Faculty | Gratz College

Faculty

A
 B
 C
 D
 E
 F
 G
 H
 K
 L
 M
 N
 P
 R
 S
 T
 V
 W
 Y

Rabbi Abraham Skorka, Ph.D.

Distinguished Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies, Academic Year 20-21

Email: [email protected]

Abraham Skorka served for almost twenty years as the rector of the Seminario Rabínico Latinoamericano Marshall T. Meyer in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The seminary prepares rabbis, cantors, and educators from throughout Latin America in the Masorti or Conservative Jewish tradition. He also taught Talmud and Rabbinic Literature there and was dean of its Rabbinical School. In addition, he has served for decades as a rabbi for the Benei Tikva Congregation in Buenos Aires.

Rabbi Skorka has been deeply committed to interreligious dialogue throuhgout his entire career. In the 1990s, he found...

read more

A

Julia Steinberg Agnew

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 positive, authentic...

read more

Ruth Almy, Ph.D.

Ruth Almy (PhD, Indiana University) specializes in the history of migration and immigration law, as well as British imperialism and violence during settler colonialism. She has extensive experience teaching 20th century European history, as well as the history of the Holocaust. Ruth has published her work on racial and national bias in Canadian immigration law in the early 20th century in the Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. Her writing has also appeared in Contingent Magazine. In addition to her teaching, Ruth serves as the Program Director for the Holocaust...

read more

B

Jeff Benvenuto, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Jeff Benvenuto (PhD, Rutgers University) teaches Unveiling the Underpinnings of Genocide, Genocide in the Modern World, Genocide Prevention, and Native American Genocides. He is a contributing co-editor of Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America (Duke University Press, 2014), has published in Journal of Genocide Research and Genocide Studies and Prevention, and is currently working on a manuscript entitled “Coopting Rights: Settler Colonial Globalism and the Normalcy of Assimilation.” He specializes in genocide studies, atrocity prevention, human rights, Indigenous studies, settler...

read more

William Boozang, Ed.D.

In addition to teaching in the Doctor of Education program at Gratz College, Bill Boozang is a full-time faculty member and dissertation chair at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon. Having worked in higher education for twenty years, as an instructor of English composition and literature, communications and education, as well as an administrator at both small and large institutions, Bill has interest in creating opportunities for affordable and accessible post-secondary education. Bill also serves as Past-President for the Association for Continuing Higher Education, and serves on...

read more

C

Patty Chappine, Ph.D.

[email protected]

Dr. Patricia Chappine is an adjunct professor in the Holocaust and Genocide Studies graduate program at Gratz College. She is also an adjunct professor at Stockton University where she teaches courses in the Holocaust and Genocide studies, Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Historical Studies undergraduate programs and in the MA in American Studies program. She earned a B.A. in Sociology and an M.A. in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Stockton University. She also earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in History and Culture from Drew University in Madison, NJ. Her research interests...

read more

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...

read more

Jean-Marc Choukroun, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor in Nonprofit Management

Email: [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...

read more

Alan B. Cooper, Esquire

[email protected]

Alan B. Cooper graduated cum laude Georgetown University Law School, where he
also served as an Instructor before entering practice in 1983. He began representing
camps when he moved to northeastern Pennsylvania in 1986, and since 2000 has
served as General Counsel and Claims Director at AMSkier Insurance Agency, Inc.
where he has advised camps and travel programs on legal, insurance, risk aversion and
crisis management matters. He has served as an adjunct professor of American legal
systems at Northampton Community College, and as a professor of law and...

read more

Jayne Cravens, MSc.

[email protected]

Jayne Cravens, MSc. is an internationally-recognized researcher, consultant, university lecturer and trainer. She is the co-author, with Susan Ellis, of The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook, the most comprehensive work to date on involving and supporting volunteers using Internet tools. She is also a...

read more

D

Joseph M. Davis, Ph.D.

