Faculty

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Uziel Adini, Ed.D.

Adjunct Professor of Hebrew Literature and Education

Dr. Uzi Adini was born and educated in Israel. He earned a Teacher’s Diploma at Lifschitz Teacher’s College, and a B.A, Secondary Teachers’ Certificate and M.A. degrees at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, majoring in Bible, Hebrew Literature, and Education. He earned an Ed.D. degree at Dropsie College in Philadelphia, PA, where his doctoral dissertation dealt with transmitting Jewish values through the study of Hebrew Literature to high school students.

Following a long career in educational administration, occasionally combined with college teaching, Dr. Adini returned in 2004...

Julia Steinberg Agnew, M.S.Ed.

Adjunct Instructor

Julia Steinberg Agnew is an adjunct instructor and teaches Issues in the Contemporary Classroom. She received her B.A. from Bowdoin College and an M.S.Ed from the University of Pennsylvania. She taught for ten years in the School District of Philadelphia and is certified in Pennsylvania with an ESL specialist certificate.

Most recently, she has been mentoring and supervising undergraduate and graduate student teachers for Arcadia University and the University of Pennsylvania. She enjoys the challenge of collaborating with urban and suburban educators to create...

[email protected]

Hana Alter was born and raised in Israel where she graduated from the Acvha teacher training seminars. Hana has been living in the United States for the past 25 years. She has been working in various Hebrew schools as a Hebrew teacher for the past 23 years. Hana enjoys teaching her students how to read and speak Hebrew with fluency, accuracy, and confidence. Hana has had experience with students of all ages as well as all levels of Jewish and Hebrew education.

Katherine E. Aron-Beller, Ph.D.

Adjunct Instructor

Boaz Avraham-Katz, M.A.J.S.

email: [email protected]

Boaz has been an educator for close to 30 years. He has worked in the Kibbutz school system in Israel and in Jewish Day Schools in South Africa and America as a teacher and administrator. He was also a teacher, B’nai Mitzvah tutor and Director of Youth Education at his local synagogue. Boaz has a teaching diploma for elementary and middle school general education from Oranim College in Israel, holds a BA and MA in Jewish Studies and a graduate certificate in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Gratz College. He is a doctoral student in the new Holocaust and...

Gloria Becker, Ed.D.

Gloria Becker, EdD, a graduate of the Masters in Jewish Education program at Gratz College, is an instructor of education, teaching on-campus and online courses to MA and EdD students. She earned her EdD from Argosy University in 2011. Her dissertation topic was "Characteristics of Effective Teachers in Reform-movement Congregational Schools." Gloria’s areas of specialty include instructional design, curriculum design, school management, teacher training, and learning technologies. Gloria is a PQAS certified instructor and works with professionals in Early Childhood settings in the area of...

Jeff Benvenuto

Adjunct Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Jeff Benvenuto is a PhD candidate in the Division of Global Affairs at Rutgers-Newark, where he is completing a dissertation entitled "A Genealogy of Cultural Genocide: The International Norm Dynamics of Indigenous Rights Discourse." He is a contributing co-editor of Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America (Duke University Press, 2014) and has published in Journal of Genocide Research and Genocide Studies and Prevention. He specializes in genocide studies, atrocity prevention, human rights, Indigenous studies, settler colonialism, immigration, the history of race and ethnicity in the...

Alan L. Berger

Adjunct Instructor in Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Alan L. Berger occupies the Raddock Family Eminent Scholar Chair for Holocaust Studies, the first Holocaust chair established in the state of Florida, and is Professor of Judaic Studies at Florida Atlantic University where he also directs the Center for the Study of Values and Violence after Auschwitz. Berger founded and directed the Holocaust and Judaic Studies B.A. Program at FAU (1998-2005). Prior to this, he was a professor in the Department of Religion at Syracuse University where he founded and directed the Jewish Studies Program. He also served as Acting Chair of the Religion...

Terri Bernsohn spent the past 15 years as the Religious School Director at Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation in Evanston, Illinois. Terri earned a masters degree in Nonprofit Administration from DePaul University and a Master of Arts in Religious Education from HUC-JIR. Prior to leading JRC’s school, Terri worked as a grantwriter for multiple not-for-profit organizations. Over the past few years, the Terri’s work has focused oncommunity-building, and she has used her grantwriting skills to underwrite multiple family engagement initiatives, including a Shabbat chavurah that used social...

Anita Block has extensive experience in the field of early childhood education and elementary Jewish education. Anita served as Principal of the Perelman Jewish Day School, Forman Center, and directed a school improvement initiative for the Auerbach Central Agency for Jewish Education (now Jewish Learning Venture). She founded and directed the early childhood center at Main Line Reform Temple for 21 years and served as the Director of Education there for 7 years. Anita has directed numerous Jewish early childhood programs throughout Greater Philadelphia. She is currently an educational...

Pamela R. Brown, Ed.D.

Adjunct Instructor in Education

Email: [email protected]

Dr. Pamela Brown is currently an Instructional Support Teacher in Pennsylvania, holding over 18 years’ experience in various K-12 settings that include: Third and Fourth grades (self-contained), secondary business/technology, elementary computer literacy, and district-wide instructional technology support. Pam holds certifications in Elementary Education K-6, Business-Computers-Information Technology K-12, Instructional Technology Specialist K-12, and Principal K-12. Teaching is her second career, following a decade of work in corporate accounting and executive-level management for an...

Patricia Chappine, Ph.D.

Patty Chappine is an adjunct professor at Gratz College in the graduate Holocaust and Genocide Studies program where she teaches “Nazi Germany and Corporate Collaboration.” She also serves as an adjunct professor at Stockton University where she teaches courses in the Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies undergraduate programs. Dr. Chappine earned a B.A. in Sociology and an M.A. in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Stockton University. Her Master’s thesis addressed the decades long struggle for restitution for forced and slave laborers after the...

Stephen Chortanoff, M.A., M.A.Ed.

