Jewish Studies Expansion Program (JSEP)2008-2010 Teaching Fellows
Dr. Michael R. Cohen is the Schusterman Teaching Fellow at Tulane University. In 2008 he completed his Ph.D. at Brandeis University in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies, with a focus in modern Jewish history. His dissertation, Schechter's Disciples: How Solomon Schechter's Students Created Conservative Judaism, 1902-1946, suggests that the emergence of the American Conservative movement is the product of its clergy and that it fits the pattern of new American religious movements. In 2007, he was recipient of both the American Jewish Historical Society's Ruth B. Fein Prize and American Jewish Archives's Bernard and Audre Rapoport Fellowship. At Tulane, Dr. Cohen teaches "Introduction to Jewish Civilization" and "American Jewish History". He has lectured to the closely-knit Jewish community of New Orleans, and has organized a number of film presentations popular among students and the wider community.
Dr. Matthew LaGrone, the Schusterman Teaching Fellow at the University of Delaware, completed his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto's Centre for the Study of Religion and the Collaborative Doctoral Program in Jewish Studies. His dissertation, Between Fire and Ice: Studies in Jewish and Christian Centrism, focused on Conservative Judaism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is interested in how Conservative Jews, from Alexander Kohut to Solomon Schechter, understood the movement as a "centrist" option in the midst of the teeming religious pluralism in the United States. In 2007 alone, he was awarded the School of Graduate Studies Travel Grant, the Shier Family Graduate Award, and the Molly Spitzer Award in Jewish Studies. Among his current classes at the University of Delaware are "Introduction to Jewish Sources," which examines the central texts that form the basis of Jewish thought, religion, and culture, and "Issues and Ideas in Jewish Studies," in which a different speaker is featured each week as students develop insight into the Judaic research and scholarship that is taking place at the University of Delaware and in nearby communities.
A native of Poland, Dr. Jerzy Mazur currently teaches classes on Eastern European and Jewish History at Towson University. He received his Ph.D. in Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University. His dissertation, Border Jews: Jewish Life on the Medieval Frontier of Europe, deals with late medieval and early modern Jewish history in Eastern Europe, especially in Ukrainian and Polish lands. He previously specialized in late medieval and early modern history, with special focus on religious and ethnic minorities, at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. This year, he is also an Adjunct Fellow at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. In spring 2008, Dr. Mazur is helping to organize a Jewish film festival and is planning to take a group of students to Poland.
Dr. Nina S. Spiegel, is, as of August, the incoming Schusterman Teaching Fellow at the American University. She holds a Ph.D. in history from Stanford University and a B.A. in Judaic and religious studies from Brown University. She has previously taught at the University of Maryland and Stanford University and has served as Curator at the National Museum of American Jewish History. She is currently completing a book, The Creation of Israeli Culture: Hebrew Dance, Sports, and Beauty in the British Mandate, which examines the evolution of Israeli culture while uncovering its connection to the country’s social and political dynamics. Her research explores topics such as Jewish public culture in Israel and the United States, museums and the construction of memory, and Jewish dance. In 2004, she received Honorable Mention for the Raphael Patai Prize in Jewish Folklore and Ethnology for her article "Cultural Formulation in Eretz Israel: The National Dance Competition of 1937." At American University, she will be teaching courses on the history of Israel, modern Jewish civilization, American Jewish popular culture, and the construction of memory in Jewish museums.
Currently the Schusterman Teaching Fellow at Northeastern University, Dr. Claire Sufrin completed her PhD in Religious Studies at Stanford University and undergraduate work at Yale University. Her dissertation, Modern People of the Book: Baruch Spinoza, Martin Buber, and the Hebrew Bible addressed the development of Martin Buber's approach to the Hebrew Bible and she is currently working on revising that work into a book manuscript. At Northeastern, Dr. Sufrin has taught the Jewish Studies gateway course, "Introduction to Jewish Religion and Culture," as well as an upper-level seminar "Responses to the Holocaust," which examines post-Holocaust literature, memoirs, film, and theology. In coming semesters, she will teach courses in modern Judaism and Zionist thought. Dr. Sufrin has also been deeply involved in organizing a Spring 2009 lecture series, "Reinventing Ritual: Innovations in Jewish Tradition," with speakers including Art Green and Vanessa Ochs.
Dr. Jarrod Tanny, the Schusterman Teaching Fellow at Ohio University, completed a Ph.D. in History at the University of California, Berkeley. He also holds a Master's Degree in Russian and East European Studies at the University of Toronto. His dissertation, City of Rogues and Schnorrers: The Myth of Old Odessa in Russian and Jewish Culture, examined how Odessa has been mythologized as a city of Jewish gangsters, swindlers, musicians, and merrymakers in literature, humor, music, and folklore. He was winner of the Graduate Student Essay Contest, sponsored by the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies for his "The Many Ends of Old Odessa," which UC Berkley also published in 2007. At Ohio, he teaches courses on Jewish history, Jewish humor, and world history. His History of Jewish Humor class, brand new to the University, tracks the influence of Jewish humor, especially in relation to immigration. He has also joined the community as the adviser to a student Israel-awareness group.
For further information, please visit our JSEP page or contact Paul Zakrzewski.
Program Funder
The Jewish Studies Expansion Program is made possible through the generous support of the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation (CLSFF).