Thursday, October 12, 2023
Helen Kim, Whitman College
Laura Arnold Leibman, Reed College
So you are on the job market and see a job advertised at a liberal arts college. What makes this position different from the research school where you got your PhD? What specific things are they looking for? How should you tailor your letter to showcase why you are a good fit?
Join Helen Kim (Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Sociology, Whitman College) and Laura Arnold Leibman (Kenan Professor of English and Humanities, Reed College) for this hands-on workshop on how to make your application count. With over 40 years of combined experience at liberal arts colleges and dozens of searches under our belts, we will cover the ins and outs of applying to work at liberal arts colleges and go over sample letter templates.
Tuesday, September 12, 2023
In this webinar, we'll cover how to search for and find sustainable meaningful work outside of the academy. You’ll learn to find jobs using LinkedIn, Indeed & Google Jobs and to read non-academic job ads for what they are really trying to say, cutting through the business jargon and cryptic marketing language to understand if you are qualified and what the job actually involves in the day-to-day. And then we'll cover some of the theory and practice behind translating your academic experience to a resume for the non-ac job search, honing in on the essential elements that nonprofit and corporate reviewers are looking for, plus the tricks to get past algorithms and recruiters and land an interview.
Current AJS membership is required to attend the webinar.
About the Presenter
Adrienne Posner received a BA in Art History from UC Santa Cruz and then took a detour into the museum world and non-profit sector. Returning to school, she received an MA in Art History from UCLA and then transferred to the Comparative Literature program where she received a second MA, advanced to candidacy, and began work on a dissertation before deciding to leave the academy altogether. She is currently a Program Manager at Google working on various internal and external educational initiatives. Her experience consulting began over 10 years ago coaching grad students and faculty through researching, organizing, writing, editing, filing and publishing their dissertations, articles and book projects. She now primarily helps tenured and non-tenured faculty and grad students understand and navigate leaving academia for the non-academic job market. She assists with everything from resume development to deciphering job descriptions to interview practice. She also provides career and coaching services to non-academics, and has helped hundreds of people change careers, get raises, negotiate job offers, and more.
June 23, 2023
Olga Gershenson, University of Massachusetts Amherst
The need for effectively incorporating film into the curriculum is real and growing: our students increasingly live in a mediated environment and are profoundly engaged with images and visual media. What they need to learn, however, is media literacy. Using film in our pedagogy can help us to communicate to students, and, more importantly, teach them to think critically about the content they are absorbing, modes of representation, and the medium itself. It will make them better scholars and better citizens.
This professional development workshop focuses on using film and media in the classroom. Straddling the areas of pedagogy and digital humanities, it’s intended for colleagues across disciplines, including history, sociology, religious studies, and other fields beyond film and literature. Working interactively, we learn how to think about film in the classroom, how to find appropriate content, how to incorporate it into one’s curriculum, and how to facilitate discussion. We cover approaches to using fiction vs documentary films, including full films vs excerpts, selecting and producing film clips, and designing film-based assignments. Our discussion ranges from conceptual approaches to hands-on “know-how.”
Olga Gershenson is Professor of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies and of Film Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is a multi-disciplinary scholar with interests at the intersection of culture, history, and film. At the AJS, she is chair of the Jews, Film, and the Arts Division, a member of the Film Committee, and editor of the “Teaching with Film and Media” column in AJS Perspectives. She has been teaching Jewish history and culture using film for nearly twenty years. In addition to her home institution, she has taught internationally, including in Israel, China, India, Russia, and the UAE.
October 5, 2021
Sara Tillinger Wolkenfeld, Sefaria
Explore Sefaria's digital library and discover new ways that these digital tools can support your research and teaching. This hands-on workshop will include opportunities to hear about future plans for Sefaria and to share your feedback on the resources that speak to your needs.
.jpg?sfvrsn=7ce6ee97_0 "Sara_Sefaria (1)")
Sara Tillinger Wolkenfeld is the Chief Learning Officer at Sefaria, an online database and interface for Jewish texts. She and her team work to leverage digital tools to create more impactful learning experiences for all. Sara is also a fellow at the David Hartman Center at the Hartman Institute of North America.