Adjunct Instructor in Education

Stephen “Steff” Chortanoff earned degrees at Lycoming College (B.A., History), Pennsylvania State University (M.A., American Studies), Temple University (M.Ed., Educational Administration), and the American Military University (M.A., History). Over the last dozen years, he served as an AP European History teacher, Dean of Students, gifted support teacher, and creator and instructor of dual enrollment college history courses (Second World War, American Civil War and Reconstruction, 20th Century America, and the Vietnam War) at Lower Dauphin High School. In addition, he serves as an...

Jean-Marc Choukroun, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor in Nonprofit Management

Tel. 215 435 2721
[email protected]

Dr. Choukroun is Managing Director, Park/Mathieson Group Inc. In this capacity, he assists clients in the areas of strategy, business planning and organizational change, and leads seminars for executives and managers in the United States and abroad.
His current academic affiliations include Affiliated Faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, where he lectures in the Organizational Dynamics Graduate Program and in the Wharton School Executive Education Division, Adjunct Faculty in the LeBow College of Business programs at Drexel University and Adjunct Faculty in the Healthcare MBA...

Tamara E. Cohen, M.Ed.

Tamara Cohen is a Jewish educator who works with students of various ages and backgrounds. Currently, she is an adjunct instructor in the online program at Gratz College and in the Early Childhood Department at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in Asheville, NC. She serves as the Judaic Specialist for the Asheville Jewish Community Center, working with teachers and students in the early childhood, after-school and camp programs. Tamara also coordinates teen religious education programs in the Asheville area through Congregation Beth Israel. She has a Master of Education in...

Rabbi Jon Cutler earned a BA and MA from Temple University in religious studies and a Master of Hebrew Letters and ordination as a Rabbi in 1987 from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Wyncote, PA. In 1996 he earned his Doctor of Ministry from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York. He is presently an adjunct professor of Judaic Studies at Gratz College, of philosophy and religion at Philadelphia University, and counseling psychology at Holy Family University, Philadelphia. Rabbi Cutler is a Captain in the US Navy and is a hospice chaplain for Abramson Center...

Joseph M. Davis, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Jewish Studies

Phone: 215 635 7300 x 142
Email: [email protected]

Personal Statement
A graduate education, it seems to me, should impart a detailed and accurate knowledge of a specialized topic. (Undergraduate liberal education, by contrast, should impart a somewhat vague and general knowledge of everything.) A graduate program should draw the graduate student into the ongoing debate over the meaning of their subject matter. In Jewish studies, graduate students must learn to take their stands within the great modern debate over the meaning and direction of Judaism, Jewishness, and the Jews. This implies that each student must...

Lisa Colón DeLay, M.A.

Adjunct Professor in the MA Ed. Program

Lisa Colón DeLay holds a B.F.A. in Communication Design from Kutztown University (Honors Program and Board of Governors Scholar). She worked in a number of advertising agencies in the Reading, Harrisburg, and Pottsville areas until she began her own company called Ovation Enterprises. She holds a Master of Arts degree in Spiritual Formation from Evangelical Seminary (56 credits - summa cum laude) where she later taught as an adjunct professor and held a position as the Director of Communications.
Lisa has been a speaker at various events, workshops, classes, places of worship,...

Phone: 609-238-4817

Email: [email protected]

Upon retirement from a 30-year career in the corporate world, I returned to graduate studies, obtaining a Master of Arts in Jewish Studies degree from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (for which I wrote my thesis on post-Holocaust Jewish theology) and a Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies degree from the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, where I am an adjunct professor in Holocaust and genocide studies. I have been married for 37 years. I have two grown daughters and two grandsons.

Tricia Dressel, M.S.

Tricia Dressel is currently serving as the Director of Human Resources at The Food Trust, a nationally recognized nonprofit organization headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. Tricia has more than 15 years’ nonprofit management expertise working with local, national, and international organizations. Tricia holds a MS in Organizational Dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania and BA in Sociology with honors from the State University of New York at New Paltz. She is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and a professional member of the...

Matthew Duvall is a doctoral candidate at Drexel University in the Educational Leadership Development and Learning Technologies program. He has a master's degree in instruction from Drexel and a MFA in creative writing from Seton Hill University.

Prior to starting the PhD program, he worked as an application developer and a teacher, including a five year stint as a high school business/computer teacher.

He lives in central Pennsylvania with his wife Natalie and their two children. In his spare time he enjoys running, reading, and practicing martial arts.

E

Marsha Bryan Edelman, Ed.D.

Adjunct Professor of Music and Education

Email: [email protected]

Marsha Bryan Edelman studied at Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where she earned degrees in general music, Jewish music, Jewish studies and education. She spent many years teaching music in a variety of formal and informal settings, to students ranging in age from 2 – 92. Much of her career was spent at Gratz College, in Melrose Park PA, where she was Professor of Music and Education (as well as Dean for Academic Affairs for nine years); she is currently an Adjunct Professor of Music in the Miller Cantorial School at the Jewish Theological Seminary. In...

Sydney Engelberg, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Jewish Non-Profit Management

Email: [email protected]

Dr. Sydney Engelberg grew up in South Africa and attended the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) where he graduated with a double B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy. After moving to Israel in 1969, he completed an M.A. in Clinical Psychology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. His Ph.D. and Post-Doc were obtained at SUNY/Buffalo in Clinical-Community Psychology.

Dr. Engelberg has been Master of a Residential University College in Sydney, Australia; Founding Director of the Program in Community Psychology at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; taught at Clarke...

Miriam Feinberg, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor in Education

Miriam Feinberg has had a long career as a teacher trainer, curriculum writer and parent educator. She served as director of the Early Childhood Department of the Board of Jewish Education of Greater Washington, instructor in Early Childhood Education in the Washington College of Jewish Studies, adjunct professor of education at the Baltimore Hebrew University School of Education and Gratz College and educational consultant to schools and educators in Thailand, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, under the auspices of Save the Children and UNICEF. She has published curriculum books for teachers,...

Mimi Ferraro, Ed.D.

