FROM OUR INTERNSHIP PROGRAM DIRECTOR

HELP US HONOR BOB ABZUG

WE ARE CREATING THE ROBERT H. ABZUG SCHOLARSHIP IN JEWISH STUDIES

Last August, after more than forty years on the Forty Acres, Dr. Robert H. Abzug, Audre and Bernard Rapoport Regents Chair of Jewish Studies, Professor of History and American Studies, and Founding Director of the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies, retired.

In his time on campus, Bob taught thousands of students in courses that span from the history of religion in America, including American Jewish history, to courses on psychology, photography, and comparative genocide. He directed 26 PhD dissertations and won numerous teaching awards.

The Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies is thrilled to announce a campaign to endow a scholarship in Bob’s honor. The Robert H. Abzug Scholarship in Jewish Studies would provide scholarship support for undergraduate students, with a preference towards students pursuing a thesis, research project, or artistic endeavor on any topic in Jewish Studies at UT Austin. The scholarship may support students meeting the above criteria from any college, school or major.

A committee of friends and colleagues invites you to join in honoring Bob and supporting our students by raising $50,000 to endow a scholarship fund.

Here is how you can help:

To give online:

http://links.utexas.edu/cevogqz

To give by mail:

Make checks out to The University of Texas at Austin and include “Robert H. Abzug Scholarship in Jewish Studies” in the memo line. Mail to the address below:

University of Texas Development P.O. Box 7458 Austin, TX 78713-7458

Help spread the word!

Robert H. Abzug Scholarship Campaign Committee: Ian Spechler (Chair), Chris Aguero, Samuel Baker, Stacy D. Clark, Steve Finkelman, Jonathan Kaplan, Tatjana Lichtenstein, Margo Sack, Alexandra F. Taylor, and Blake Turner

SUPPORT JEWISH STUDIES AT UT

WAYS TO SUPPORT SCJS

We are grateful to our many supporters who have helped consolidate Jewish Studies at UT Austin and ensured that we can fund students and teaching in Jewish Studies.

If you would like to learn more about how to help, please get in touch. You can contact the Incoming Director, Dr. Jonathan Kaplan, by email at jonathan. kaplan@austin.utexas.edu.

You may also speak directly to Justin Michalka, Executive Director of Development at the College of Liberal Arts. Justin can be reached by email at jmichalka@austin.utexas.edu or call (512) 471-8861.

BECOME A FRIEND OF SCJS

Become a Friend of the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies by making an annual contribution of $180 or more. You can sign up by emailing us at scjs@austin.utexas.edu. For your annual membership ($180), you will receive the Schusterman Center Annual and special invitations to events such as the Gale Family Foundation Fall and Spring Lectures, the Kasman Family Lecture on East European Jewish Life and Culture, the Israel in Context Lecture Series, and Tarbut: Hebrew Arts & Culture Lecture Series.

Please get in touch with us or visit our website to learn more about the friends’ circle.

You can also visit UT Austin’s Online Giving Page; choose Gift Designation “Liberal Arts, College” & Areas of Need: “Jewish Studies, Schusterman Center for.”

Longtime Academic Advisor Says Goodbye

Dr. Cynthia Gladstone Talks Retirement and the History of Academic Advising at UT

This summer, the Schusterman Center’s longtime Academic Advisor, Dr. Cynthia A. Gladstone, is retiring. Cindy has been with us for more than 14 years and her deep experience, professionalism, and sage advice will be missed by students and colleagues alike. Wishing you many new adventures in this next chapter of your life, Cindy!

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I am from El Paso, Texas, and grew up there, but I have lived in Austin for many years. My father was a Holocaust survivor from Czechoslovakia, and my mother was from Dallas, Texas. They met when my father was in medical school at Southwestern in Dallas. I earned a PhD in History from UT in 2003.

I have been a professional academic advisor in the College of Liberal Arts since 2004, but I actually started advising undergraduates in the Department of History for three years while a graduate student. That initial experience inspired me to continue advising after I finished my degree. I cannot remember exactly when I took on Jewish Studies advising, but I believe it was around 2007. I was already advisor for Latin American Studies and then took on Jewish Studies and Linguistics (passing European Studies on to a colleague). So, when I retire, I will have advised Latin American Studies for 17 years, Jewish Studies for around 14 years, and Linguistics for more than 8 years.

