NEWSLETTER OF THE Number 40
Fall 2013/5774
ADDITIONAL COPIES MAY BE OBTAINED by contacting NRJE at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion One West Fourth Street | New York, NY 10012 c/o Beth Lutzker-Levick 718.916.5473| nrjecoordinator@gmail.com
Consumers, collaborators, and creators: Practitioners and Jewish educational research EDITOR'S COLUMN MICHELLE LYNN-SACHS | MICHELLE.LYNN@NYU.EDU
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ne feature of our Network is that we aim to create a community dedicated to Jewish educational research. We know that our community and the reach of our efforts extend beyond the walls of our academic institutions. Some of our members are employed primarily as researchers, but many are in blended positions that combine any or all of the following activities: research, teaching, program or curriculum development, consulting, administration, and evaluation. MICHELLE LYNN-SACHS I’ve been thinking recently about how Jewish educational practitioners use Jewish educational research, and I developed the following categories to help me conceptualize what Jewish educators actually do with research. The first category could be understood as a “consumer of research.” When I was a congregational educator, I used research to bolster grant proposals, knowing that my funders were interested in what scholars had learned about best practices and areas for growth in the field. I also brought pieces of research to study with my lay leadership, professional and teaching staff, working through it together in order to develop a common vocabulary, introduce new ideas, and inspire new directions. To be clear, the practitioner in this category is anything but passive; the Jewish educator who acts as a consumer of Jewish educational research uses research to further his own goals and work. The second category is the Jewish educational practitioner as “research collaborator.” Our conventional understanding of research collaboration is one in which two or more individuals work together to co-design, co-implement, and co-author research projects, and there are times when practitioners take on this role. In addition to this model, I have also come to ARTICLES FOR THE SPRING 2014 NEWSLETTER SHOULD REACH MICHELE LYNN-SACHS AT MICHELLE.LYNN@NYU.EDU BY MARCH 31, 2014.
think of practitioners who grant access to their institutions as research sites as potential collaborators. In addition to their highly important gatekeeping role, the practitioner in these sites sometimes act as dialogue partners with the researcher, confirming or redirecting the researcher’s early hunches, helping to define and adjust the contours of the investigation in ways that can lead to new discovery. The third category is that of Jewish educational practitioner as “creators of research.” Some expand the research they may have done as graduate students into published works. Others may have the opportunity to engage in action research, a practitioner-driven process that explores ideas in action. Through a project called the B’nai Mitzvah Revolution (a project of HUC-JIR and the Union for Reform Judaism), I have the opportunity to mentor rabbis, cantors, and educators who are engaged in the process of collecting and analyzing data in their own congregations as they test ideas and construct knowledge. We know that our work as Jewish educational researchers intersects with the work of Jewish educational practitioners. If you have more thoughts about how to conceptualize this relationship, I’d love to hear from you. NETWORK EXECUTIVE JONATHAN KRASNER – Chair BEN JACOBS – Secretary ELI SCHAAP – Treasurer LAUREN APPLEBAUM 2014 Conference Co-Chair
JEFF KRESS Immediate Past Network Chair RACHEL LERNER Graduate Student Liaison JON LEVISOHN 2014 Conference Co-Chair
OFRA BACKENROTH 2013 Conference Co-Chair
MICHELLE LYNN-SACHS Newsletter Editor
DAVID BRYFMAN Technical Committee Coordinator
SARAH OSSEY Graduate Student Liaison
LISA GRANT Past Network Chair
ALEX POMSON Past Network Chair
CAROL INGALL Emerging Scholars Award and Past Network Chair
MICHAEL ZELDIN Senior Editor, Journal of Jewish Education
MEREDITH KATZ 2013 Conference Program Chair BETH LUTZKER-LEVICK Administrative Director NEWSLETTER DESIGN Nicole Ray www.nicoleray.com
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EDITOR’S COLUMN: CONSUMERS, COLLABORATORS, AND CREATORS: PRACTITIONERS AND JEWISH EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH Michelle Lynn-Sachs
2 REFLECTIONS FROM THE NRJE CHAIR Jonathan Krasner