Adjunct Professor

Dr Mimi Ferraro is an alumna of the Gratz Hebrew High School and received her MA and EdD Jewish Education from Gratz College. Mimi's research was entitled The Development of Special Needs Programs in the Philadelphia Jewish Community 2006- 2011. Prior to coming to Gratz as a professional, Mimi served as Director of Education at Old York Road Temple Beth Am for twenty years. Mimi’s school was among the first cohort of the Nurturing Excellence in Synagogue Schools (NESS) initiative and continues to focus intensively on professional learning for its staff. Mimi is an active member of the...

Paul Finkelman, Ph.D.

President of Gratz College

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 215-635-7300 x131

Paul Finkelman received his B.A. in American Studies from Syracuse University in 1971 and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago in 1976. He was later a Fellow in Law and Humanities at Harvard Law School. He has held a number of endowed chairs as a tenured professor or as a visitor, including the Ariel F. Sallows Chair in Human Rights Law at the University of Saskatchewan, the John Hope Franklin Chair in American Legal History at Duke Law School, and the President William McKinley Distinguished Professor at Albany Law School. In 2017 he held the Fulbright Chair in Human...

Josey G. Fisher, M.S.W., M.A.J.S.

Director of the Holocaust Oral History Archive

Phone: 215-635-7300 x130

Email: [email protected]

Josey G. Fisher, Director of the Holocaust Oral History Archive and Instructor in Holocaust & Genocide Studies at Gratz College, has graduate degrees in both clinical social work and Jewish studies and has focused her interdisciplinary background on Holocaust research and education for over 30 years. She received her BA and MSW from the University of Pittsburgh and her Masters in Jewish Studies with a major in Modern European Jewish History from Gratz College.  Her course offerings include “Teaching the Holocaust” and “Children of the Nazi Era”. In addition, she is an adjunct faculty...

[email protected]

Laurie Fisher is currently a doctoral student in Jewish education at Gratz where she received her MAJS and MAJEd. She also earned a B.A. in English and Art History from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her academic interests include the Philosophy of Education, Reflective Practice, and Teacher Education. From designing and leading Tot Shabbat to studying Jewish philosophy with adults, Laurie loves educating across the spectrum of Jewish experience. As a teacher educator, Laurie’s goal is to facilitate adult learning which helps to prepare Jewish educators for the evolving...

Reena Sigman Friedman, Ph.D.

Adjunct Associate Professor of History

Dr. Reena Sigman Friedman is Associate Professor of Modern Jewish History at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. She is also Adjunct Associate Professor of Jewish History at Gratz College.

Dr. Friedman received her PhD in Jewish History from Columbia University. She is the author of These Are Our Children: Jewish Orphanages in the United States, 1880-1925 (Brandeis University Press, 1994), several encyclopedia entries and book chapters, and numerous scholarly articles. Her articles have appeared in American Jewish Archives, Jewish Social Studies, The...

Rabbi Marsha Friedman, Ph.D.

Adjunct Instructor in Jewish Studies

Rabbi Friedman received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania in 1982. She received her MA in 1984 and her PhD in 1987 from Washington University in clinical psychology, and has held various positions as a psychologist, including as the Director of the Student Counseling Center at Widener University. Rabbi Friedman was ordained from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in 1987. She has worked in a variety of capacities in the Jewish community, including work in the congregational rabbinate, as a Jewish educator, and in Hillel. She has taught in the Melton Adult Mini-School since...

Rabbi Robyn Frisch has been the Director of InterfaithFamily/Philadelphia since June 2013. She is also the spiritual leader of Temple Menorah Keneseth Chai, the oldest synagogue in Northeast Philadelphia. Robyn is a graduate of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and The New York University School of Law. After practicing as a corporate lawyer in a large Philadelphia law firm for several years, Robyn decided to follow her passion and become a rabbi. She was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 2000. Robyn loves teaching and helping to make...

Karen Galardi, Ed.D.

Adjunct Instructor in Educational Leadership

Email: [email protected]

Dr. Karen Galardi is an adjunct instructor for Gratz College in the doctoral program in Educational Leadership. She is currently the Associate Vice President for Program Development and Planning at Holy Family University, but Dr. Galardi has held a variety of administrative and managerial roles at Holy Family University since 1990. She is an experienced higher education administrator with over 25 years of progressive managerial experience, with specialization in branch campus administration, adult education, strategic and operational planning and workshop development and facilitation....

Dr. Rela Mintz Geffen was the president of Baltimore Hebrew University(BHU) from 2000-2007 and is currently Professor Emerita of Sociology. Prior to heading up BHU she was professor of sociology and coordinator of the programs in Jewish communal service at Gratz College, where she also served as dean for academic affairs for five years. She is a graduate of the Jewish Theological Seminary (BRE) and Columbia University(BS & MA), and her PhD in sociology is from the University of Florida. She has published more than 40 articles and book chapters and authored or edited four books...

Allan H Glazerman, M.A., M.B.A.

Adjunct Instructor Non-Profit Management

Allan Glazerman has over 25 years executive level not-for-profit experience supporting Jewish community organizations and synagogues ranging in size from 600 to 1500 families. He is currently the Executive Director of Congregation Or Tzion in Scottsdale, Arizona, one of the leading conservative synagogues in the Southwest.

Prior to joining the Or Tzion staff, Allan served congregations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, San Antonio, Texas, Sydney, Australia, Marietta, Georgia, and Fair Lawn, NJ. He has overseen and advised numerous committees, including Personnel, Fund-raising, Budget...

[email protected]

Mindy Gold is the founder and lead consultant at EdtechMMG, an educational technology consulting firm focused on relationship-based professional learning, the creation of communities of learners around reflective practice, and the design and implementation of innovative models for congregational school...

Mark Charles Good, M.Ed.