November 11, 2020
Pamela S. Nadell, American University
Alanna Cooper, Case Western Reserve University
This webinar, geared towards graduate students and early career scholars (but open to all AJS members), will offer tips on designing public lectures based on your dissertation or book research. Pamela S. Nadell, the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women’s and Gender History and Director of the Jewish Studies Program at American University, and Alanna Cooper, the Abba Hillel Silver Chair of Jewish Studies at Case Western Reserve University, will be in conversation. Some of the topics they will cover include choosing a topic for a public lecture, writing a title and description to draw an audience, preparing visuals to accompany your lecture, communicating with an audience, and handling the Q & A.
July 24, 2019
Warren Hoffman, Association for Jewish Studies
Join AJS Executive Director Warren Hoffman for a webinar on the Do's and Don'ts of grant writing. Drawing on his experience, both working as a grant maker at a foundation, and as a grant writer having written and stewarded a number of successful grants himself, Warren will provide behind-the-scenes information on what foundations are looking for, advice on how to avoid common grant writing mistakes, and other best practices in the grant world. We'll also spend some time looking at where to find grants. This webinar is geared primarily toward organizations looking for operating or program support, but anyone, including individuals, is welcome to attend.
Warren Hoffman is the new Executive Director of the Association for Jewish Studies. He spent over ten years in the public programming world creating everything from the Philadelphia Seder, a multicultural arts and culture celebration of Passover to the Philadelphia Jewish Music Festival to major programs with some of the theater world’s biggest names. He has consulted for a number of arts and culture organizations around the country on public programs and loves to be in a packed house with engaged audience members.
November 28, 2018
Mary Rubenstein, ELI Talks
This webinar will explore how academics and Jewish Studies practitioners can create engaging public lectures. Mary Rubenstein, the executive director of ELI Talks, will offer practical tips on improving both the content and performance aspects of public talks.
Oct 18, 2018
Melissa Martens Yaverbaum, Council of American Jewish Museums
Have you ever dreamt of working in a Jewish museum? Join Melissa Martens Yaverbaum—Executive Director of the Council of American Jewish Museums and former Curator of the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Jewish Museum of Maryland—for an insider discussion on opportunities and challenges. We’ll talk about roles and responsibilities within today’s museums, effective pairings with academics, emerging trends in Jewish museums, and ideas for the future. Ranging from the practical present to the inspired future, join us for a look inside Jewish museums and their potential for meaningful work.
Melissa Martens Yaverbaum is executive director of the Council of American Jewish Museums and former curator of the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the Jewish Museum of Maryland.
Thursday, June 14, 2018
David N. Myers, Center for Jewish History and UCLA
Fundraising may seem like an activity far removed from your work in academia, but many academics, regardless of their rank or leadership role, are asked to fundraise in one form or another. Whether you're a department chair looking for money for your department, a faculty member looking for programming dollars, or a grad student looking for research or fellowship money, fundraising can come in many forms. In this webinar, Center for Jewish History CEO and UCLA Professor of History David Myers will provide tips, pointers, and strategies for demystifying he process of seeking out donors, cultivating relationships, and asking for money.
David N. Myers is the President and CEO of the Center for Jewish History in New York City. He is also the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Professor of Jewish History at UCLA. An alumnus of Yale College (1982), Myers undertook graduate studies at Tel-Aviv and Harvard Universities before receiving his Ph.D with distinction in 1991 in Jewish history from Columbia University. He has written widely in the fields of Jewish intellectual and cultural history. His books include Re-inventing the Jewish Past (Oxford, 1995), Resisting History: The Crisis of Historicism in German-Jewish Thought (Princeton, 2003), Between Jew and Arab: The Lost Voice of Simon Rawidowicz (Brandeis, 2008), and Jewish History: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2017). Myers has also edited or co-edited eight books, most recently with Alexander Kaye The Faith of Fallen Jews: Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi and the Writing of Jewish History (Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2014). As well, he is the author of The Stakes of Jewish History: On the Use and Abuse of Jewish History for Life (Yale, 2017) and is completing a monograph, with Nomi Stolzenberg, on the Satmar Hasidic community of Kiryas Joel, New York.
