Our Study Group Leaders

Nancy Abbey recently retired after 16 years as the Assistant Director of Milford Public Library. She facilitated a popular Classic Book Group for 14 of those 16 years, and continues in this role.

Ann M. Altman was born in Bristol UK. She studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge and received her doctorate in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale in 1974. After a career in research, she became a scientific writer and editor, working predominantly for the Japanese. She served for six years on Hamden's Legislative Council and, later, was a member and twice-elected chair of the Planning and Zoning Commission. She has lectured in Mongolia on public participation in democratic processes and more recently, in Czechia, about her family history.

Don Barkin MA received an A.B. from Harvard College and an M.A. in English literature from Cambridge University. He's taught undergraduate seminars in poetry and prose writing at Yale for several years and [ more ]

Randall Beach is a former columnist, reporter and rock music reviewer for the New Haven Register. Later he wrote columns for Connecticut magazine. He co-wrote with Brian Phelps "The Legendary Toad's Place: Stories From New Haven's Famed Music Venue." Globe-Pequot Press also published "Connecticut Characters: Profiles of Rascals and Renegades," a collection of Beach's favorite Register columns. He writes essays on Substack and is working on a memoir about his experiences at the New Haven Register.

Phillip L. Beard has taught modernist literature in universities for over twenty years, (including a Fulbright year in Germany, and in an abroad program in Vienna) has published articles on twentieth century literature and philosophy and is currently an editor for the Bulletin of the George Santayana Society

Susan Birnbaum, owner and operator of SusanSez NYC Walkabouts is a native New Yorker obsessed with its history and food. Since 2002, Susan has been a licensed NYC Sightseeing Guide. Susan has had a lifelong interest in history (Hunter College - bachelor's in history ) and is a member of The Bronx, Brooklyn , and New York Historical Societies .In 2010, Susan was the recipient of The Bronx Tourism Award from The Bronx Tourism Council for her unparalleled commitment to sharing the rich history of The Bronx.

Dr. Marc J. Blosveren holds Chemistry and Psychology degrees, and a Doctorate in Science Administration. He has done extensive work in Curriculum Review and Development, was the Science Supervisor (retired) for the New Haven Board of Education and was an OSHA Health & Safety Consultant. He was an Adjunct Professor at Quinnipiac University and Western Connecticut State University.

Carol Boynton received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Albertus Magnus College. After retiring, she enrolled in bridge lessons which have led to many enjoyable years of playing bridge. She hopes to help others to develop an interest in playing this game which involves memory, skill and perseverance.

Gabriella Brand is a bilingual educator, writer, and public speaker. She has over thirty years' experience as a teacher of French language and literature. In addition, she has served as an intern at the United Nations during her university years. She was a program director at an Alliance Francaise. She holds a diploma from the Universite de Neuchatel, Switzerland and an MA in French pedagogy from Middlebury College, Vermont.'

Susan Campbell is an award-winning journalist who has written for Hearst newspapers, The Hartford Courant, Philadelphia Inquirer, Ms. Magazine, Salon, and The Guardian, among others. Her work was part of the Courant's 1999 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news. She is a professor of practice in journalism at University of New Haven, where she also serves as faculty advisor to the campus newspaper, The Charger Bulletin, and the campus long-form journalism website, Horseshoe Magazine. She is the author of three books, and a contributing writer of four.

Cheryl Cape is a geoscientist with over 30 years of experience with mapping and the use of Geographic Information Systems (maps on computers). She has enjoyed creating maps for environmental and natural resource studies, along with digital humanities projects, and for the past decade has taught students and college faculty how to create their own maps and digital exhibits.

Leo has led hikes in and around Connecticut for more than 25 years.

Jerry Dunklee is a journalism professor emeritus at Southern Connecticut State University where he taught Media Law and Ethics for 35 years. He was a member of the Society of Professional Journalists national ethics committee for 12 years and helped write the 1996 edition of the Code of Ethics. He is a co-author of The Power of Free Expression in America, a textbook, and worked as a reporter and talk show host for 20 years prior to teaching. He graduated from Michigan State and holds a master's degree from Emerson College. Jerry was inducted into the CT Journalism Hall of Fame in 2010.