Adjunct Instructor in Education

Mark Charles Good, M.Ed., is a consultant, teacher, author and the founder of Viewpoint Unlimited, which delivers organizational development strategies through diversity training, diversity management and communication skills training. Mark has designed and teaches for educators covering the broad topics of diversity and communication, including onsite and online graduate courses. For many years, Mark worked as a school counselor in the K-12 public school system. During that time, he worked as an elementary school counselor, a middle school counselor and a high school counselor in rural,...

Cantor David Green, M.S.W., M.A.J.Ed., D.Min.

Assistant Professor of Jewish Communal Service

Cantor David Green directs the internship program for the communal leadership students at Gratz College. He earned masters degrees in Jewish Studies, History, Jewish Education and Social Work. He also has a certificate in Jewish music. In addition, he also earned a D.Min. in Congregational Studies. He has experience in the fields of worship, life cycle events, pastoral care and education. He has been the Cantor at Congregation Beth Or since July of 1995.

Cantor Green is an adjunct professor in Jewish Communal Service & Pastoral Care at Gratz College. He is married to Lori who is...

[email protected]

Jodi Gross is the Director of Adult Learning and Youth Engagement at Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, Michigan. Jodi attended James Madison College at Michigan State University where she obtained a bachelors degree in Public Affairs with a minor in Jewish Studies. Upon graduation, she worked as a Staff Associate at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit before moving to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to pursue post-graduate studies at Gratz College. While working at a variety of supplementary schools and Jewish agencies, Jodi earned simultaneous masters degrees in Jewish...

Shirah Hecht, Ph.D.

Dr. Hecht is an occasional research consultant and currently is Program Evaluator for Academic Technology Services at Harvard University. She completed her M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology at the University of Chicago and her B.A. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Beginning with her graduate theses, Shirah has conducted research related to Jewish education and community for over two decades, including as an evaluation and research consultant with CJP of Boston, Brandeis University’s Mandel Institute for Studies in Jewish Education, and as a staff member with JESNA. She published a report...

Rabbi Erin Hirsh, M.A.H.L., M.A.J.Ed.

Director of Gratz Advance and NEXT

[email protected]

Rabbi Hirsh, Assistant Professor of Jewish Education, is the Director of Gratz Advance, which is Gratz College's newest department. Gratz Advance includes NEXT: the Professional Learning Program for Supplementary School Teachers, which Rabbi Hirsh created. It also encompasses other programs related to supplementary Jewish education, such as JSASIP: Jewish School Assessment School Improvement Process. Rabbi Hirsh's Gratz Advance portfolio also includes all of Gratz College's programs for high school students, including the Jewish Community High School, JOLT: Jewish Online Learning for Teens...

Peter Hocking is teacher, organizational development consultant, visual artist and writer based in Providence, RI & Provincetown, MA. He teaches at Goddard College in the Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Arts program and in the Division of Liberal Arts at Rhode Island School of Design. Previously he was director of Rhode Island School of Design's Office of Public Engagement (2007-2011), and Associate Dean of the College and Director of Brown University’s Howard R. Swearer Center for Public Service (1988-2005). At the Swearer Center, he developed university-community...

Rebecca Holland, M.S.O.L.

Adjunct Instructor in Early Education

Rebecca Holland is an adjunct instructor in the Early Education Program teaching Issues of Supervision. She attended Arcadia University, Cabrini College and Neumann University. She has a Master’s in Organizational Leadership. She is licensed in real estate, an Associate Certified Coach, and a Pennsylvania Quality Assurance System (PQAS) trainer.

Rebecca has taught Early Education Classes at Reading Community College and Chestnut Hill. She currently owns six childcare centers in Pennsylvania, which are active participants in the Keystone Stars program. She has also owned childcare...

Steve Kerbel, J.D., M.Ed.

Steve is the principal of Steven Kerbel Educational Consulting in Rockville, Maryland. Among Steve’s current clients, he is a project director for the Center for Israel Education at Emory University in Atlanta and has also coordinated educational programming for the last two International Conventions of United Synagogue Youth (2015 and 2016). Before this, he served as Director of Education for Congregation B’nai Tzedek and Ohr Kodesh Congregation in Chevy Chase, Maryland for a combined 14 years. Prior to this Steve was the inaugural Retreat Director of Capital Camps & Retreat Center...

Victoria Khiterer, Ph.D.

Adjunct Instructor in Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Dr. Victoria Khiterer is Associate Professor of History and the Director of the Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide at Millersville University, Pennsylvania.
She is a founding member of the Scientific Council of the Babi Yar Holocaust Memorial Center (BYHMC) in Kiev, Ukraine.
Dr. Khiterer is author and editor of six books and over one hundred articles in Russian and Eastern European Jewish History. Dr. Khiterer recently published her books Jewish City or Inferno of Russian Israel? A History of the Jews in Kiev before February 1917 and Jewish...

Leslie Ginsparg Klein is the Academic Dean of General Studies at the Women's Institute of Torah Seminary (Maalot Baltimore). She has been an instructor of Jewish history at the Hebrew Theological College (online) and Jewish history and Jewish studies at the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community High School in Baltimore. She is also an instructor of research methods, and previously served as an educational consultant at the Women’s Institute of Torah Seminary (Maalot Baltimore). She previously served as Director of the Honors Program and as an Assistant Professor of Education, History and Jewish...

Barbara Krasner, M.B.A.

Adjunct Instructor

Barbara Krasner holds an MBA in Marketing from the Rutgers Business School and an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is a 30-year veteran of corporate marketing in the technology and publishing industries, where she led teams in marketing communications and digital and print content creation. As a freelance writer, she is the author of more than 25 books and 200 articles. She has also helped small businesses establish a digital presence and has written press releases for scientific and medical journals. She has served on the boards of directors of several Jewish non-profits,...

Debra L. Lawrence, Ph.D.

Debra L. Lawrence has over 35 years in the field of early care and education. She has presented workshops and seminars at the international, national, state, and local level. Her service to the profession includes leadership positions including serving a four-year term on the National Association for the Education of Young Children’s governing board and continuing to serve the organization through the Board Alumni committee.

Debra is a Pennsylvania Department of Education Major Program Reviewer for higher education teacher certification programs, a certified play coach, and a...