Myers is serving during the 2017-18 year as the inaugural director of the UCLA Luskin Center for History and Policy. He served from 2010-15 as the Robert N. Burr Chair of the History Department. Prior to that, he served as Vice Chair for Academic Personnel in the History Department (2002-04). For ten years, Myers served as Director of the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies (1996-2000, 2004-09, 2010-11). Myers has taught at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris) and Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow). He has received fellowships from the Leo Baeck Institute, Fulbright Foundation, Lady David Trust, and the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. Myers has been a fellow at the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania on three occasions (1995, 2009-10, 2016); he has also visited at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem in 1997. Myers has served as a member of the board of the Association for Jewish Studies, as well as a teacher for the Wexner Heritage Foundation. He is also a member of the board of the New Israel Fund. He writes frequently on matters of contemporary Jewish concern. Since 2002, Myers has served as co-editor of the Jewish Quarterly Review. He is an elected Fellow of the American Academy for Jewish Research, as well as a Fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities.
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Michael R. Cohen, Tulane University
This webinar will explore how we can craft syllabi that distinguish between higher-level and survey-level/intro courses. What strategies work at which levels? How can we most effectively reach students across the curriculum?
Michael R. Cohen is chair and associate professor of Jewish Studies at Tulane University, where he holds a Sizeler Professorship. He is the author of Cotton Capitalists: American Jewish Entrepreneurship in the Reconstruction Era (New York University Press, 2017), as well as The Birth of Conservative Judaism: Solomon Schechter's Disciples and the Creation of an American Religious Movement (Columbia University Press, 2012). He earned his Ph.D. from Brandeis University and his A.B. with honors from Brown University. He is also the author of several articles and reviews.
Tuesday November 28, 2017
Carolyn Starman Hessel and Naomi Firestone-Teeter, Jewish Book Council
Congratulations! You've published a book, but now you're trying to figure out how to get PR for it. Join Carolyn Starman Hessel, Executive Director Emeritus, and Naomi Firestone-Teeter, Executive Director, from the Jewish Book Council, who will provide strategies and tips to successfully find an audience for your books and pitch media outlets.
Monday November 20, 2017
Warren Hoffman, Association for Jewish Studies
Do you run public programs for your department or university? Are you struggling to find an audience? Not getting the results you want? Join AJS’s Executive Director, Warren Hoffman, for a tour through the “can’t miss” steps in designing successful public programs. From how to choose the right thematic topic to how to correctly price and market your event, this webinar will give you all the tools you need to improve your public program work.
Warren Hoffman is the new Executive Director of the Association for Jewish Studies. He spent over ten years in the public programming world creating everything from the Philadelphia Seder, a multicultural arts and culture celebration of Passover to the Philadelphia Jewish Music Festival to major programs with some of the theater world’s biggest names. He has consulted for a number of arts and culture organizations around the country on public programs and loves to be in a packed house with engaged audience members.
Tuesday October 24, 2017
Jennifer Hammer, NYU Press
Looking to publish your dissertation, but not sure of the next steps? This webinar will cover the basics on developing a book proposal, revising from a dissertation to book project and positioning the work for your audiences, and determining which publishers to approach.
Monday, May 15, 2017
Michael Carasik
I’ve been podcasting since 2008. In that time, the number of podcasts has gone up exponentially—and the largest single iTunes category of podcasts is "Christianity." Those of us who teach about Jews and Judaism will never catch up with them—but podcasting is now a major communications medium. Should you be podcasting?
I’ll discuss my own experience as a podcaster, present some questions to think about as you decide whether or not to join me, and give you some basic tips on how to get started.
Michael Carasik teaches Biblical Hebrew at the University of Pennsylvania. He has a bachelor’s degree from New College (Sarasota, Fla.), bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Jewish studies from Spertus College in Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Bible and the ancient Near East from Brandeis University. He is the author of Theologies of the Mind in Biblical Israel (Peter Lang), a description of the Israelite understanding of psychology as revealed in the Bible, and The Bible's Many Voices (Jewish Publication Society / University of Nebraska Press), a layman’s guide to the Bible as its human authors intended it.
He is also the creator, editor, and translator of The Commentators' Bible (Jewish Publication Society / University of Nebraska Press), an English-language equivalent of the traditional Hebrew commentaries that have been used for centuries. The Genesis volume, completing the five volumes of the Pentateuch, is currently in the hands of the publishers. The series is also available electronically on the Accordance and Logos platforms.
His weekly Torah Talk podcast has been running since 2008.
Monday, March 27, 2017
Rachel Deblinger and Nathaniel Deutsch
This webinar will explore the possibilities of using digital tools in the Jewish Studies classroom. We will introduce the idea of a Digital Jewish Studies and discuss the benefits of using digital tools to enhance learning objectives. Then, we will offer practical advice and call attention to some common pitfalls for integrating new tools into your syllabi. Finally, we'll offer some examples that show how digital tools help your students engage with content while also learning new skills. The aim of the webinar is for all participants to feel confident developing new assignments for upcoming classes.