Professor of Jewish Studies

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

Joseph M. Davis was born in 1960.  He grew up in Providence, R.I., and attended college at Brown University.  His Ph.D. is from Harvard University in the field of medieval Jewish history and literature.  His area of academic specialization is the cultural and intellectual history of Ashkenazic Jews in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Professor Davis has been teaching at Gratz College since 1994.  Before that, he taught at Washington University in St. Louis and at the University of Maryland.  He teaches a variety of courses on aspects of medieval Jewish culture and thought and on...

read more

Michael Dickerman

[email protected]

Michael Dickerman received a Master of Arts in Jewish Studies degree from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College (for which he wrote his thesis on post-Holocaust Jewish theology) and a Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies degree from Stockton University, where for more than ten years he has been a member of the adjunct faculty in Holocaust and genocide studies. In addition to teaching comparative genocides of the twentieth century, as well as courses focused specifically on the Holocaust, he has a personal interest in the role of the churches during the Holocaust, as well as...

read more

Tricia Dressel, M.S.

Tricia Dressel is currently serving as the Director of Human Resources at the Mazzoni Center, a Philadelphia based organization which provides health and wellness services in an LGBTQ-focused environment. 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...

read more

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...

read more

F

Mimi Ferraro, Ed.D.

[email protected]

Dr. Ferraro, a Philadelphia native, is a graduate of Gratz Hebrew High School. After earning a Bachelor of Music in music therapy from Temple University, Dr. Ferraro returned to Gratz College to earn both a Master of Arts and a doctorate in Jewish Education. In fact, Dr. Ferraro was the first person to earn an EdD in Jewish Education at Gratz College. Her doctoral work explored special needs Jewish education in Philadelphia. 
Dr. Ferraro has served as Director of Education at Old York Road Temple – Beth Am for twenty years. During that time, Mimi was involved in NESS- Nurturing...

read more

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...

read more

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...

read more

Laurie Fisher, Ed.D.

Email: [email protected]

Laurie Fisher is an adjunct instructor who teaches for the M.Ed program and for Gratz Academy. Laurie has been an educator since graduating college the first time 32 years ago in both formal and informal settings from Girl Scouts USA, JCCs, synagogues, YMCAs, Hillel, and for the past three years at Gratz. Her academic interests include teacher education and professional development, especially in the areas of critical reflective practice and innovative pedagogies, the use of multiple intelligences in the classroom, educational history and philosophy, the flipped classroom, Jewish history,...

read more

Reena Sigman Friedman, Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor of History

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

read more

Ilana Friedman, Ph.D.

[email protected]

Ilana Dvorin Friedman is a child development consultant, instructor, and researcher. She is passionate about anti-bias education, giving voice to educators’ experiences, and designing and implementing professional development opportunities. Ilana’s work focuses on the interplay between culture and child development and the roles of social justice and inquiry in the early childhood classroom. Over the last decade, she has been an adjunct instructor at a variety of academic institutions teaching courses such as child development, family and culture, and social and historical perspectives on...

read more

G

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....

read more

Ilana Gildenblatt-Nadel

[email protected]

Ilana grew up in Cincinnati and began attending overnight camp (URJ Goldman Union Camp Institute) at the age of 10.  After the first summer, she was hooked returning each year, even after she was married! She believes that every child (and adult if possible) should go to camp as it one of the few places that you can truly be yourself, grow as an individual, be a valued part of a community, and make life long friends, all while having the time of your life!

She currently lives happily in Cincinnati Ohio with her husband, son Cole, daughter Sarit, two dachshunds CJ & Toby, and mom...

read more

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...

read more

Sara V. Greenberg, J.D., Ed.D.

Email: [email protected]

Sara V. Greenberg is an attorney and Jewish Educator who received her J.D. from New York University and her Ed.D. from Gratz College.  She worked at the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as a consumer protection advocate and civil prosecutor for many years before pursuing her interest in Jewish education.  She has taught a wide range of Judaic subjects at almost every grade level, in schools of almost every Jewish denomination and as a guest speaker for adult audiences, and in a range of formats, including one-on-one, blended learning, and online.  She is particularly interested in...

read more

Donna Guerin, M.L.I.S.