Judd Kruger Levingston, Ph.D.

Rabbi

Email: [email protected]

Rabbi Judd Kruger Levingston, Ph.D., serves as Director of Jewish Studies at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, a pluralistic Jewish day school in the Philadelphia area. In addition to his teaching and administrative duties there, he also convenes the Derech Eretz Council, advises the Environmental Action Club and he coaches the school's 8th-12th grade Ultimate Frisbee team. He earned undergraduate and graduate degrees at Harvard University (A.B.), Beijing University (certificate) and the Jewish Theological Seminary (M.A., Rabbi, Ph.D.) and he has taught and served as a member of the...

Fred Loomis, Ph.D.

Adjunct Instructor in Doctoral Program in Education Leadership

Dr. Loomis is an adjunct instructor in the Gratz College Doctoral program in Educational Leadership. He has served as an Associate Professor and Program Coordinator with the College of Education at Penn State University and has also also held faculty and administrative appointments at Neumann, Drexel and Arcadia Universities. He received a Master of Public Administration (MPA) and a Ph.D. in Higher Education from Penn State and has over 40 years of leadership experience in higher education and government, holding the positions of program director, dean, special assistant to the Provost...

Marilyn Lucas

Adjunct Instructor in Nonprofit Management

Email: [email protected]

Marilyn Lucas is a celebrated fundraiser in Philadelphia and among her colleagues nationally. Most recently, she was the Vice President for Development of the Philadelphia Orchestra, stepping in to build a successful fundraising program after the Orchestra filed for Chapter 11 in 2011. She served in other nonprofit fundraising positions for Gallaudet University, Arcadia University, University of Pennsylvania’s Development and Alumni Relations for Penn Health System and School of Medicine, The American Cancer Society, Osteopathic Medical Center of Philadelphia, Hahnemann University, and...

Peter D. Lucash, M.B.A., M.P.H.

Adjunct Instructor

Phone: 843-402-0900 (ET)

Peter Lucash has devoted his working life to working in and helping the organizations and people. His early career was in healthcare administration in hospitals, consulting firms (including the global firm of Ernst and Young) and a medical practice. He made a career pivot to working with entrepreneurial companies and teaching business courses for several colleges.

Currently, Peter is CEO of a clinical trial support company working with pharmaceutical firms to recruit patients for clinical trials. He is a faculty member teaching business, leadership and entrepreneurship at...

Dina Maiben, M.A.J.S.

Assistant Director, Gratz Advance; Director, JCHS & JOLT

[email protected]

Dina Maiben is the Assistant Director of Gratz Advance, the Director of the Jewish Community High School and JOLT: Jewish Online Learning for Teens, as well as an Adjunct Instructor and Hebrew Coordinator for Gratz College. Dina has worked extensively in the field of Jewish Education, in both formal and informal settings. She has served as a Hebrew School director, classroom teacher, youth director, camp counselor, program director, and consultant. She was the founding chair of Monmouth County’s Commission on Jewish Education. Dina has authored nineteen books and more than two dozen...

Jennifer Marlow, Ph.D.

Adjunct Instructor in History

Email: [email protected]

Jennifer Marlow received her doctorate in East Central European history from Michigan State University in May 2014. Her specialty is modern Poland, specifically Polish-Jewish relations during the interwar period and the Holocaust. Her dissertation, “Polish Catholic Maids and Nannies: Female Aid and the Domestic Realm in Nazi-Occupied Poland," examines the role of Polish Catholic household servants working in interwar Jewish homes and their role in rescue during the Holocaust. She is currently in the process of revising the dissertation into a book manuscript. She has written the article...

Joan Dawson McConnon, C.P.A.

Adjunct Instructor in Nonprofit Management

Joan Dawson McConnon, C.P.A. is Associate Executive Director of Project HOME. In 1989, Joan, along with Sister Mary Scullion, founded Project HOME, which has helped more than 8,000 people break the cycle of homelessness and poverty. In 2002, Joan and Sister Mary, received the “Leadership for a Changing World” award from the Ford Foundation, and in 2007 they were listed among the “75 Greatest Living Philadelphians” in the Philadelphia Daily News. Joan earned her B.S. in Accounting from Pennsylvania State University and her M.S. in Taxation from Drexel University. She...

Anita Meinbach, Ed.D.

Director of the Jack and Harriet Rosenfeld Foundation Program in Jewish Education

Dr. Anita Meinbach joined the University of Miami faculty in 2003 and is an Associate Professor teaching in the School of Education and Human Development.

Formerly with the Miami-Dade Public School System, Meinbach was a teacher, curriculum writer and teacher trainer, proving seminars and guidance in curriculum development. She was named to the U.S.A. Today “All Teacher Team” in 2002 and received the Mary Collins Award for Outstanding Teacher Educator from the Florida Association of Teacher Educators. In 2003, she was honored to have been named the Miami-Dade County Francisco R...

Honour Moore, Ed.D.

Iterim Dean of Academic Affairs

Dr. Honour Moore is the Director of the Ed.D. in Educational Leadership and an instructor in the program. She has over 30 years experience in higher education administration, primarily working with adult degree programs. Serving as Dean/Associate Vice President at three institutions in the Philadelphia area, she has been responsible for all facets of program development and implementation, including curriculum and faculty development. She also serves as a consultant to various accelerated degree programs for adult learners.

Dr. Moore has a B.A...

Deborah Nagler, M.A., M.S.

Deborah Nagler is a veteran educator, nonprofit administrator, teacher trainer and lecturer. Nagler teaches online Educational Technology courses for graduate students at Gratz College and New Jersey City University. She also works as an Instructional Designer for an online graduate program at Hebrew Union College in NYC. Nagler’s courses reflect her interest in Universal Design for Learning and her desire to create student-centered, multi-modal courses that are effective and engaging.

In addition, Nagler serves as an educational technology consultant for public schools in New York...