Rachel Deblinger is the Director of the Digital Scholarship Commons at the UCSC Library. Her work fosters Digital Humanities research and learning across campus by supporting new digital pedagogy efforts and creating opportunities for the entire campus community to develop digital skills and literacy.
Deblinger completed her doctorate in History at UCLA in 2014 and is currently writing a book manuscript titled, “Saving Our Survivors: How American Jews learned about the Holocaust” (under contract with Indiana University Press). Her research focuses on the construction of Holocaust memory in postwar America through efforts of Jewish communal organizations to aid survivors in Europe. To expand the conversation about postwar Holocaust narratives, media technology, and survivor memory, Deblinger has created an online exhibit and blog, Memories/Motifs.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Judith S. Pinnolis, Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel, and Mark Slobin
This webinar invites Jewish Studies faculty to learn about Jewish music resources for curriculum development and class assignments, or to help students interested in developing projects in Jewish music. There is a wealth of media-based and text-based material available online for teaching and research in Jewish music. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of Jewish music research, resources can be difficult to locate, as they are scattered across many different library databases, archives, and subject specific websites. This webinar, which is hosted by the Association for Jewish Studies and is co-sponsored by the Jewish Music study group of the Society for Ethnomusicology and the Jewish Studies and Music Study Group of the American Musicological Society, will offer faculty a concise overview of the essential primary and secondary resources they can use to bring Jewish music into any Jewish Studies classroom.
Judith Pinnolis is Adjunct Faculty at the School of Jewish Music of Hebrew College. She served for over two decades as an academic Research Librarian at Brandeis University. She runs The Jewish Music WebCenter. Her publications include contributions to several music and general reference books including Basic Music Library, 4th ed., Encyclopedia Judaica and Reader's Guide to Judaism.
Amanda (Miryem-Khaye) Seigel is a Yiddish singer, songwriter, actor, and a research librarian in the Dorot Jewish Division, New York Public Library. Her publications include Jews in America: From New Amsterdam to the Yiddish Stage and a solo CD, Toyznt tamen [A Thousand Flavors].
Mark Slobin is the Winslow-Kaplan Professor of Music Emeritus at Wesleyan University and the author or editor of many books, on Afghanistan and Central Asia, eastern European Jewish music, film music, and ethnomusicology theory, two of which have received the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award: Fiddler on the Move: Exploring the Klezmer World and Tenement Songs: Popular Music of the Jewish Immigrants. His current project is on the musical life of Detroit, 1940s–60s.
Tuesday, December 6. 2016
Rachel Bernard, Matthew Goldfeder, and John Paul Christy
The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) supports scholars in the humanities and social sciences at all career stages through a range of fellowship and grant programs. In this session, ACLS program officers will discuss current trends in funding and other support for humanities scholarship, share information about ACLS's peer review processes, and offer some tips and strategies for strong applications that they've gleaned from facilitating peer review.
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Noam Pianko
Students, faculty, and community members increasingly look to social media, websites, and digital assets to learn about courses, degree opportunities, and public events. Join us to discuss digital strategies for promoting Jewish Studies, engaging stakeholders, and creating accessible scholarship for global audiences. This webinar is for people of all skill levels and experience using social media and other digital platforms.
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Rona Sheramy
Applying for a job at a non-profit, foundation, publication, learned society, independent school or other such organization is a different process than submitting your portfolio for an academic position. As many PhDs explore opportunities across a range of professions, it is important to learn how to prepare a cover letter, resume (no, it’s not a CV), and for an interview in a manner appropriate to the setting. Rona Sheramy will review the essentials of how to best tailor your materials, talents, and experience to different types of job opportunities. She will cover how to best address gaps in your resume (of time or particular skills), how to articulate the relevance of graduate training to various careers, and where and how to look for positions.
Rona Sheramy, PhD, is Executive Director of the Association for Jewish Studies. She sits on the Board of Directors of the National Humanities Alliance, a coalition of organizations dedicated to advancing humanities education, research, preservation, and public programs.