Eric Dunsker has been a Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game enthusiast since since 1978. He has run games following D&D 1st edition and played in games run with 1st and 3rd edition rules.

Leonard Engel, Professor Emeritus of English at Quinnipiac University, served as Chair of the English Dept for 18 years; in 1989, he was selected "Outstanding Faculty of the Year"; in 2013, he received Quinnipiac's "Excellence in Teaching Award." He has edited seven collections of essays beginning with The Big Empty: Essays on the Land as Narrative in 1994 and concluding with The Films of Clint Eastwood: Critical Perspectives in [ more ]

Joel N. Feimer PhD taught undergraduate and graduate level English Literature and Composition at Mercy College in New York from 1967 to 2010. He earned a PhD in Comparative Literature from the City University of New York in 1983. He [ more ]

Karen Fenichel, DMD,  has taught Mah Jongg at several venues including synagogues and adult education at high school. She has played more than 10 years. It is a good way to meet new people and make friends.

Frances S. Grodzinsky PhD is Professor Emerita Computer Science and Information Technology at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield and Past Co-Director of the Hersher Institute of Ethics.

Ron Heiferman is Prof. Emeritus of History at Quinnipiac and currently teaches at Yale and Quinnipiac U. He was educated at Yale and received his Ph.D. from New York University. He is an Assoc. Fellow of Yale's Berkeley College and is VP of CT Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ron has authored/co-authored books including Flying Tigers, The Rise and Fall of Imperial Japan and The Cairo Conference of 1943. He has been a Yale-Lilly Fellow, a Yale-Mellon Fellow and the recipient of five National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships.

Harvey Heyman retired in 2022 from a career in the business side of healthcare. He received a BA degree from Brown University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Harvey is a passionate consumer of political, social, and cultural trends and events.

Marisa Horowitz-Jaffe is a seasoned expert in ancient history and art education with over 25 years experience. Holding dual degrees in Egyptology and Roman Archaeology from the University of Michigan and a Master's from Harvard University in Art and Museum Education, she spent two decades working at NYC's top art museums. Marisa now offers exclusive private tours at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and dynamic enrichment programs to schools and community centers.

Marcia Jamron has been fascinated by travel since early childhood. College, followed by family duties, have not dulled the anticipation of a new place to see and learn all about. She applies this urge to look for new and different places to the ILR bus and zoom trips she plans and conducts.

Sharif Kronemer PhD graduated as a PhD in neuroscience from Yale University where he studied the neural mechanisms of visual perception. He is now a postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Health where he is using neuroimaging and machine learning to explore the complexities of human cognition and perception.

Loretto Horrigan Leary is a historian and cultural educator specializing in Irish American collective memory of the Irish Famine (An Gorta Mór). She is the Educational and Cultural Director of Ireland's Great Hunger Museum of Fairfield and Co-Chair of the Connecticut–Ireland Trade Commission. Her work focuses on how famine memory is preserved, contested, and reimagined through burial sites, monuments, art, museums, and diaspora activism along the Eastern Seaboard. Drawing on memory studies, public history, and material culture, Leary explores how communities remember trauma across generations and how commemoration shapes identity, belonging, and historical responsibility in Ireland and the United States.

Nick Maiorino, a member of ILR for 9 years, is a life-long learner with more than 60 years of teaching experience. He holds a BS degree in Education; MS degree in Statistics, Measurement and Evaluation; 6th Year Certificate in Administration and Supervision; and advanced degrees in the sciences. While his main focus is science, he has offered courses in his many other interests such as history, music, and current events. He currently serves on the ILR Board of Governors and the Curriculum Committee.

Mithat "Mito" Mardin PhD was born in Istanbul, Turkey and is a graduate of the German High School there. He received a PhD in Organic Chemistry, Physics and Microbiology from the University of Göttingen. He worked at Bayer Pharmaceuticals for 33 years in various [ more ]

Dan is an emeritus professor of geology at the University of New Haven. His geological activities focused on regional mapping, mineral resource exploration, hazards assessment, and environmental remediation and risk management. He enjoyed conducting or directing field projects in more than a dozen US states as well as New Zealand and other south Pacific islands.

Harold Miller, Bridge Life Master, is a retired CPA and native of New Haven and teaches the basics of bridge for beginners.