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NEWS FROM HUC-JIR’S SCHOOLS OF EDUCATION: EXPERIENTIAL JEWISH EDUCATION Michael Zeldin
5 NEWS FROM THE DAVIDSON SCHOOL Ofra Backenroth
3 28TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE NRJE: DATE, LOCATION
5 JOURNAL OF JEWISH EDUCATION UPDATE Sue Kittner Huntting
4 LOOKING BACK AT THE 27TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE: Ofra Backenroth & Meredith Katz
6 NEWS FROM THE MANDEL CENTER AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY Susanne Shavelson
Reflections
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USING RESEARCH TO REFLECT ON PRACTICE: THINKING ABOUT SUCCESS Eric Wasser
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RESEARCH UPDATE: SUPPLEMENTARY RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ACROSS FAITH TRADITIONS Elissa Kaplan
7 NEWS FROM NEW YORK UNIVERSITY Jude Kramer 7 NEWS FROM OUR MEMBERS
FROM THE CHAIR JONATHAN KRASNER | JBKRAZ@GMAIL.COM
his past summer we lost one of the most astute observers of the American civil and religious scene. Robert Bellah, an emeritus professor of American sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, elevated the study of religious sociology by bringing rigor and engaged detachment to the field. He was aptly described in one tribute as “a sociologist and a sermonizer, a believer in God and in reason, a Jeremiah and an apostle of hope.” As the Network enters its twenty-eighth year and begins planning its June 8-10 conference at the American JONATHAN KRASNER Jewish University in Los Angeles, it is appropriate to reflect on Bellah's influence on the study of American Jewish life and American Jewish education. I first encountered Bellah as an American Studies major in college. His book Habits of the Heart (1985), which he wrote with Ann Swidler, Steven Tipton, Richard Madsen and William Sullivan, was a sensation. Its ruthless critique of American radical individualism, in both its utilitarian and expressive varieties, was both poignant and penetrating. Bellah and his colleagues wrote a book that, like David Riesman's The Lonely Crowd, defined a generation. Like many others, I remember being struck by Bellah's description of "Sheilaism," the self-directed religious system
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governed by the "little voice" inside one's head, rather than by a coherent theological doctrine. Brandeis in the late 1980s -- like many other similar universities — was populated by throngs of devotees of the soft religion of Sheilaism. As a product of a modern Orthodox home and day school, my religious and social experimentation in college appeared to be laced with a larger dose of guilt than the Sheilas whom I met in my dormitory and in my classes. To use Bellah's terminology, I was far more fluent in the languages of community and tradition than many of my peers. And yet, my own story was a testament to the power to America's radical individualist ethos. Despite my upbringing, I felt no less guided by an internal moral compass than my peers, and considered self-expression to be a veritable American birthright. Even so, my personal convictions were engaged in a perpetual dialogue with a resonant, if not quite reflexively internalized, system of communal norms and values – a robust and venerable, if parochial, articulation of the good life. Sometimes these competing systems existed in tension, while at other times I consciously or unconsciously chose the strategies of compartmentalization or synthesis. To a large extent this internal struggle has endured, albeit in a less dramatic and angst-ridden fashion. I've seldom gravitated to poetry, unless one is willing to count the lyrics of Lennon and McCartney, Dylan and Jim Morrison. But it is hardly continued next page
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Save the Date for the 28th Annual
CONFERENCE OF THE NRJE June 8-10, 2014 | American Jewish University Los Angeles Program Chair: Jon Levisohn, Associate Professor of Jewish Education, Brandeis University Logistics Chair: Lauren Applebaum, Associate Dean, Graduate Center for Education at American Jewish University
The Network for Research in Jewish Education’s 28th Annual Conference will be held this academic year in Los Angeles from Sunday, June 8 through Tuesday, June 10, 2014, at American Jewish University. The Network again welcomes proposals for papers, spotlights presentations and research consultations from researchers, doctoral students and practitioners.