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Pamela S. Nadell
As chair of American University’s Department of History for five years, AJS President Pamela Nadell negotiated numerous contingent and tenure-line hires. Here she shares her perspective on the nuts-and-bolts of applying for academic jobs. Topics covered include reading the job ad, formatting the curriculum vitae, writing a cover letter, preparing for the first-round interview, understanding the elements of the on-campus interview, and negotiating an offer.
Pamela Nadell holds the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women's and Gender History and is Director of the Jewish Studies Program. She is the President of the Association for Jewish Studies.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Dr. Alexandra Lord
Join Alexandra Lord, PhD, Chair and Curator of the Division of Medicine and Science at the National Museum of American History; founder of the online history journal, The Ultimate History Project; and award-winning author, for a session on how to find a career which reflects your passions and skills. This practical workshop explores how to research and identify a variety of career options and, most importantly, how to market yourself to employers inside and outside the academy.
Monday, April 18, 2016
Dr. Kalani Craig
This high-level flyover will provide a brief, non-technical introduction to the digital humanities by way of four major approaches: digitization, data and text mining, spatial analysis and network analysis (we promise that by the end of the workshop, you will know what all these terms mean!). We'll look at the easiest ways to incorporate digital humanities tools into your research and teaching, and we'll introduce you to the online community that helps digital humanities researchers find collaborators, solve technical problems, and learn new approaches.
Kalani Craig is Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Indiana University—Bloomington. Her work on conflict resolution in medieval European history makes heavy use of text mining, spatial history and coding schema, and she also has an active research agenda in digital-history pedagogy. Kalani serves as the organizer for the American Historical Association's Getting Started in Digital History Workshop and is a member of the AHA's Digital History Working Group.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Dr. Zachary M. Baker
Cosponsored by the Association for Jewish Studies and the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
This webinar will present an overview of online resources relating to Eastern European Jewish Studies: Religion, History, Culture, and Demography. The periods covered range from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, before the Partitions, to the post-Soviet era; the geographical scope encompasses the domains of Eastern Ashkenaz: Poland, the Baltics, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, and Hungary. Most but not all resources covered in the webinar have English-language home pages.
Zachary M. Baker is Assistant University Librarian for Collection Development - Humanities & Social Sciences and Reinhard Family Curator of Judaica and Hebraic a Collections at Stanford University Libraries.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Center for Jewish History
Features a conversation between David Ruderman, Joseph Meyerhoff Professor of Modern Jewish History and the Ella Darivoff Director of the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and Judith Ginsberg, Executive Director of the Nash Family Foundation and former program officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities. The session is moderated by Michael Glickman, Chief Administrative Officer of the Center for Jewish History and head of the Center’s development initiatives. The discussion considers how to cultivate support for specific projects and events, as well as how to involve donors and foundations in the long-term vision and aspirations of your program and institution. The session also explores how fundraising for Jewish Studies has changed over the past few years, and ways in which Jewish Studies programs can best communicate their goals and activities in these new economic times.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Center for Jewish History
This event consisted of a structured discussion among four distinguished panelists: Dr. Jonathan Brent, Executive Director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and Visiting Professor of History and Literature at Bard College; Dr. Nina Goodman, Coordinator of Academic Support at the Abraham Joshua Heschel Lower School; Dr. Felicia Herman, Executive Director of the Natan Fund; and Dr. Jacob Wisse, Director of the Yeshiva University Museum and Associate Professor of Art History at Stern College. Careers outside of Academia was moderated by Dr. Rona Sheramy, Executive Director of the Association for Jewish Studies.
Over the course of the session, the panelists discussed job opportunities in the non-profit world, including foundations, academic publishing, Jewish education, archives, and museums. They also discussed how best to seek and apply for non-academic positions, as well as how to maintain a research agenda.
Friday, October 23 2009
Center for Jewish History
Preparing for the Job Market is a structured discussion among three distinguished panelists: Dr. Judith Hauptman from the Talmud and Rabbinics Department at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Dr. Yael Zerubavel from the Jewish Studies and History Departments at Rutgers University, and Dr. Hartley Lachter from the Religion Studies Department at Muhlenberg College. The panel is moderated by Dr. Jeffrey Shandler, professor of Jewish Studies at Rutgers University. Over the course of the session, the panelists address the hiring process from both sides of the table: providing tips on how best to present oneself to an academic search panel as well as a “behind-the-scenes” look at how different academic departments approach the hiring process. The panelists also address the vital elements of an academic job application, from cover letters and CVs to in-person interviews, from the perspectives of their varied institutions and departments.