Director of Library and Information Technology Services

Email: [email protected]  
Phone: 215.635.7300 x159

Donna comes to Gratz College with 10 years of experience in academic libraries, archives and special collections, pushing them toward open access and creating welcoming, flexible learning spaces. She holds degrees from Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh in Art History and Library and Information Science, respectively. Donna's professional interests include access and preservation, socio-technological trends and communication, and the role of libraries in building community partnerships. Donna is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Educational Leadership at Gratz College....

read more

H

Anna Hartman, M.A.

Anna Hartman is the Director of Early Childhood Excellence at the Jewish United Fund and the Director of the Paradigm Project, a national network that nurtures emerging leadership in Jewish early childhood education. Anna holds a master's in Jewish educational leadership from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary. She has participated in two study tours of the renowned municipal early childhood centers in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Before graduate school, the first graduate education course...

read more

Peter Hocking, M.F.A.

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...

read more

Rebecca Holland, M.S.O.L.

Adjunct Instructor in Early Education

[email protected]

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...

read more

I

Douglas Irvin-Erickson, PhD

[email protected]

Douglas Irvin-Erickson is Assistant Professor at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, where he serves as director of the Raphaël Lemkin Genocide Prevention Program. He is the author of books, chapters, and articles on genocide, religion and violence, human security, international criminal law, and political theory. His recent books include Raphaël Lemkin and the Concept of Genocide and Building and Architecture for Peace in the United States (forthcoming). He is currently writing a second book on successful...

read more

Nancy Isserman, MSW, Ph.D.

[email protected]

Nancy Isserman, MSW, Ph.D. is the Director of Operation Home and Healing: Services for Veterans and Families (OHH); and Co-Director of Transcending Trauma Project (TTP) at Council for Relationships (CFR).  As part of the OHH services Dr. Isserman has developed and taught trainings and courses in military culture for clinicians, clergy, and others. She co-teaches a course on military culture and treatment for CFR’s interns and clinicians and for seminarians at United Lutheran Seminary on Military Culture, Behavioral Health...

read more

J

Jessica E. Jefferis, Ed.D.

[email protected]

Jessica Jefferis is an adjunct instructor in the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership.  She also serves as a Dissertation advisor at Gwynedd Mercy University and teaches in the Graduate Special Education Programs.  Jessica is a Learning Specialist at an all-boys high school for students with diagnosed learning differences.  She has taught students of all ages from the elementary level to the graduate level.

Jessica earned a B.A. in English from Boston College, a M. Ed. with Reading Specialist certification from Holy Family University and an Ed. D. in Educational Leadership ...

read more

K

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...

read more

Tori King, M.ED.

[email protected]

Tori King has been in education for over 25 years. Currently she is Dean of Students at a large K-8 in the School District of Philadelphia. However, over her career she has been a lead teacher in a day treatment center, a math and science teacher in several middle schools, a tutor for high school students and a coach for other teachers.  Her career has taken her from public schools, to charter schools and to universities. She has mentored students in award winning robotic clubs and women empowerment groups. Tori has a passion for student achievement. She believes that passionate teachers...

read more

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,...

read more

L

Debra L. Lawrence

[email protected]

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 involving 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. Prior to moving to Pennsylvania, Debra served as President of the Colorado Association for the Education of Young Children and Co-Chair of the Governor’s School...

read more

Timothy Longman, Ph.D.

Timothy Longman (PhD University of Wisconsin) is associate professor of political science and international relations and the director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs (CURA) in the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, where he previously served as director of the African Studies Center for eight years.  He has held research and teaching positions at Vassar College, the University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University, the National University of Rwanda, and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is the author of...

read more

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...

read more

M

Dina Maiben, Ed.D.

Director of Hebrew Programs and Gratz Advance

[email protected]
215-635-7300 x162

Dr. Dina Maiben is the Assistant Director of Gratz Advance (formerly JCHS) and Hebrew Programs as well as an Adjunct Instructor 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...

read more

Dave Malter, M.A., Ed.D. Doctoral Candidate

Director of Enrollment Management and Marketing; Director of Camp Administration and Leadership

[email protected]

David Malter is the Director of Enrollment Management and Marketing as well as the Director of the Masters in Camp Administration and Leadership program. He earned his BA in Communications from James Madison University and his MA in English from Montclair State University. Dave has been involved with camps and youth development for over thirty years as a camper, counselor, administrator, teacher and consultant. His passions are deeply rooted in providing innovative educational content and opportunities for...

read more

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...

read more

Andi Meiseles, Ed.D.