Kristen Nelson is Of Counsel to a boutique Los Angeles law firm focusing on civil litigation, international business and family law and is the Assistant Managing Editor of the European Court of Human Rights module for Oxford Reports on International Law. She was the Project Manager and Lead Researcher on a multi-year Holocaust real property restitution study commissioned by the Prague-based European Shoah Legacy Institute (ESLI), which will be published by Oxford University Press in Winter 2018 as Searching for Justice after the Holocaust: Fulfilling the Terezin Declaration and...

David M. Nerenberg is an instructor in the higher education track of the Doctorate in Educational Leadership program. He is currently the Senior Director of Finance and Administration of University of Pennsylvania’s Libraries, where he has primary responsibility for the Libraries' nearly $70 million annual operating budget and endowment valued at over $90 million. He came to the position with 20 years of experience in higher education, nonprofit, and public sector finances, most recently as Executive Director of Finance for Penn Dental Medicine. He has also served as interim CFO and...

Nancy Nitzberg, M.A, M.S.

Director of Library Services

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 215-635-7300 x159

Nancy Nitzberg, Gratz College Director of Library Services graduated from Columbia University with an M.S. in Library Service and a Certificate in Library and Archives Conservation, and completed a one-year internship at the Library of Congress. She also holds a B.A. and M.A. in Art History. She has been employed in academic research libraries and museums including Yale University, Princeton University, Harvard University, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and Boston University. Among her research interests, (in addition to the Gratz Family!), are cross-cultural influences in the history...

Zsuzanna Palmer, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor of Business Communication and Professional Writing

Zsuzsanna Palmer teaches courses in business communication and professional writing. She received her PhD in English from Old Dominion University in 2015 with an emphasis in Writing, Discourse, Technology, and Media Studies. Her research interests include intercultural communication in the workplace and the classroom and visual rhetoric. Her work has been published in the Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, the Journal of Business and Technical Communication and in the International Journal of the Image.

David W. Paredes, Ph.D., M.Ed., B.A., A.A.S.

David Paredes, Ph.D, has been teaching at Drexel University since 2008. He was a guest lecturer in 2015 at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia. He's written for a number of trade publications, including Training and Development Magazine and Claims Magazine.

In addition to teaching, Paredes has been a Senior Manager for Learning and Talent Management at Kemper since 2003.

Carson Phillips, Ph.D.,

Carson Phillips, Ph.D., holds a B.A. from Memorial University of Newfoundland, a Graduate Diploma in Holocaust and Genocide Education from the University of Toronto, and an M.A. from York University. He earned his Ph.D. from York University; receiving the BMW Canada Award for Excellence from the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies. He has received numerous scholarly awards and fellowships including the Fleischer Award, Gertner Award, and the Klasner Fellowship from York University; the Alfred Lerner Fellowship from the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous; and the Hess Faculty...

Lonna S. Picker

Adjunct Instructor in Jewish Education

Retired after 35 years of serving as a Director of Education in the Conservative movement, Lonna has pioneered programs in Family Education, Staff Development, Integrating Creative Expression into the School Environment, Faculty Child-care and Creating Community. She served as a USCJ U-STEP Facilitator and as JEA Placement Advisor. Past President of the Jewish Educators Assembly, she is currently an Etgar Teacher Educator and an Adjunct Professor at Gratz College. In addition to authoring many articles and facilitating workshops for the JEA, JESNA, CAJE and The Melton Research Center,...

Bunnie Piltch, M.Ed.

Adjunct Instructor, Gratz College

[email protected]

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David Rabeeya, Ph.D.

Rabbi David Rabeeya, Ph.D. was born in Baghdad, Iraq. After migrating to Israel he earned his B.A. in literature and history from Hebrew University and an M.A. in Semitic languages from Tel Aviv University. He received his Ph.D. in Arabic from Dropsie University with a dissertation on the Jewish, Muslim and Christian dialects of Baghdad. In 1997 he was ordained a rabbi and serves unaffiliated members of the Jewish community.

Monika Rice, Ph.D.

Monika Rice, Ph.D., is an adjunct professor at Seton Hall University and Gratz College where she teaches a gamut of courses on the Holocaust, Jewish-Christian relations, and women’s spirituality. She has been a recipient of a number of prestigious fellowships and grants, among them: the Claims Conference Fellowship in Advanced Shoah Studies, Albert Abramson Fellowship in Holocaust Studies, the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, the Kosciuszko Foundation, and others. She has also been a selected participant of several international scholarly workshops and seminars at the United States Holocaust...

Asaf Romirowsky, PhD is the Executive Director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME). Romirowsky is also a fellow at the Middle East Forum and a Professor [Affiliate] at the University of Haifa.

Trained as a Middle East historian he holds a PhD in Middle East and Mediterranean Studies from King's College London, UK and has published widely on various aspects of the Arab-Israeli conflict and American foreign policy in the Middle East, as well as on Israeli and Zionist history.

Romirowsky is co-author of ...

Ellen V. Russell, M.S.

Adjunct Instructor in Early Education

Ellen is a PQAS-certified professional development instructor through the Pennsylvania Key. She has been working for the last six years to provide trainings in the areas of taxation, healthcare reform and financial literacy to members of the childcare community. She is a popular presenter for several regional conferences. In addition to being PQAS certification, she holds a Masters degree in taxation and financial planning. Ellen has owned and operated her own tax practice for almost 10 years where she specializes in small business taxation.

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Ruth N. Sandberg, Ph.D.

Leonard and Ethel Landau Professor of Rabbinics, Director, Jewish-Christian Studies Program

Phone: 215-635-7300 x168

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Dr. Ruth N. Sandberg is Leonard and Ethel Landau Professor of Rabbinics at Gratz College, and is the Director of the graduate Certificate in Jewish-Christian Studies. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, and was recently appointed as the co-President of the Cheltenham Area Multifaith Council. Dr. Sandberg also teaches in the Gratz College Scholars Program for Adult Education. From 2006 to 2008, she served as Dean of Students at Gratz. Before coming to Gratz, Dr. Sandberg...

