Allegra di Bonaventura, a graduate school administrator at Yale University, died on April 29 from complications following a fall. She was 62 years old.
Dr. di Bonaventura earned her bachelor’s degree in history and her master’s degree in German from Middlebury College in Vermont. She later received a graduate diploma in economics from the London School of Economics and both a juris doctorate and a Ph.D. in history from Yale.
Following some years at a law firm, Dr. di Bonaventura started working at Yale in 2008. She taught law courses at Yale University Library and at Yale’s Benjamin Franklin Papers. In 2011, she began her tenure as an administrator with Yale’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She had stints as the associate dean for humanities and school sciences, associate dean for graduate education, and associate director of graduate programs for Yale Law School. In 2021, she was promoted to her most recent position as lead academic dean for students across all degree programs in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Outside of her administrative work, Dr. di Bonaventura was also an accomplished historian and writer. Her book, For Adam’s Sake: A Family Saga in Colonial New England (Liveright, 2013), was awarded the New England Historical Association’s James P. Hanlan Book Award and the Homer D. Babbidge, Jr. Award for best book on Connecticut history. The monograph was also named one of the best books of 2013 by the Wall Street Journal.Â