Our Donors & Their Gifts


Joan Kerelejza and Justin Hudak '12

Gift Links Scholars Across Generations
Joan Kerelejza

Two young scholars arrived at Yale. Both studied literature and classical languages; both played musical instruments. Both were avid runners and loved the works of James Joyce. Both hailed from Litchfield County, CT, and both were the first in their family to attend college. Despite these striking similarities, the two never met. The first, Francis J. Glasheen, from Torrington, graduated from Yale College in 1933 and went on to earn his doctorate in English at Yale in 1940. The other, Bethlehem native Justin Hudak, expects to graduate from Yale in the spring of 2012.


Frank Glasheen '40 Ph.D.

Though separated by time, these scholars are united by an act of generosity. Frank Glasheen went on to become a beloved professor of English at various universities, leaving behind a distinguished legacy when he passed away in 2006. Joan Kerelejza, a professor of English and Frank's former student and close friend, chose to honor his memory by establishing the Francis J. Glasheen Scholarship Fund to benefit students in need of financial aid. Joan gave real estate and distributions from her Individual Retirement Accounts to Yale to endow the scholarship. "I wanted to make it possible for deserving students to attend Yale, as Frank did, by receiving a scholarship," said Joan. In addition, she has made the scholarship fund a beneficiary of her estate.

Justin Hudak '12, a senior residing in Morse College, is the inaugural recipient of this generous scholarship, which he has held since his freshman year. A classics major, Justin enjoys his studies in English, linguistics, Greek, Latin, and other languages. He hopes to follow his baccalaureate studies with a doctoral program in classical philology and, like Frank, become a university professor. In addition to his promising academic career, Justin is engaged in a variety of activities at Yale—as the principal trombonist for the Yale Concert Band, a copy editor for the undergraduate classics journal Helicon, a co-captain of the Yale Road Running Club, and a coordinator for The Instrumental Connection, an organization of Yale students who volunteer to give music lessons in New Haven public schools. During his time at Yale, Justin also had the opportunity to study in Italy and to tour South Africa with the Concert Band.

Joan and Justin correspond and have met on several occasions during Justin's years in New Haven. In Joan's eyes, Justin is an outstanding Glasheen scholar. She comments, "Justin is certainly representative of the multitalented Yale student body. It has been my pleasure to get to know him."

Frank and Justin may not have had the opportunity to meet and become friends at Yale, but their lives are profoundly intertwined. Thanks to Joan's generosity, Frank's legacy lives on. And, thanks to the Francis J. Glasheen Scholarship Fund, Justin's legacy has just begun.

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