What have you enjoyed most about your time at UT Austin?

I have been both a student at UT and a staff member. I enjoyed school (most of the time!), and I have loved my career here. I wouldn’t trade either experience. It has been special working with students, of course, but I will also remember my colleagues with great fondness. I hope to keep in touch with many of them: advisors, staff, and faculty in the units I have advised for. All of them have impacted my life and work. But I think what I have most enjoyed is being in the higher education atmosphere. There is nothing like the vibrancy and excitement of a college campus.

What is the most significant change in advising you have seen during your time here?

Really, two things have changed the most in my experience. First, there is the professionalization of UT advising. When I first started, advising was done by a hodge podge of personnel, including graduate students, faculty, student development specialists, graduate coordinators in dual roles, etc. Eventually, they instituted an advising fee that created resources to hire professional advisors, regularize their titles and roles, and pay for technology. Another major change was the transition from Liberal Arts advisors working exclusively for their particular departments or for the Student Division, to all advisors, except those in the honors programs, working under the aegis of the Student Division. That took a lot of getting used to!

What are you looking forward to the most in this chapter of your life?

I’m still figuring that out! I certainly look forward to having my time be my own, and, once the pandemic is really over, to doing some traveling. I plan to take some continuing education. I would also like to investigate ways to get involved in politics in this state—NOT as a politician, but as someone working toward changing the way Texas is run. I’m not sure yet how one does that, but I look forward to finding out. Other than all of that, I’m looking forward to spending more time with friends, including the retired folks who can tell me how it’s going for them.

Dr. Miriam Bodian on Her Career at UT Austin and Where She Is Headed Next

This summer, Dr. Miriam Bodian is retiring from the Department of History at UT Austin. Dr. Bodian is one of the leading experts on early modern Iberian Jewry and has taught the SCJS’s core introductory course on modern Jewish history along with seminars on Jews and the Inquisition, the history of religious tolerance and many other topics. Her books include Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation: Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam and Dying in the Law of Moses: Crypto-Jewish Martyrdom in Iberian Lands, 1570–1670. For the last four years, she has served as director of The Institute of Historical Studies. Dr. Bodian’s expertise and experience and her affection for Jewish Studies and for her colleagues, will be greatly missed. We at the SCJS wish her all the best in this next chapter of her life.

What have you enjoyed most about your time at the Schusterman Center?

It has been fascinating to watch the Schusterman Center develop in the years since I came to UT in 2009. My academic career began at a time when Jewish Studies was in the early stages of being integrated into the American university. People today often forget that prior to the 1970s, Jewish Studies was almost entirely confined to a few Jewish institutions of higher learning. Today, Jewish Studies centers are the norm at American universities and liberal arts colleges, and they serve a diverse student population. The Schusterman Center is an outstanding example of how such a center can respond effectively to the interdisciplinary culture of contemporary academic life, to the regional (in this case Central Texas) context, and to new ways of involving students educationally (with the internship program, for example, or with virtual learning at sites in Israel). It has been wonderful to be part of the Center’s development and to teach students who have brought to the classroom such wide and varied life experiences.

You are retiring to Jerusalem? How did your relationship with the city first begin, and how has it evolved over the years?

I first visited Jerusalem in 1974 to explore Jewish history and culture at the School for Overseas Students at Hebrew University. I stayed for 14 years. Although I’ve always been drawn to cities with a rich history, Jerusalem was unique. But it’s not easy to sum up my subjective experience of the city. Initially I was very much the naïve American, overwhelmed by my first impressions and intimidated by the life stories of the extraordinary Jerusalemites I met. It was through these people—neighbors and grocers as well as professors and students—that I got to know the city and the wider society. Jerusalem is by no means a perfect or easy place. There are everyday aggravations and deep fears. And there are ideological extremes that impact unhelpfully on the conduct of politics and public life. But the Jerusalem I know is also a place that attracts unusually thoughtful and committed people who try to confront realities honestly and hopefully.

What are you looking forward to the most in this chapter of your life?

I haven’t yet experienced “retirement”—and the word itself is so unfortunate that I hope I never do! Certainly, stepping down from my position at UT entails significant losses, and I’ll miss the many things I’ve valued here. At the same time, I’m invigorated by the prospect of finding my niche in a new setting, with options open.