Adjunct Faculty

[email protected]

Andi Meiseles is an adjunct instructor of Jewish education at Gratz College and has been a senior educator for over 25 years in the United States and Israel. Her professional experience spans the range from early childhood through adult education with particular interests in experiential, Hebrew language and Israel education.  

Andi held a variety of positions in the Young Judaea youth movement including:  Director of Education; Director of Year Course - Freshman Year Abroad Program in Israel; and Director of Camp Tel Yehudah, the teen leadership camp.  At the...

read more

Erez C. Miller, Ph.D.

Erez C. Miller (Ph.D) served until recently as the Head of the undergraduate Education Dept. at Achva Academic College and is currently the Head of the Division of Education, Liberal Arts B.A. Dr. Miller obtained his PhD in Developmental and Educational Psychology from Boston College in Boston, MA, USA. He is an Advanced ToastMaster, and serves as a member of the board of the Israeli Debating Society. He teaches courses as well as publishes articles and conducts research projects in the fields of ADHD, motivations of minority groups to choose special education teacher training, and...

read more

Joyce E. Miller, CPA, MBA

Adjunct Faculty

Email:  [email protected]

Joyce Miller is the Managing Principal and Founder of J. Miller & Associates and has over thirty years of professional experience which includes PricewaterhouseCoopers and other national firm audit experience. Joyce takes pride in leading a firm that truly values nonprofit organizations and recognizes their unique environment. She has extensive experience in financial and compliance audits, including Single Audits, reviews and compilations, tax-exempt services and outsourced CFO services. She has been a speaker on topics such as fraud, board development, audit committees, financial...

read more

Honour Moore, Ed.D.

Dean of the College

Email:[email protected]  
Phone: 215.635.7300 x120

 

Honour H. Moore, EdD, is the Dean and Director of the Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership. She holds a B.A. in American Studies, from Rosemont College; an M.A in History, from Villanova University, and an EdD in Leadership, from Nova Southeastern University. She has over 30 years of experience in higher education administration, having served as Dean in three different institutions, where she was instrumental in developing and implementing accelerated undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Dr. Moore has also served as a consultant to more than a dozen institutions, primarily in...

read more

Philip Moore, M.F.A., Ed.D

Director of M.Ed Program; Director of Online Learning

[email protected]

215-635-7300 x105

Philip Moore is an artist, writer and educator based in Philadelphia. As a teacher, he has experience teaching at the pre-school, middle school, high school, undergraduate and graduate levels. At the college level he has created and taught credit courses in a variety of formats including: 5, 6, 7, 8 and traditional 15 week semesters, online and in the classroom, hybrid, weekend seminar and even one week abroad. As an artist, he has shown work with the Jewish Arts Center in Old City, Philadelphia, as part of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival (2004, 2006, 2007), and as a founding member of...

read more

N

Louis Nagel, Ph.D., C.J.E.

Louis Nagel currently serves as Education Director at Beth Shalom Congregation in Columbia, Maryland. His 30 year long career in synagogue school administration has spanned the Reform and Conservative movements, and small, medium, and large congregations. He has served in numerous leadership positions including Chairman of the Greater Washington Education Directors Council and President of the Jewish Educators Assembly (JEA), the Conservative movement’s education professionals’ organization. He has a BS in Early Childhood Education (University of Maryland), an MA in Jewish Studies (...

read more

Kristen Nelson, M.A., J.D.

Kristen Nelson is Of Counsel to a boutique Los Angeles law firm focusing on transnational and 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 was published by Oxford University Press in 2019 as Searching for Justice after the Holocaust: Fulfilling the Terezin Declaration and...

read more

P

David W, Paredes, Ph.D.

