Abrianna Mullin (she/her) serves as Head Student Coordinator for YPEI’s Research Request Network (RRN). She is a senior at Yale double-majoring in Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies and Political Science. Abrianna has been a part of the RRN since her first semester at Yale. Since 2024, she has helped facilitate library workshops and study halls. Abrianna came to this work because she is part of a system-impacted family, and education has always been a place where she finds connection and possibility. She is especially grateful for the students she has met through YPEI and the relationships built through shared learning and conversation. Beyond YPEI, Abrianna also helped found a student-led abolitionist collective on campus focused on political education and imagining new non-carceral approaches to community care.

Alexandra Kleinman is an undergraduate studying Linguistics through Yale’s Eli Whitney Students Program for non-traditional students. She is passionate about supporting the success of YPEI students in her role as an Academic Strategies Mentor. As an adult returning student, Alexandra has found immense value in peer mentorship and the Academic Strategies Program on Yale’s campus, and is dedicated to expanding these resources within YPEI.

Devin Wu (he/him) is a Yale College junior majoring in Global Affairs, in addition to a certificate in Education Studies. He previously served as a Language Fellow at New Haven Public Schools, helping Chinese language learners at Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School. This past summer, he served as a counselor for the First-Year Scholars at Yale Program, supporting incoming first-generation, low-income students on their matriculation to Yale College. When on campus, Devin is involved in the residential college community, serving as the activities chairman and intramural sports secretary in Saybrook College. After volunteering with YPEI this past summer, Devin is excited to continue his work with the team throughout the school year as a Dwight Hall Urban Fellow.

Emily Hettinger is a senior in Yale College studying Psychology and Education Studies. She joined YPEI in 2022 as a RRN volunteer and has since then served as an RRN Coordinator, a 2024 Summer Fellow, and a peer tutor. Outside of YPEI, she has been active in student government and organizing work, and has interned for the REFORM Alliance and the Orange County Public Defender's Office. She is passionate about educational equity and prison abolition and is very glad to be a member of the YPEI team.

Han Pimentel-Hayes is an Urban Fellow, Writing Partner, and Academic Strategies Mentor with YPEI. She is a GED graduate & community college transfer from Kansas majoring in American Studies at Yale. Han has previously worked to prepare students for the GED examination as an adult literacy volunteer, as a journalism mentor in New Haven public schools, and as a member of the Poorvu Center for Teaching & Learning Advisory Board. They joined the YPEI team during the 2023-2024 academic year, helping to facilitate study halls and math club. This year, Han will continue her work as a Transcription Network Co-Coordinator and as a Writing Partner & Academic Strategies Mentor in study halls.

Maya Evans is a Lead Writing Partner with YPEI. A junior at Yale studying psychology and education studies, she has been volunteering with YPEI since the fall of 2024. As someone passionate about prison abolition as well as education accessibility and equity, she is so immensely grateful and honored to work with the students and team members at YPEI. Outside of YPEI, she works as a research assistant in two psychology labs, volunteers with the Yale Undergraduate Prison Project, and is heavily involved with theater productions on campus.

Paula Rawlins (she/her) supports YPEI students and volunteers through her work as Associate Director of Undergraduate Writing and Tutoring at Yale's Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning. She has taught several courses for YPEI, including classes that prepare YPEI students to serve as knowledgeable and experienced tutors for their peers. Through her work hiring, training, and supervising Writing Partners, she helps ensure YPEI students have access to a network of dedicated writing support both inside and outside the classroom. Paula has been teaching writing at the college level for over 15 years and is honored to be a part of YPEI, an organization that embodies her belief in the importance of making the benefits of higher education more accessible for everyone.

Alex Guzman Caceres is an Academic Strategies Mentor for YPEI. A senior at Yale, majoring in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration with an Intensive Certificate in Human Rights, Alex has previously worked in reentry and public defender services. She has absolutely cherished her experience with YPEI and hopes to continue working with her passion for mentorship and carceral reform.

Arohi Nair is an undergrad at Yale College studying Computer Science & Economics and Applied Mathematics. She has previously held peer mentorship and peer tutor roles, and is currently an Academic Strategies Mentor through Yale's Office of Educational Opportunity. Arohi is passionate about ensuring that academic resources are available, having found great value in such resources herself, and is excited to continue promoting this education within the YPEI community.

Elsa Holahan is a junior studying American Studies and an Academic Strategies Mentor with YPEI. Elsa enjoys extending Yale’s academic resources to students and looks forward to strengthening this practice in the time to come. Beyond YPEI, Elsa is researching prisons and social movements as a Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, and spent the past summer organizing alongside formerly incarcerated people in Philadelphia.

Emily Horning (she/her) is YPEI’s Library Coordinator and an academic librarian with over 30 years of experience working with college students. She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history, as well as a master’s degree in library science, all from UCLA. With colleagues from UNH, she oversees library and research support for YPEI students, helping them access resources for their academic work. She also teaches a series of workshops inside called College-Level Research Skills, which are designed to help YPEI students think critically and make judgments about any information they find and use – skills that will empower them as citizens, to express informed views and engage fully with society. She is honored to work with the students and team at YPEI and looks forward to the day when a college education is readily available to anyone who wants it.

James Jeter is a New Haven native and alum of the Wesleyan Center for Prison Education at Cheshire Correctional Institution, where he spent nearly 20 years incarcerated. With Wesleyan, he completed 20 credited college courses, and was a member of the Lifers Program, where he worked with at-risk youth, helped raise money for local food banks, and worked with the Hartford Police Chief to address gun violence in Hartford. Through this work, while still incarcerated, he fostered relationships with the Mayor of Hartford’s Chief of Staff, members of the Department of Justice’s Project Longevity Task Force, and the CEO of the Hartford Community Loan Fund, his employer post-release.



At the HCLF, James worked as a policy analyst, working on state and federal policy around banking and housing. In the time since his release, he has served on the board of Wesleyan’s Center for Prison Education, has been honored with the 100 Men of Color Distinction, led participatory budgeting with Hartford City Council, and has returned to Cheshire Correctional Institution to speak to residents of its TRUE Unit. James is dedicated to the cause of prison education and has sought opportunities to apply his own experience to benefit those still incarcerated or returning home.

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Oscar Heller is a senior at Yale, where he majors in English. Currently, he serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Yale Herald, and works as a Writing Partner at Yale’s Poorvu Center. Dedicated to the belief that high-quality writing help should be accessible to everyone, Oscar joined the Yale Prison Education Initiative this fall. He approaches writing, first and foremost, as a craft, and prides himself in cultivating inclusive and productive educational spaces.