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coincidental that the two poetry books that I brought into my marriage were Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass and The Selected Poetry of Yehuda Amichai. In college I envied the Sheilas their seemingly effortless ability to shed the baggage of home and high school. In retrospect, and thanks in part to the work of Bellah's students in the fields of Jewish sociology and Jewish educational research, I realize that many of my schoolmates were engaged in their own internal conversations. Bellah's work inspired a number of enlightening studies into the nature of contemporary American Jewish identity, including Arnold Eisen and Steven M. Cohen's The Jew Within and Bethamie Horowitz's study Connections and Journeys. The self might be sovereign, but individual choices were still influenced by social and environmental factors . These insights in turn played an important role in shaping the direction of educational research, including the work of scholars like Stuart Charme and Tali Zelkowicz, not to mention decisions about funding and programming. Habits of the Heart, with its heavy reliance on interview data, also provided important ammunition for those who argued that the quantitative Jewish population studies, with their focus on ritual observance and other behaviors as a gauge of commitment and intensity of identification, were inadequate in an era of privatized religion and voluntary ethnicity. Bellah's influence on American Jewish sociology, education and communal work was no less felt in his groundbreaking study of American civil religion. In that case, his most significant fall 2013 the network for research in jewish education
Now is the time to start thinking about your proposal! Be on the lookout for the Call for Proposals and share it with those in your networks who might be interested. Proposals will be due in the beginning of January. Please contact Jon Levisohn, Program Chair (levisohn@brandeis.edu) or Lauren Applebaum (lapplebaum@aju.edu) with any early questions. interpreter within the context of American Jewish life was Jonathan Woocher, whose book Sacred Survival described and analyzed the contours of American Jewish post-war civil religion. The K'lal Israel Judaism that Woocher described animated and emanated from the federations, defense organizations, bureaus of Jewish education and other mainstream non-denominational agencies and organizations that comprised the American Jewish polity. In our own day, the ties of this civil religion no longer bind, even as its institutional beacons are dead or in decline. The Jewish educational establishment is understandably alarmed by this decline, and programs like Birthright are designed to revive feelings of ethnic solidarity ("peoplehood") and Israel attachment. But the pull of radical individualism may be too formidable to allow for consensus. Even as we ponder these challenges, it is appropriate to pause and remember Robert Bellah's contribution to shaping this discourse. It is appropriate to give the final word to his colleague and collaborator, sociologist Steven Tipton, who eulogized his mentor in this way: "The well of the past is deep, and from it Robert Bellah drew living water. He shed light on how history breathes in and through us, confounding us as we repeat it, and uplifting us as we make it by seeking to attain the impossible. Bright and clear and encompassing, Bellah’s work will go on through ever-widening waves of reading and resonance in our thoughts and arguments. Through the communion of all souls and citizens, his unwavering care and courage, his boundless curiosity and practical wisdom will live on in our hearts, world without end." Zichrono Livracha. May his memory be a blessing. 3
LOOKING BACK
at the 27th Annual Conference OFRA BACKENROTH | ofbackenroth@jtsa.edu MEREDITH KATZ | mekatz@jtsa.edu
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his past June the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education at JTS was pleased to welcome the Network's 27th Annual Conference to New York. Networks were clearly activated as participants learned with each other during a full panoply of formal paper, spotlight and consultation sessions, and made the most of their time together with new and old colleagues during breaks and meals. As part of its efforts to induct new scholars to the field, a pilot matching program between senior scholars and graduate students
took place this year, to great reviews. Pairs were matched ahead of time by Network Chair Jonathan Krasner and arranged a time to meet during the conference. Many first time attendees took on roles as presenters, session chairs and discussants. Welcome to the Network and we look forward to your continued involvement. During Monday’s lunch program, the Network honored Michael Rosenak (z"l) with a tribute from Howie Deitcher, and Sylvia Ettenberg (z"l) with a tribute from Carol Ingall.