[email protected]

Dr. David Paredes has been teaching courses on education technology, leadership and creativity since 2008. He has over 20 years of experience in the field of corporate learning and development and has held a variety of leadership positions in financial services and consulting.  He earned his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Drexel University in 2011 where his dissertation studied the effects of constructivist instructional strategies on employees’ readiness for major organizational change. In addition to his Ph.D., he has an undergraduate degree in Philosophy and a graduate degree in...

read more

Rachel E. Perry, Ph.D.

She received her BA from Columbia University and her MA and PhD in Art History at Harvard University, specializing in art in France during the Occupation. Her research straddles the fields of Art History, Visual Culture and Holocaust Studies with a strong focus on visual ethics, atrocity photography, exhibition design, the relationship between aesthetics, politics and memory.

Dr. Perry currently teaches in the Weiss Livnat Graduate Program in Holocaust Studies at the University of Haifa and in the History of Art department at Tel Aviv University. She is the recipient of numerous...

read more

Carson Phillips, Ph.D.,

[email protected]

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...

read more

Bunnie Piltch, M.Ed.

Adjunct Instructor, Gratz College

[email protected] 

William Plevan, Ph.D.

William Plevan Ph.D. holds rabbinic ordination from the Jewish Theological Seminary and a doctorate in Religion from Princeton University, where he wrote a dissertation on the philosophical anthropology of Martin Buber. He has taught Jewish philosophy, theology and ethics at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Hebrew Union College, and in a variety of adult educational settings. His article “Holiness in Hermann Cohen, Franz Rosenzweig, and Martin Buber,” was recently published in Holiness in Jewish Thought, edited by Alan Mittleman (Oxford University Press, 2018). He is also the author of...

read more

Alison Polly, Ed.D.

Alison Polly graduated from Mansfield University and completed her doctoral work at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. She is also a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and works for a local school district as a high school principal.

Meredith Polsky, M.S.E.

Meredith Polsky founded Matan (www.matankids.org) in 2000 and serves as Matan's National Director of Institutes and Training, as well as a Child and Family Therapist and Selective Mutism Specialist at Growing Minds Child and Family Therapy Center. Meredith is a nationally sought-after speaker on Jewish Special Education. She holds a Master’s degree in Special Education from Bank Street College, a Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work from Columbia University and a graduate certificate in Early Intervention from Georgetown University. Meredith is a...

read more

R

Monika Rice, Ph.D.

Director of Holocaust and Genocide Studies Programs

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 215-635-7300 x144

Email: [email protected]

Monika Rice, Ph.D. is the Director of Holocaust and Genocide Studies Programs and Assistant Professor in the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Programs (M.A. and Ph.D.). A native of Poland, she holds an M.A. and B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, and a Ph.D. in Judaic Studies from Brandeis University.

Dr. Rice has taught many courses on the Holocaust, Jewish-Christian relations, and women’s spirituality. Her first book, “What! Still Alive?! Jewish Survivors in Poland and...

read more

Asaf Romirowsky PhD

Affiliate Faculty

Email: [email protected]

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, a senior nonresident research fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA)  and a Professor [Affiliate] at the University of Haifa. Trained...

read more

S

Ruth N. Sandberg, Ph.D.

Leonard and Ethel Landau Professor of Rabbinics, Director, Jewish-Christian Studies Program and MA in Interfaith Leadership

Phone: 215-635-7300 x168

Email: [email protected]

Biography

Dr. Ruth N. Sandberg is the Leonard and Ethel Landau Professor of Rabbinics at Gratz College, and is the Director of the BA in Jewish Studies and Jewish Professional Studies and the MA in Interfaith Leadership.  She is  is a member of the board of Directors of the Insitute for Jewish-Catholic Relations at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, and served three years as the co-President of the...

read more

Jeffrey L. Schein, Ed.D

Adjunct Faculty

[email protected]

Jeffrey Schein is an adjunct instructor of Jewish education here at Gratz College. He is a 1977 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and a 1980 doctoral graduate in education from Temple University.   For forty years he ran Jewish schools, developed Jewish curricular materials, and taught and guided over a 100 graduate students to their masters degrees in Jewish education at Siegal College in Cleveland where he was the director of the education program.  He is the author of twelve books and dozens of articles appearing in Jewish and religious education journals.