Marie Musco is a retired nurse and has been a resident of Orange for 45 years. She enjoys teaching the game to friends and family.

Byron Nakamura, PhD is a professor of History at Southern Connecticut State University, where he has taught courses on ancient Greece and Rome since 2004. He has written on subjects such as Roman imperialism, ancient religion, military history, and has a keen interest in Roman numismatics (coinage).

Margaret Novicki worked for the United Nations for 22 years, 10 of which were in field offices in Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and South Africa. Her last post before retirement was Director of Strategic Communications at UN Headquarters in New York. My prior posts included: Director of the UN Information Centres in Ghana and South Africa and Spokesperson and Chief of Public Information for the UN peacekeeping missions in Sierra Leone and Liberia. She received a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a Master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University.

Trish O'Leary has an MA in literature and completed PhD course work with an emphasis on medieval literature. She enjoys learning about memory's role as viewed in scientific study and in liberal arts.

Nils Pilotte, Assistant Professor of Biology at Quinnipiac University and is a molecular biologist who studies the genetics and DNA structure of disease-causing parasites. He is interested in understanding how tools such as CRISPR-Cas can be used to both improve human health and to facilitate the study of pathogenic organisms.

Lois Procopion was born in New Britain, Connecticut. She received her BS Degree from CCSU. She retired as a Project Manager at Aetna Healthcare in 2014. For the past 45 years, Lois has been an active Justice of the Peace. She has been a gourmet cook for over 50 years and has won first prize in various local baking competitions. Her specialty is bread-making.

Rachel Ranis has sociology degrees from Brandeis and Yale universities. Her research on social welfare issues, aging and vocational education has taken her to Pakistan, Mexico, Columbia, Germany, and the United Kingdom. She taught at the University of Bridgeport, the University of Maryland, Howard University and is retired from Quinnipiac University.

Jim Rhodes PhD graduated from Holy Cross College as a philosophy major and earned his PhD from Fordham University specializing in Medieval Literature and the works of James Joyce. He taught for many years in the English Department at Southern Connecticut State University and is the author of the book Poetry Does Theology: Chaucer, Grosseteste, and the Pearl Poet.

Jim Romano earned a PhD in Classical Studies from the University of Michigan. He taught Classics for several years at Michigan and at Lehman College (CUNY). He subsequently entered the nonprofit world as an executive in two major health-related foundations. In retirement, he has gone back to his educational roots and lectures on Homer, classical poetry and drama.

Irene Sommers holds a MA from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. She is a retired Professor of Humanities from Housatonic Community College in Literature, Film, and Art History. Her specialty is Art History—particularly the Italian Renaissance [ more ]

Michael Stein PhD fell in love with the art, architecture (and food) of the capital of France on his first trip to Paris in 1965. During more than 30 subsequent visits he photographed the monuments, churches, museums (and pastries) of Paris to supplement his lectures. For more than five decades, Professor Stein taught both studio art and art history at Kent State University, the Cleveland Institute of Art, Wilkes University, and Housatonic Community College.

John Thomas is is a professor at Quinnipiac Law School, a freelanced writer, musician , filmmaker, and cyclist. He holds a BA and JD from the University of Arizona and an LLM and MPH from Yale University. John teaches international law and health law. John's 200+ publications address topics from gun violence to health policy to autism to music and musical instruments and have appeared in law reviews, medical journals, major newspapers, and music publications.

Rabbi Alvin Wainhaus, son of Holocaust survivors, was raised in an Orthodox environment in Brooklyn, New York. A graduate of Brooklyn College with a degree in philosophy, he earned a Master of Education degree from NYU and was ordained in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1972. Rabbi Wainhaus served congregations in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia and . . . [ more ]

Kate Johns Walton majored in Anthropology and obtained teaching certification while attending Goddard College. She obtained her Master's Degree in Museum Education from George Washington University with field work done at the Smithsonian. As a graduate intern she was appointed Museum Teacher by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Museum of Comparative Zoology and the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. She later developed and [ more ]

Miiles Wilson-Toliver is a voice teacher, choral director, arts administrator and educator with 10 years of experience building and implementing programs for children and adults. He is passionate about creating safe spaces that cultivate creativity and belonging. Music and the arts are the tools he uses to create community.