NEWS FROM HUC-JIR’S SCHOOLS OF EDUCATION: EXPERIENTIAL JEWISH EDUCATION MICHAEL ZELDIN | mzeldin@huc.edu Students come to HUC-JIR’s masters programs in education eager to learn about experiential Jewish education (EJE) and keen on developing their skills as experiential Jewish educators. Most of them decided to become Jewish educators because they were inspired by EJE — at camp, on an Israel experience or in some program sponsored by their synagogue, their Hillel or by one local or national groups that offer teens and young adults the opportunity to engage in Jewish life outside the classroom. When they start their studies, whether they have enrolled at the Rhea Hirsch School of Education in Los Angeles or at the New York School of Education, they are immediately immersed in experiential Jewish education combined with intensive classroom learning — in HUC-JIR’s Year-in-Israel program. There, in addition to a rigorous program of studies, they do what other participants in long-term Israel experiences do – they live the rhythms of Jewish life among Israelis and other Jews. When they return to Los Angeles or New York, they embark on their professional studies. We as a faculty often note that all good Jewish education, whether it takes place in a redwood forest, on a trip to New Orleans or Israel, at camp – or even (and perhaps especially) in a congregational learning program – is experiential Jewish education and therefore all Jewish educators are experiential Jewish educators. In our teaching and curriculum courses as well as our educational leadership courses we emphasize fall 2013 the network for research in jewish education
the experiential nature of all good Jewish education. And this year we have launched a series of special programs in both Los Angeles and New York to give students even deeper knowledge and broader skills in EJE. In Los Angeles, the year began with the Cutter Colloquium, a 24-hour experience in outdoor Jewish education with guest scholar Rabbi Mike Comins, founder of Torah Trek and author of A Wild Faith: Jewish Ways into Wilderness, Wilderness Ways into Judaism. The retreat included 3 hours of spirituality exercises at the shore of the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, a 2-hour Sharcharit hike, and plenty of time debriefing and exploring the “spiritual dynamics approach to Jewish education.” In October, two talented and thoughtful Jewish experiential educators will be in residence on campus: Rabbi Bradley Solmsen, Director of Youth Engagement at the Union for Reform Judaism, and Ruben Arquilevich, Director of URJ Camp Newman. Together and separately they will explore with students the promise and possibilities of EJE. In New York, in a series of seminars throughout the year, students will explore EJE through the lens of theory and practice. The first seminar featured learning in HUC-JIR’s rooftop sukkah, with Dr. David Bryfman, Chief Learning Officer at The Jewish Education Project. Students had the opportunity to explore the leadership qualities demonstrated continued next page 4
News from the Davidson School OFRA BACKENROTH | ofbackenroth@jtsa.edu Thirty-six new students enrolled at the Davidson School for the academic year 2013-2014, a record for us. The school accepted six new students to its third cohort of the executive doctoral program and one full time doctoral student. Eleven students enrolled in the ever-growing on-line MA in Jewish Education program. Of the remaining students in the MA program, three students will train to be day school teachers, three students joined the educational leadership concentration, and eleven students joined the experiential concentration, funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation and now in its third year. In future years, the Davidson school intends to integrate its vast learning about experiential education into the educational leadership and day school teaching concentrations. This past summer, ten Davidson School students studying towards their MA returned from Israel after spending a semester on Kesher Hadadsh, New Connections, the Davidson School semester program in Jerusalem. Dr. Alex Sinclair and Dr. Ofra Backenroth developed the program, aimed to train Israel educators, which takes place in Jerusalem at the Schocken Institute. continued from previous page
by those biblical figures they invited as Ushpizin using music and poetry. In October students will visit an art museum to investigate the spiritual practice of awareness utilizing Heschel’s writing as the text. Other sessions include learning with Rabbi Yehudit Werchow, Director of Israel Engagement for the URJ and Teva Learning environmental educators. If you would like to visit any of these programs and see how HUCJIR’s Schools of Education teach experiential Jewish education, contact mzeldin@huc.edu in Los Angeles or erotstein@huc.edu in New York.
During the semester the students studied Hebrew, the history of Israel, how to teach about Israel, and met a variety of people and organizations that enriched their knowledge about Israel and its social, political and cultural landscape. The Jim Joseph Foundation funds the program, now in its third year. During the semester, the students create short videos based on their experience in Israel. To view the short videos, please go to http://www. maale.co.il/default.asp?PageID=207 For more information about the Davidson School, please contact Dr. Ofra Backenroth at ofbackenroth@ jtsa.edu or DavidsonSchool@jtsa.edu
Are you (or someone you know) a Jewish educational leader with five years’ experience seeking to
