writes about art and culture. 

Contact Information:

203-804-7007

Ruth Barnes

Thomas Jaffe Curator of Indo-Pacific Art, Yale University Art Gallery

Biography

Ruth Barnes received her doctorate from the University of Oxford, based on her research in eastern Indonesia. She also has an M.A. in Art History from the university of Edinburgh. Her dissertation was published as The Ikat Textiles of Lamalera. A Study of an Eastern Indonesian Weaving Tradition (Leiden, E.J. Brill 1989). She has written extensively on Indonesian weaving and related art forms. 
 
From 1990 to the end of 2009 she was textile curator at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, where she focussed on early Indian Ocean trade networks. She published Indian Block-Printed Textiles in Egypt. The Newberry Collection in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Clarendon Press 1997) and co-authored (with Rosemary Crill and Steven Cohen) Trade, Temple and Court. Indian Textiles from the Tapi Collection (2002). Together with Mary Kahlenberg she co-edited Five Hundred Years of Indonesian Textiles. In January 2010 she left the Ashmolean and moved to Yale, where she now is the Thomas Jaffe Curator of Indo-Pacific Art at the Yale University Art Gallery. She is currently working on a comprehensive catalogue of the department’s collection of Indonesian textiles, to be published in conjunction with a major exhibition at the Yale Art Gallery in 2025.

Offers assistance in:

Academic advising for first-year students, Advising and mentoring for upperclassmen, Career advising, Connecting students to internships or other opportunities

Contact Information:


Melissa Barton

Curator, Drama and Prose, Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Library

Biography

Melissa Barton is Curator of Drama and Prose for the Yale Collection of American Literature, which includes the James Weldon Johnson Memorial Collection of African American Arts and Letters, at Beinecke Library. She is an alum of Morse, having received her BA in English from Yale; she earned her PhD, also in English, from the University of Chicago.
 
At the Beinecke, Melissa has curated exhibits including “Casting Shadows: Integration on the American Stage,” “Richard Wright’s Native Son on Stage and Screen,” “Gather Out of Star-Dust: The Harlem Renaissance and the Beinecke Library,” and, in 2022, “Brava! Women Make American Theater.” Her catalog Gather Out of Star-Dust: A Harlem Renaissance Album was copublished by Beinecke and Yale University Press.

Interests:

Melissa’s research interests include Black theater and performance and the conceptualization and status of archives in the humanities and information science. She loves teaching and spent several years teaching English at the secondary level, in both private and public schools, and she is happy to talk about those experiences with prospective teachers. She still holds a candle for theater production and ultimate frisbee, though increasingly only as a spectator for either. She lives in New Haven with her partner and their kids.

Offers assistance in:

Career advising

Contact Information: