Elizabeth Yanoff Appointed to HVCC Faculty

By Nolan Cleary, Managing Editor

A new staff member has joined the ranks at Hudson Valley Community College. Elizabeth Yanoff, Ph.D. has recently been named as the department chairwoman for the Education and Social Sciences Department at Hudson Valley Community College. 

Yanoff has had a long career teaching in the Capital Region. Prior to working at Hudson Valley, Yanoff worked at The College of Saint Rose for four years, and was an employee at the Thelma P. Lally School of Education. 

Yanoff says her experience prepared her for her current position. “I started my career working as a classroom teacher as an undergraduate, so I feel a connection to the social sciences side of our department,” Yanoff said. 

Yanoff’s interest in psychology and social science began with one philosophical question: how do people learn? 

“In the social sciences, we can approach that in multiple different lenses. Historically, how have we thought about people learning. We can look at it from a sociological lense,  how do culture and other things affect learning? As an undergraduate, I really chose the psychology angle of what’s going on in our brain, and our ways of thinking about how people learn. When I was choosing a career, I said ‘I’m really interested in how people learn, but I really want to directly be involved in the teaching part,’” Yanoff said. 

Yanoff was appointed to HVCC after a vacancy arose in the position last year. Yanoff says her work on social sciences at Saint Rose prepared her for her work at Hudson Valley. 

“I often worked with colleges in the social sciences because students in education were taking classes, for example history and psychology and so fourth but also in our adolescence education programs. We shared those majors,” Yanoff said. 

Yanoff hopes she can bridge the gap between education and social sciences. “They used to be separate departments so we’re looking at ways to work together,” Yanoff said. 

Yanoff, who’s been a resident of the area for the past 20 years, believed Hudson Valley Community College was the right place for her to work based on the vast programs at the college. 

“I have followed with the interest the exciting things going on at HVCC, certainly in education but in other areas. So I knew there were strong programs here, and I was looking for new opportunities in the administration and this came and seemed like a really good fit with my background,” Yanoff said. 

Yanoff discussed that despite HVCC being virtual due to COVID-19 she feels prepared. 

“In my previous position, I was also doing work remotely. I’m pretty comfortable working remotely, and the main challenge right now is that I’m in this new position, so I’m talking with you via Zoom rather than talking with you or meeting you on campus.” Yanoff said. 

“I think HVCC has done a great job of moving to this new platform and world so I feel like I’m able to do my job even when I have to be remote,” she added. 

Now, Yanoff says her number one goal is to get acclimated. “I’ve worked with staff to meet with faculty, meet with the staff, to learn about the procedure at HVCC,” Yanoff said.