deepen and enrich your practice while continuing to live and work as an educational leader in your community? IF SO, THE EXECUTIVE M.A. PROGRAM IN JEWISH EDUCATION AT HEBREW UNION COLLEGE-JEWISH INSTITUTE OF RELIGION MAY BE FOR YOU. TO EXPLORE THIS EXCITING POSSIBILITY CONTACT LESLEY LITMAN, COORDINATOR, AT LLITMAN@HUC.EDU OR VISIT HTTP://HUC.EDU/ACADEMICS/ EDUCATION/EXECMA/ SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE. GENEROUS SUPPORT IS PROVIDED BY THE JIM JOSEPH FOUNDATION
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JOURNAL OF JEWISH EDUCATION UPDATE — FALL 2013 SUE KITTNER HUNTTING | journalofjed@aol.com
▶ Issue 79(3), our themed issue on Jewish Early Childhood Education, should be arriving to your door shortly. Thanks to the Covenant Foundation’s underwriting it is our biggest issue ever containing eight articles and remarks from Helena Miller, Associate Editor, Michael Zeldin, Senior Editor and Harlene Appleman, Executive Director of the Covenant Foundation. ▶ We are proud to announce we have already received 15 intents to submit for the upcoming issue on Israel Education, the highest number of intents ever received in response to any Call for Papers. The issue will appear in early 2015. ▶ November 1 is the deadline for our upcoming themed issue on the legacy of Michael Rosenak, z”l. This issue is schedule to appear in late 2014. ▶ 36 recent graduates, representing six Schools of Education, have accepted our gift of a one-year free subscription to the Journal. As newcomers to the field, it is our hope they will become life-long NRJE members and supporters. ▶ Many thanks to Jonathan Krasner, NRJE Chair, and Beth Lutzker-Levick, NRJE Coordinator, who have been working with Michael Zeldin, JJE Senior Editor and Sue Kittner Huntting, JJE Managing Editor, on clarifying and standardizing the Journal’s financial accounting procedures. ▶ With issue 80(1) the Journal of Jewish Education begins its 80th anniversary celebration. Special articles and issues are in the works, as well as announcement of a new Journal project and recognition at the 2014 NRJE conference. 5
NEWS
FROM THE MANDEL CENTER FOR STUDIES IN JEWISH EDUCATION AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
SUSANNE SHAVELSON | shavelson@brandeis.edu
This fall, the Mandel Center is launching a number of new projects that both broaden and deepen our investigations of learning in Jewish education, across multiple settings and levels. They include a collaborative inquiry into the processes of learning to read Talmud in higher educational settings, a study group on the "pedagogies of engagement" in academic Jewish studies, and a look at what happens when teachers of Jewish texts in Jewish high schools explore studies of educational practice by other teachers of text. For more information on these projects, check our website at brandeis.edu/mandel. Turn It and Turn It Again: Studies in the Teaching and Learning of Classical Jewish Texts, edited by JON A. LEVISOHN and SUSAN P. FENDRICK, has been published by Academic Studies Press. This volume, emerging from the work of the Mandel Center's Initiative on Bridging Scholarship and Pedagogy in Jewish Studies, is a diverse collection of empirical and conceptual studies that illuminate particular aspects of the teaching of Bible and rabbinic literature to—and the learning of--children and adults. Jon is the associate academic director of the Mandel Center. Center director SHARON FEIMAN-NEMSER published “The Role of Experience in the Education of Teacher Educators,” in Teacher Educators as Members of a Unique Profession, edited by Miriam Ben-Peretz (Rowan and Littlefield). Her article "Helping School Leaders Help New Teachers: A Tool for Transforming SchoolBased Induction," with Sarah Birkeland, was among the top ten most frequently downloaded pieces in 2012 from The New Educator, published by the American Educational Research Association (AERA). In July she gave a keynote address, “Turning Teacher Education ‘Upside Down’?” at the MOFET Institute’s 6th International Conference on Teacher Education, in Jerusalem. “A Theory of Havruta Learning,” by ORIT KENT, director of the Beit Midrash Research Project, was awarded the 2013 NRJE Research Award last spring. With ALLISON COOK, Orit recently designed and implemented the Seventh Grade Beit Midrash, a partnership between the Mandel Center and a local synagogue. The seventh-graders learned the core practices of havruta while Orit and Allison documented the teaching and learning that went on. “Invisible Dilemmas: The Head of School’s Complex Role in Instructional Leadership,” by Marc Baker, SARAH BIRKELAND and VIVIAN TROEN, has just appeared in the Fall 2013 issue of Independent School.
ERAN TAMIR, director of the DELET LONGITUDINAL SURVEY and the CHOOSING TO TEACH STUDY, has recently published an article on the profiles of current Jewish day school teachers in America based on a large sample of over 600 teachers. The article, “Jewish Day fall 2013 the network for research in jewish education
School Teachers: Career Commitments in the 21st Century,” appeared in the June volume of the Journal of Jewish Education. A summary of findings is presented at: http://is.gd/egLX7w This year the Mandel Center welcomes JONATHAN KRASNER as visiting scholar. Jonathan, who is associate professor of the American Jewish experience at HUC-JIR and chair of NRJE, will be conducting research on the history of A Time to Act and the Mandel Foundation’s impact on Jewish education in North America.
