Meet the Board
Meet the visionary leaders shaping our community – Yale-educated educators and education enthusiasts dedicated to advancing teaching practices globally. Discover their diverse expertise across all educational levels and domains, driving innovation and excellence in education.
Elissa Levy ’09
I'm indebted to those who helped me make sense of this crazy world during my formative years, and who showed me (by example) that we can heal our planet and ourselves through constant engagement and problem-solving. At the core of this grand mission is community: at Yale I was surrounded by like-minded and passionate peers, and now as a classroom teacher I want to maintain these connections: helping younger generations make meaning in the classroom, and learning from everyone how to be a better, more deeply engaged, teacher myself.
Mike Fishback ’01
Mike graduated from Yale College in 2001 with a degree in political science and later received his Ed.M. from Harvard. He has taught middle school humanities for most of the last 25 years and currently works as a social studies teacher and curriculum coach at Almaden Country Day School in San Jose. Along the way, Mike has served as an adjunct professor of education at American University, as a workshop organizer for GLSEN and Critical Explorers, and as an iCivics Teacher Facilitator Fellow.
Mike writes, “Yale Alumni Educators excites me because it promises to elevate one of our society's most vital professions in the eyes of the global Yale community, while also bringing the unique resources and scholarship of Yale to teachers and their students. The educators I've connected with through YAEd see teaching as not just a job but a field of inquiry and are eager to improve the system and their own practice. By strengthening and expanding our community, we nourish individual educators and influence how schools translate their values into policies and curriculum.”
Claudia Portogallo ’17 PhD
Claudia earned her Ph.D. from Yale in 2017. Her research focused on the multifaceted transmission of Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War to a fifteenth-century Florentine readership. She analyzed Florentine histories written by Leonardo Bruni, Poggio Bracciolini, Bartolomeo Scala, and Niccolò Machiavelli, mapping the ever-changing process of identity-making through historiography onto an evolving understanding of Thucydides’ text.
Claudia believes ancient texts can resonate with everyone. She encourages open, brave discussions on interpretative differences to find common ground in conflicts. By embracing complexity and change, she sees herself as someone who contemplates the in-between. As an educator, she invites others to do the same and to engage in ever-evolving dialogue. Currently, Claudia works at the University of Leipzig in Germany and the International Studies Institute in Florence, Italy.
As a member of the Yale Alumni Educators, she aims to make the resources, knowledge, and network of the Yale Alumni Educators accessible to a wider audience, especially in her local communities in Italy and Germany. To this end, she has started collaborating with local associations and parent boards. If you live in Europe and want to learn more about what Yale Alumni Educators can do for your school community, get in touch with Claudia at claudia@yaleinternationalalliance.org.
Alison Gardy ’88
Alison graduated Yale in 1988 (originally Class of 1987, plus a gap year in Mexico and South America) with a BA in Comparative Literature in Spanish and Russian. She then lived in Mexico on a Fulbright grant to research social change and rural-to-urban migration. Alison taught English while earning an MFA in Literary Nonfiction from Columbia University. She later taught prose composition at New York University. At 92nd Street Y (2001 to 2016), she launched and directed a leadership and management training program for global community leaders as well as off-the-record diplomatic roundtable discussions, including the Yale Alumni Association as a partner in those endeavors. Through her consultancy Gardy Communication Strategies, she has supported small nonprofits, including many led by Yalies. Since May 2023, as Director of External and Partner Relations for American Friends of Magen David Adom, Israel's emergency medical and international disaster relief services, Alison has been building interfaith educational programs and the alumni community of MDA Overseas Volunteers.
Since 2016, Alison has volunteered as an NYCDOE Family Healing Ambassador and School Wellness Council lead in NYC public schools. After 12 years as Fulbright Association national board member, she currently serves as a board member of the Fulbright Israel Interest Group. For YAEd, she has orchestrated panels on climate awareness, intergenerational collaboration, and post-graduate fellowship opportunities. Alison enjoys mentoring Yale students and alumni, especially educators.
Grace Kim ’22
Grace Kim is a teacher and entrepreneur, devoted to empowering the youth of the future. Since 2016, she has partnered with international NGOs and non-profit organizations to make strides toward ensuring inclusive, equitable, and quality educational opportunities for all people. Currently, she is a special education teacher, teaching STEM classes at Columbia Secondary School in NYC. When not teaching, she volunteers her time for 1stGenYale, serves on the board for Yale Alumni Educators, coaches cheerleading for ages 11-18, and creates graphic design projects through her platform, gracefulperfect.com.
In her path from being an Education Studies Scholar at Yale to becoming a NYC DOE teacher, Grace attributes the Yale education community to have helped her apply research on culturally sustaining social and emotional learning to practice in the post-pandemic classroom. She believes that while her work as an individual may create immediate change, the largest positive impact she can have on the world is to empower and equip my communities with the knowledge, tools, and resources to create long-term, sustainable change. Grace is driven to support current Yale students and future Yale alumni educators to create collective, long-lasting, positive change in the field of education.
Stephanie Grilli ’90 PhD
After graduating from Yale with a PhD in the History of Art, Stephanie taught at university as a member of both art and interdisciplinary faculties. She is now an independent art historian. As Colorado Yale Association president, she received a Yale Alumni Association Volunteer Leadership & Innovation award. Stephanie has served on the YaleAlumni Association Board of Governors and as an ex officio member of the Graduate School Alumni Association. She currently serves on the board of Yale Blue Green, the environmental and sustainability alumni shared-interest group.
Stephanie sees the potential of Yale Alumni Educators to have the potential to have positive impact through sharing innovative ideas and practices as well as by rallying advocates.There is hardly a problem or concern that doesn’t require meaningful education, and yet there is little reward and increased impediments to those who wish to pursue this profession. The shared-interest group can bring together those dedicated to making the world a better place through education for support, inspiration, and mentoring. While offering connection and community for educators of all types and levels of experience, YAEd can create awareness within the entire Yale alumni community of the challenges faced and the possible solutions.
Tom James ’12
Tom graduated from Yale in 2012 with a B.S. in Computer Science & Mathematics and a teaching certificate through the Yale Teacher Preparation Program. He is a high school educator who has taught in public, charter, and independent schools in New Haven, northern Virginia, and New York City. He has served as a high school math teacher and department chair and earned an Ed.M. from Columbia University in educational leadership. He currently works as the Assistant Head of High School at Grace Church School in Manhattan. Tom writes, “My mentors at Yale supported me as I started my journey as a teacher, and I’m hopeful about the ways in which our community of educators can contribute to the broader conversation about teaching and learning while continuing to grow our individual practices.”
James Woodall ’16
James was a member of Yale College Class of 2016, graduating with a B.A. in Religious Studies. After completing a year of service with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps followed by a M.A. at University of Chicago Divinity School, he felt a vocation to enter secondary education instead of pursuing doctoral work. James has taught philosophy, Latin, and communications at Regis Jesuit High School in Aurora, CO since 2020.
The son of a teacher and school administrator, James has borne firsthand witness to the dignity and difficulty of education. He hopes in his work with YAEd to elevate the many Yale alumni who have dedicated themselves to this field. The belief that education brings meaning and purpose to life, a truth which James found at the heart of his own time at Yale, inspires him to hope that even more Yale alumni will dedicate their lives to sharing that good with others.