[email protected]

Yael Sandler is a certified elementary educator and has been a Jewish educator for over twenty years. She holds a BA in Hebrew Literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a BA in Urban Politics from Barnard College. She earned her MA.Ed from Rosemont College. After several years working as an administrator for several major Jewish organizations in Philadelphia and as a Hebrew Ulpan teacher at Gratz College, she served as Head of Hebrew Language and Culture at the Solomon Charter School for one year until its closing in 2013.

Yael was raised in Ardmore, PA and has lived and...

Rabbi Jeffrey Schein

Adjunct Instructor in Jewish Education

Dr. Jeffrey Schein is currently the director of the Text Me: Ancient Jewish Wisdom Meets Contemporary Technology project of the Covenant Foundation. He is the senior education consultant for Jewish Education of the Mordecai M Kaplan Center for Jewish Peoplehood and also a professor in the joint doctoral program in educational leadership of Hebrew College and Lesley College.

For twenty four years he was a Professor and Director of the Education Department at the Laura and Alvin Siegal College of Judaic Studies in Cleveland where he taught and mentored over 100 graduate students who...

Email: [email protected]

Christine Schmidt holds a B.A. in History from the University of Michigan-Dearborn and a certificate in Museum Studies with special focus on exhibition development from The George Washington University. She earned her Ph.D. in History from Clark University (2003) in the first-ever doctoral program in Holocaust and genocide studies. Her research has focused on the history of Jewish daily life in hiding in south-central France. Schmidt's areas of special focus include Vichy France, twentieth-century European history, and comparative genocide. Her most recent research has focused on a...

Rabbi P.J. Schwartz is the Rabbi Educator at Congregation Shir Hadash in Los Gatos, CA. He was ordained from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-HIR) in Cincinnati, OH in June 2013 and was the recipient of the Ferdinand M. Isserman Prize awarded to the senior rabbinical student who best contributes to the development of community relations. While at HUC-JIR, P.J. served student congregations in Marion, Indiana, Ishpeming, Michigan, and Marion, Ohio. He also served in numerous capacities as a teacher, Schusterman Rabbinic Fellow, and Rabbinic Intern for Isaac M. Wise...

[email protected]

Mollie Sharfman has been living and working in Jerusalem working with the Shalom Hartman Institute's Rabbinic and Christian Leadership Programs and the iEngage - Pluralistic Israel Education Curriculum. Alongside this work she also serves as the Director of Jewish and Religious Affairs for the Global Muslim-Jewish Conference. In addition, Mollie works as a consultant empowering and training Jewish educators who serve overlooked Global Jewish Communities. Mollie has led and created relevant Jewish experiences for all types of Jews and loves teaching and studying experiential education,...

Daniel M. Siegel Ph.D.

Dr. Daniel Siegel has a passion for teaching all types of students in all walks of life. He has taught in a variety of environments from elementary students to top-level executives at Fortune 500 companies. As an instructional designer, Dr. Siegel has developed courseware for a variety of industries and government organizations such as the U.S. Navy, Stanford University, Disney, Home Depot, and the Department of Education. Making education fun through the implementation of gaming technology is a goal that he hopes to share with you. Dr. Siegel loves to play a variety of games and systems...

Mark Snyder began educating in the high school English & Mathematics classroom in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and has also taught High School Special Education at Wordsworth Academy and a Cyber Charter High School. He has since been teaching in the Temple University School of Education as well as Cabrini College. He attended the University of Pennsylvania for his undergraduate work and completed his Masters in Special Education and PhD in Educational Psychology at Temple University. His personal research interests consist of classroom assessment, teacher change, and post-...

Rosalie St. Clair, M.Ed.

Adjunct Instructor in Early Education

Rosalie St. Clair is an adjunct instructor in the Early Education Program teaching Play as the Foundation of Learning. She was originally from the Pittsburgh area and graduated from Indiana University of PA with a Bachelor of Science in El Ed, certified in PS through grade 8. Her graduate work was completed at Penn State.
Rosalie’s first teaching position was in Latrobe, PA—home of Mr. Rogers. Later she moved to Bedford, PA where she owned and taught in a private Kindergarten. She also taught ESEA reading and grade one in the district, and a career development course for Mt. Aloysius...

Michael C. Steinlauf, Ph.D.

Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Associate Professor of History

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 215-635-7300 x 144

Dr. Michael C. Steinlauf holds an M.A. in Literature from Columbia University and a doctorate in Judaic Studies from Brandeis University. He is the author of Bondage to the Dead: Poland and the Memory of the Holocaust (1997), which examines how the experience of witnessing the Holocaust shaped Polish history and consciousness in the half century after World War II. He was a contributing editor to the YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe (Yale University Press, 2008), responsible for entries on theater and performance, and the editor of Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry, v. 16 (2003),...

Rabbi Lance J. Sussman, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor of American Jewish History

Email: [email protected]

Lance J. Sussman, Ph.D., is the Senior Rabbi of Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, PA, and Adjunct Professor of American Jewish History at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion-New York. He is the author of numerous books and articles including Isaac Leeser and the Making of American Judaism and Sharing Sacred Moments, a collection of his sermons. An editor of Reform Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary and Source Book, Rabbi Sussman is a member of the Academic Advisory and Editorial Board of the American Jewish Archives (Cincinnati) and past chair...

Emily Aronoff Teck, Ed.D.

Interim Director of NEXT, Director of Educational Technology

[email protected]

Emily Aronoff Teck, Ed.D. is a progressive educator who seeks to increase and improve the ways that the Jewish community invites young children children and families to explore, discover, and celebrate joyful Judaism. Offering a unique combination of experience, knowledge, and creativity, her work includes the creation and facilitation of programs for young children and families as well as the provision of support to clergy and teacher education for leaders working with young children. She is the founding director of the world’s largest searchable database of Jewish educational resources...