USING RESEARCH TO REFLECT ON PRACTICE: Thinking About Success ERIC WASSER | elw613@gmail.com
Engaged in the everyday business of running services, classes and programs, practitioners in synagogue education are likely to fall into a sense of complacency, especially when a program is successful. Eight years ago our congregation began the 747 Morning Minyan, a teen outreach service targeting youth from the local high school. Every other Friday, an abbreviated shacharit minyan starts an hour earlier than usual (at 7:00 a.m.), concludes by 7:24 a.m. and is followed by breakfast and discussion, such that the students arrive at school by 7:47 a.m. This highspeed experience allows students to maintain synagogue skills, think “Jewishly” and maintain relationships with clergy. Discussion sessions, while brief, are given much consideration. This past year, I used Brinker and Scheffler’s thoughts from Visions to orient our discussions. The program has received national recognition. Nonetheless, as a reflective practitioner, I found myself asking how the program fits into literature on teen engagement. Most importantly, are there areas that we can improve upon so as to maintain our momentum? I am analyzing findings from the Jim Joseph Foundation article entitled, “Effective strategies for education and engaging Jewish teens: What Jewish communities can learn from programs that work” (March 2013). I note that our program follows the suggested design-model encouraging strong branding, multiple pedagogic approaches, and utilizing committed volunteers; however, we presently under-utilize social-media technology in our outreach efforts. As I continue the analysis, I find myself respectful of the reflective process in which I am engaged.
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RESEARCH UPDATE:
Supplementary Religious Education across Faith Traditions ELISSA KAPLAN, GROWING PROJECTS growingprojects@gmail.com
My fascination with different faith traditions (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, Sikh, Baha’i, and Jainist) has led me to a new area of research about how religious values and faith are transmitted to our youth. Therefore, afterschool/weekend supplementary religious programs of different faith traditions in and around one New England town are my focus. By interviewing the people in charge of the religious schools and the clergy of the institutions, I am creating a snapshot of various supplementary religious programs. The research protocol also includes observing the “school” in session, talking to the teachers, finding out about the curriculum, and looking at the buildings to capture the essence of the religious educational experience. By highlighting the transmission of values in supplementary religious schools, an inspiring picture is emerging. One Jewish educator says, “I focus so much on connection. I mean, that’s what I think about… all the time.” One Catholic educator says, “If [they] grow up to be a big CEO of a company…, they will treat the people they work with and for justly…and be compassionate and understanding of people.” The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), Tapestry of Faith, promotes “…ways to act from goodness. You can act kind. You can be generous. You can do something that takes courage. You can be honest when it is easier to lie. You can do something that is fair to all people, not just yourself or your friends.” The Hindu Curriculum, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), emphasizes “values such as self-discipline, self-confidence and a spirit of selfless service (seva) for humanity.” The Weekend Learning Series: Islamic Studies curriculum for children highlights the values of truthfulness, kindness, respect, responsibility, obedience, cleanliness, and honesty. Muslim parents blog to each other that they want their children “to become Islamic role models and play an important part in making society a better place.” When this snapshot is more complete, I will showcase how the different faiths of these supplementary religious programs illuminate one another. If you have any suggestions or comments, please get in touch with me at growingprojects@gmail.com.
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News from New York University JUDE KRAMER | jude.kramer@nyu.edu
The NYU Program in Education and Jewish Studies congratulates the following students on completing their doctorates in 2013. We wish them much luck in their future endeavors. DR. ORLEY GARBER — “Teachers who become Mentors: Their Teaching, Learning and Classroom Practice” DR. SHARON WEISS GREENBERG — “The Female Staff Experience in the Jewish Summer Camp Setting” DR. ABIGAIL UHRMAN — “Parents with a Child with Special Needs and Jewish Day Schools” Congratulations also are in order for the following students who have defended their dissertation proposals in the past year and are assiduously working toward completing their studies in 2013-2014: GALIA AVIDAR, JANET BORDELON, OWEN GOTTLIEB, MENACHEM HECHT, and ARIELLE LEVITES. This year, the programs are delighted to welcome the following incoming students: DUAL MASTERS PROGRAM (MA STEINHARDT/MA SKIRBALL): ALIZA DONATH (JIM JOSEPH FELLOW) DAVID GALPERT (JIM JOSEPH FELLOW) AARON LEVI (JIM JOSEPH FELLOW) DOCTORAL PROGRAM (PH.D. STEINHARDT): NAVAH KOGAN (AVI CHAI FELLOW) SARA SMITH (AVI CHAI FELLOW) ESZTER SUSAN (STEINHARDT FELLOW) Further updates and information about the NYU programs in Education and Jewish Studies, including biographies and job placements of our students and alumni, recent publications by faculty and students, and more, are available on our program website: http:// steinhardt.nyu.edu/humsocsci/jewish.
NEWS FROM OUR MEMBERS BARRY HOLTZ has stepped down after five years as Dean of the Davidson School at JTS. He will be on sabbatical during the current academic year before returning fulltime to the Davidson faculty. During his sabbatical Barry is working on a book about the life and teachings of Rabbi Akiba for the “Jewish Lives” series at Yale University Press.
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