2 minute read
Teaching Resilience
Image above: R Mural Project, Union Square Market, Washington, DC.
Why does an institution of higher Jewish learning need to teach about resilience?
In a recent article, Spertus President and CEO Dr. Dean P. Bell wrote about a subject you might be surprised to find on the Spertus curriculum: resilience, a concept that has become ever more important through the challenges of the past year.
Dr. Bell wrote, “At Spertus Institute, we have integrated long-standing work on vulnerability and resilience into our leadership training, professional programs, and graduate courses. Grounded in findings from the Religion, Vulnerability, and Resilience Project, on which I am a co-investigator, we have differentiated between simple resilience—a return to the status quo—and complex resilience, which allows us to learn, grow, and adapt. Complex resilience teaches us to apply new-found skills and perspectives to yet unknown challenges ahead.”
He continued, “Our work at Spertus is centered in the idea of high-impact Jewish learning, learning that provides the tools for important and positive change in the world. Our explorations of complex resilience teach adaptation, problem solving, responsibility, and resistance to doing things the same way, merely because that is the way we have done them before. This work will advance and improve our programs, our institution, and the many people we impact along the way.”
Read Dr. Bell’s full article at spertus.edu/news
News
Teaching Resilience | P2 Letter from Spertus President and CEO Dr. Dean P. Bell | P4 The Spertus Chicago Scholarship | P5 Celebrating Spertus Graduation | P7 Spertus Welcomes Marcia R. Lehman and Dr. David Gottlieb | P9 Spertus Students and Alumni Reimagine Community | P10 Spertus Builds Ties to Austin, TX | P15 Our Alumni Community | P27 Think Tanks Address Pressing Issues | P27
Degree Offerings | P17
Certificate Programs | P17
Workshops, Programs, and Events
Fundraisers Forum | P19 Launch of Educational Leadership Network | P21 Authors OutLoud with Ayelet Tsabari | P23 Exhibition | Andy Warhol’s Ten Portraits of Jews of the 20th Century | P25 Jewish Community Reconnects | P25
Sponsorship, Support, and Membership
Making Educational Opportunities Possible | P15 Leave a Legacy of Learning | P28 Membership | P29
Calendar | P31
As we go to press, masks are required in public areas at Spertus Institute and much of our fall programming is online. All is subject to change. Please check our website at spertus.edu for current details and sign up to receive our e-newsletters. Or follow Spertus on social media for regular updates.
