News

Students

• Sharon Weiss-Greenberg recently became the first Orthodox female chaplain at Harvard University.  Read the sermon that she delivered on Rosh Hashanah to the various Harvard Hillel and Cambridge minyanim here. 

• Jim Joseph Fellows meet with Executive Director of Jim Joseph Foundation - read about it here. 

• Four Jim Joseph doctoral fellows appointed for 2009: Galia Avidar, Alan Abrams, Janet Bordelon, and Arielle Levites.  Learn more about the Jim Joseph Foundation grant here.

• Gad Marcus is beginning the doctoral program as a Steinhardt fellow in 2009.

• Two new masters programs in Education and Jewish Studies are beginning in September 2009.  Students will have the opportunity to pursue either an M.A. in Education and Jewish Studies or a Dual M.A. in Education and Jewish Studies and in Hebrew and Judaic Studies.

• Four Jim Joseph masters fellows appointed for 2009.

Alumni 

•Fall 2009: Renee Rubin Ross earns Ph.D.  Her dissertation is entitled Parental Involvement and Community Cohesion at a Jewish, Catholic, and Independent Day School.

•Spring 2009: three students earn Ph.D.: Michael Kay, David Bryfman, and Leslie Ginsparg defended their dissertation.

• Renee Rubin Ross wins Brandeis postdoctoral fellowship.  Additionally, she is appointed editor of the NRJE newsletter.

• David Bryfman teaching Steinhardt course in Fall 2009.

E10.2141. Case Study and Ethnographic Inquiry Fall 2009 Bryfman. 3 credits. Wednesdays, 4:55 - 7:35 p.m.

This course further prepares students to use a variety of qualitative methods in
their ongoing research. It explores theories underlying ethnographic methods and focuses on developing skills in conducting ethnographic research, observation, interviewing skills, and focus groups.

The course will also consider ethnographic research in a digital age, looking at
qualitative research as it applies to the analysis of various online communities.
Only students who have participated in E10.2140 (Approaches to Qualitative
Inquiry) may enroll.

EJS in the World of Jewish Education

• Doctoral student Janet Bordelon presents paper at a conference sponsored by The Tony Blair Faith Foundation pertaining to the legal challenges to teaching religion in America.

• EJS program to host 2010 NRJE conference (June 6-8, 2010).

• EJS students present their research at 2009 meeting of the Network for Research in Jewish Education. These research summaries are available here:

-David Bryfman: Real Identity in a Virtual World: The Identities of Jewish Teenagers as Expressed in Social Networking Websites and Virtual Worlds

-Sharon Avni, Tali Hyman, and Michelle Lynn-Sachs: Educational Ethnography: Why, How, and for Whom?