Biography

Monika M. Advocate recently retired from many years of teaching at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, where she specialized in International Business and topics focusing on the position of women in communities globally. She has worked with students from diverse backgrounds with an emphasis on fostering cross-cultural skills. Through a novel form of service learning, she brought her classes into direct contact with locally resettled international refugees to develop cross-cultural awareness and instill the values of universal understanding and respect.

As an entrepreneur, Advocate provided housing services to Yale affiliates and created a strong community of friends that assisted graduate students and young scholars navigate the complexities and challenges of university life. During the transition to democracy and a market-based economy in her native Poland, she coordinated U.S. AID-sponsored projects aimed at helping newly elected local governments spur economic development and mentor new entrepreneurs.

Advocate serves on the board of directors of the Yale Club of New Haven, where she has an interest in creating social programming that brings together alumni and other members of the Yale community through networking, mentoring and fellowship. She participated in four service trips abroad with the Yale Alumni Service Corps and YaleGALE. She received her Yale M.A. degree in Soviet & Eastern European Studies in 1987 after earning an MBA from Lodz University in Poland.