David Keller Trevaskis, Esquire, is an attorney and former third grade teacher with a Master’s Degree in Education. Trevaskis is the Pro Bono Coordinator for Legal Services for the Pennsylvania Bar Association (PBA), responsible for assisting local bar associations, legal services programs and other groups who offer pro bono legal services across the Commonwealth to help improve the access to justice for the neediest among us. Trevaskis is involved in numerous clinics and other activities that provide support for those with legal needs.

Trevaskis has long been a champion of non-...

Diana Tucker, M.A.

Adjunct Instructor in Education

Diana Tucker holds a Bachelor of Science in Entomology/Plant Pathology from the University of Delaware. She later went on to study Secondary Education at Notre Dame College. Diana taught various science courses at the middle and high school level for the Berea City School District in Ohio, where she also served as Department Chair and Science Olympiad Coordinator. Diana also holds a Master of Arts in Education from Gratz College. For the past several years, she has taught high school Biology at Unionville High School in Kennett Square, PA. She has extensive experience and interest in the...

Craig R. Van Demark, B.S, M.Ed.

Adjunct Instructor in Education

Craig R. Van Demark earned degrees from Eastern University (Bachelor of Science), West Chester University (School of Health Sciences), and Gratz College (Masters of Education). Craig was awarded the Masters of Education award upon his graduation from Gratz College. Craig has been teaching physical education for the past fifteen years. He has taught elementary physical education in Naples, Florida, Lumberton, New Jersey and is currently teaching in Yardley, Pennsylvania. He created and leads a Brain Train program which engages his kindergarten students to perform at their maximum level at...

Samantha: Samantha Vinokor-Meinrath is a native New Yorker turned Washingtonian (by way of Jerusalem). Samantha currently serves as the Manager of Teen Engagement and Philanthropy at The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington. She is an alumna of The University of Pittsburgh (BA), The Jewish Theological Seminary (MA), and the Pardes Experiential Educators Program. She has also completed the iCenter's MA Concentration in Israel Education, and is currently pursuing an EdD in Educational Leadership at Gratz College.

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Joseph P. Welsh, J.D., M.B.A., R.R.T.

Adjunct Instructor in Nonprofit Management

Joseph P. Welsh, Esq., is an adjunct instructor in Nonprofit Management at Gratz College. He has combined expertise in healthcare administration and law in his career. Presently, he is the President and General Counsel for the Center for Healthcare Information Research and Policy, an organization that facilitates the integration of health policy and health technology policy in the US and Global healthcare delivery systems. He received both a B.S. in Healthcare Administration and an MBA from Philadelphia University and his JD from Temple University School of Law. He is an active member of...

Louise A. Whitelaw, Ph.D.

Adjunct Instructor in Education

Dr. Louise Whitelaw is a graduate of Drexel University, with B.S. degrees in Literature & Corporate Communications, an M.S. degree in Instruction, with PA certifications in Elementary Education and Environmental Education, and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership Development and Learning Technologies. Her research interests include creativity studies, field experiences, and mentoring. Dr. Whitelaw is a former elementary and middle school science teacher, and was the Director of a mathematics and science learning lab. Her higher education experience includes extensive teaching in Education...

Jessica Whittemore, M.A.

Director of MAEd Program, Assistant Professor in Education

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 215-635-7300 x125

As a seasoned educator and public speaker, Jessica Whittemore holds a B.S. in Secondary Education from Penn State and a M.A. in Educational Instruction from Gratz College.

Always building on her belief that education should be both applicable and enjoyable, Jessica has taught at a variety of levels, from junior high in the PA Wilson School District to leading educational seminars for the Federal Department of Corrections.

Jessica has also served as an educational consultant for Penn State University, Kutztown University, the Hershey School District, the Hamburg School...

Michael Willmann, J.D.

Adjunct Instructor Non-Profit Management

Michael Willmann
Chairman and CEO
WMSH Marketing Communications
PO Box 100
Haddonfield, NJ 08033

856-616-2886 (o)
856-216-9772 (f)
856-278-3333 (c)

[email protected]

Michael Willmann is an adjunct instructor in the Department of Nonprofit Management at Gratz College. An Emmy-winning, marketing communications veteran, Michael is the co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of WMSH Marketing Communications.

A graduate of Fordham University (BA) and the University of Pennsylvania Law School (JD), Michael is admitted to practice in both Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, as well as before the Supreme Court of the United States.

He is a former Emmy-winning television news and public affairs producer for Group W Television, as well as an award-...

Rhonda teaches a variety of Judaic Studies courses for the Jewish Community High School, as well as various levels of conversational Hebrew in which she is fluent. She also teaches Hebrew as an adjunct for Gratz College. Rhonda grew up in New York and also lived in Israel for several years. Rhonda earned her B.S in Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology from Drexel University, and has also taken some graduate level course in Family Therapy. Rhonda did her graduate work in Educational Administration at Temple University where she earned her M.Ed. Currently, Rhonda works at Drexel...

Sarah Elizabeth Yoder, Ed.D.

Adjunct Instructor in Education

Email: [email protected]

Sarah Yoder earned degrees and certifications from Wilkes University (B.A., Mathematics, Secondary Math Certification, and B.S., Educational Strategies and Development); Alvernia University (Principal Certification); and Temple University (Ed.D., Educational Administration). Her dissertation topic was “A Phenomenological Study of Charter School Students and Parents in One Rural School District: Why They Go, the Nature of Their Experiences, and Why Some Choose to Leave.” She is an adjunct instructor with Gratz College and teaches School Boards and School District Governance.

In...

Rabbi Melissa Zalkin Stollman, R.J.E., M.A.R.E., M.S.W.

Rabbi Melissa Zalkin Stollman, Congregation Kol Tikvah’s Director of Lifelong Learning, came to Parkland from New York City after serving her alma mater, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) as the Program Coordinator of the Certificate in Jewish Education for Adolescents and Emerging Adults. Rabbi Stollman received Rabbinic Ordination from HUC-JIR in New York in May 2010. In 2008, she also received her Master’s Degree in Religious Education as part of a Mandel Fellowship. Rabbi Stollman has extensive experience working for the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) and its...

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