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 HUC-JIR Burton Lehman Faculty Retreat - June 16-18, 2008 The entire HUC-JIR faculty will convene for the Burton Lehman Faculty Retreat, endowed in honor of the past Chair of the HUC-JIR Board of Governors, in Lisle, IL, from June 16 to 18, 2008. Organized by a steering committee, led by Dr. Isa Aron and comprised of Dr. Michael Meyer, Dr. Carole Balin, Dr. Dvora Weisberg, and Dr. David Levine, and coordinated by Joy Wasserman, the biennial Retreat will bring together faculty from HUC-JIR's Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and New York campuses. It will offer the faculty an unparalleled opportunity to study and worship together, address emerging trends in Jewish studies, confront current issues in American Jewish life, collaborate in shared teaching areas, hone pedagogical skills, and further strengthen the process of student assessment. The Retreat will feature an opening plenary session with guest scholar Dr. Moshe Rosman, Professor of Jewish History at Bar-Ilan University, chaired by Dr. Michael Meyer, with responses from Dr. David Aaron and Dr. David Levine. Rosman's discussion of trends and controversies in Judaic Studies will be followed by small group discussions by the faculty. Guest scholar Dr. Shaul Kelner, Associate Professor of Sociology and Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt University, will address the faculty on trends and controversies in American Jewish life in a session chaired by Dr. David Kaufman, with responses from Dr. Steven Cohen and Dr. Tali Hyman. Small group discussions will further explore the implications of these trends in the areas of synagogue life, led by Rabbi Renni Altman; recruitment, led by Dr. Aaron Panken; leadership development, led by Dr. Norman Cohen; changing Jewish institutions, led by Dr. Rob Weinberg and Dr. Sam Joseph; Diaspora-Israel relations, led by Dr. Michael Marmur; education, led by Dr. Michael Zeldin; outreach, led by Rabbi Jerome Davidson; authenticity in searching for meaning, led by Dr. Lawrence Hoffman; and social justice, led by Rabbi Richard Levy. A presentation on Sakai Technology will deepen the faculty's familiarity with enrichment resources for classroom teaching. The retreat will also focus on trends in teaching. Gregg Alpert will present on "Wikis, Blogs, and Google Docs." Dr. Michael Zeldin and Dr. Tali Hyman will discuss teaching in the 'Smart Classroom', while Cantor Benjie Schiller will explore nurturing spiritual, professional, and intellectual growth. Dr. Lewis Barth and Dr. Mark Kligman will report on working with an artist in residence, and Dr. Aaron Panken will facilitate a session on teaching students to use textual resources. A special feature of the Retreat will be a presentation by Dr. David Ellenson, President of HUC-JIR, and the presence of Barbara Friedman, Chair of the Board of Governors; Joan Pines, Chair of the Cincinnati Board of Overseers; and Sheila Lambert and Frederic Lane, Chair and past Chair, respectively, of the Board's Academic and Faculty Affairs Committee. Faculty will also have ample time to meet colleagues for discussions in shared teaching content areas. In one of their area group meetings, faculty will focus on student assessment. Each area group will review the assessment criteria pertinent to its area of study and share with one another assessment vehicles each of them uses to determine if the students have fulfilled the aims of the criteria. Faculty-led worship, organized by Cantor Eli Schleifer, Dr. Michael Marmur, Rabbi Shirley Idelson, Dr. Nancy Wiener, and Merri Arian, will reflect a diversity of liturgical traditions. One evening program will involve a screening of the Israeli film "Beaufort." Free time will also enable faculty to spend time together, renewing relationships and forming new ones, as newly-hired faculty are integrated into the community. As in past years, the Lehman Faculty Retreat will advance a number of key goals in HUC-JIR's strategic plan: enhancing faculty, promoting academic excellence, strengthening student assessment, and integrating HUC-JIR's four campuses into one institution. Founded in 1875, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the nation's oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual, and professional leadership development center of Reform Judaism. HUC-JIR educates men and women for service to American and world Jewry as rabbis, cantors, educators, and communal service professionals, and offers graduate and post-graduate programs to scholars of all faiths. With centers of learning in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and New York, HUC-JIR's scholarly resources comprise renowned library and museum collections, the American Jewish Archives, biblical archaeology excavations, research institutes and centers, and academic publications. HUC-JIR invites the community to an array of cultural and educational programs which illuminate Jewish history, identity, and contemporary creativity and which foster interfaith and multiethnic understanding. Visit us at www.huc.edu |