He...

read more

Christine E. Schmidt Ph.D.

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...

read more

Jonathan Shirley, M.Ed.

[email protected]

 

Jonathan grew up in a small town in south Louisiana and graduated from Louisiana State University in 2003 with a degree in Marketing. While never attending a traditional camp growing up, Jonathan spent college summers in Maine at Camp Laurel, and in Michigan at Camp Miniwanca. After graduation, he spent the next eight years as the Boys' Director of Camp Champions, a residential summer camp outside of Austin, TX. In 2012, Jonathan left Camp Champions to pursue a Masters’ degree in Higher Education Administration and Leadership, and to run leadership programs for the University of Houston...

read more

Eiren Shuman

[email protected]

Eiren Shuman, born in New York City and raised in Philadelphia, received his BFA in dance at Temple University in 2008. Holding dual citizenship with the UK, he went on to train at the conservatory Trinity Laban, returning to Philadelphia in 2011. Having the distinct honor to perform, study, and teach dance internationally -not only in Europe but also in West Africa and East Asia- Eiren has received some of the best technique training the world has to offer, as well as extensive and rich choreographic training from multiple perspectives and cultural backgrounds. Dedicating his life to...

read more

Mark Snyder, Ph.D.

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-...

read more

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...

read more

Rabbi Lance Sussman Ph.D.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 215-635-7300 x133

Lance J. Sussman, Ph.D. is Chair  of the Board of Governors of Gratz College and Senior  Rabbi of Reform congregation Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park, PA. Sussman has a BA from Franklin and Marshall College (1975) in Religious Studies, a Masters of Arts  in Hebrew Letters (1979) and rabbinic ordination from the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati ( HUC, 1980). In 1987, Sussman received his PhD in Jewish history from HUC.

Rabbi Sussman has taught at a number of universities and colleges in the United States. A tenured professor of History at SUNY-...

read more

T

Stefan Teodosic, MBA

Adjunct Faculty

[email protected]

Stefan Teodosic has worked in the business world and the non-profit camping sector over 25 years.   Most recently, he served as the Executive Director of Beber Camp, Perlman Camp and the Perlman Retreat Center.  During his time in the camping world, Stefan was also a camp director, co-founder of the Association of  Independent Jewish Camps (AIJC) and board member/treasurer for the American Camp Association Illinois section.  Before his move to the non-profit world, Stefan earned his MBA and worked in the strategic financial services sector at American Express.  He has deep...

read more

David Keller Trevaskis, Esquire

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-...

read more

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...

read more

V

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...

read more

W

Nina Warnke, Ph.D.

Nina Warnke holds a B.A. in Theatre History from Mount Holyoke College and a Ph.D. in Yiddish Studies from Columbia University. She has lectured and published extensively on Yiddish theatre and Yiddish literature. A forthcoming article will be included in the volume Women on the Yiddish Stage and among her most recent publications are an essay on representations of Shylock in Yiddish in Wrestling with Shylock and entries for the Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture. Over the past three decades, she served as a faculty member at Columbia University, Indiana University, the University...

read more

Gary Weissman, Ph.D.

[email protected]

Gary Weissman works in the areas of Holocaust Studies, literary theory and pedagogy, and film and media studies. He is the author of the books Fantasies of Witnessing: Postwar Efforts to Experience the Holocaust (2004) and The Writer in the Well: On Misreading and Rewriting Literature (2016). He has published articles in journals including College English, Post Script, Reader, and Style, and chapters in volumes including The Construction of Testimony: Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah and its Outtakes (2020), Third-...

read more

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...

read more

Michael Willmann, J.D.

Adjunct Instructor Non-Profit Management

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

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-...

read more

Rhonda Wittlin

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...

read more

Y

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...

read more
A
 B
 C
 D
 E
 F
 G
 H
 K
 L
 M
 N
 P
 R
 S
 T
 V
 W
 Y

TAKE THE NEXT STEP...

Contact Us
Apply
Register