Professor Zola became the AJA's second director in 1998, succeeding his teacher and mentor, Professor Jacob Rader Marcus (1896-1995), the prodigious scholar who first defined the field of American Jewish history. It was Marcus who founded the AJA in 1947 and served as its director until his death in 1995. Under Professor Zola's leadership, the AJA began a new phase in its development. Its renowned collection has grown and is housed in a world class complex of three interconnected structures including the Edwin A. Malloy Education Building, which have been erected during Zola's tenure. Zola's interest in enlarging the public's access to the AJA's holdings has spurred dramatic growth in The Marcus Center's programmatic activities, its website and online resources. Dr. Zola also serves as editor of The Marcus Center's award-winning biannual publication, The American Jewish Archives Journal.

Professor Zola is a historian of American Jewry who specializes in the development of American Reform Judaism. His published volumes include The Americanization of the Jewish Prayer Book and the Liturgical Development of Congregation Ahawath Chesed, New York City (New York: Central Synagogue, 2008); A Place of Our Own: The Rise of Reform Jewish Camping in America (co-edited with Michael M. Lorge and published by the University of Alabama Press, 2006); The Dynamics of American Jewish History: Jacob Rader Marcus's Essays on American Jewry (Brandeis University Press, 2004); Women Rabbis: Exploration and Celebration (HUC-JIR Alumni Press, 1996) and Isaac Harby of Charleston (the University of Alabama Press, 1994), a major biographical study on the life of one of the founders of the first organized effort to reform Judaism in the United States of America. He is currently completing a new volume on Abraham Lincoln and the Jews as well as a Primary Source Reader on American Jewish history.

In 2011, President Barack Obama appointed Dr. Zola to serve as a member of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, an independent agency of the Federal government. Establish by Public Law in 1985, the Commission exists to foster the preservation and protection of the cemeteries, monuments, and historic buildings associated with the foreign heritage of United States citizens. Although HUC-JIR presidents have received such distinctions over the years, Professor Zola is the first regular member of the College-Institute's faculty to serve on a standing Commission of the United States Government in the history of the school.

Prior to joining the Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, Dr. Zola served as the organizer and chair of the congressionally recognized Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History, a consortium of leading research institutions established to promote the study of American Jewish history during the 350th anniversary Jewish life in America (2004-2005). In 2006, Dr. Zola became the first American Jewish historian to receive appointment to the Academic Advisory Council of the congressionally recognized Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

In addition to these national activities, Dr. Zola has been actively involved in community relations in Cincinnati, Ohio. In May of 2009, the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission conferred the Bishop Herbert Thompson, Jr. Outstanding Humanitarian Award on Professor Zola in recognition of his service to the people of the greater Cincinnati metropolitan area. The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati recognized Dr. Zola's service to Cincinnati's Jewish community in 2004 by awarding him its Distinguished Leadership Award.

Dr. Zola and his wife Stefi reside in Cincinnati, Ohio. They have four grown children: Mandi, Jory, Jeremy, and Samantha.

List of Publications

Books (authored)
• American Jewish History: A Source Reader by Gary P. Zola (Lebanon, New Hampshire, Brandeis University Press, Forthcoming).
• "He Was Like One of Us": Abraham Lincoln and American Jewry by Gary P. Zola (Carbondale, Illinois, Southern Illinois University Press, Forthcoming).
• Isaac Harby of Charleston by Gary P. Zola (Tuscaloosa, Alabama, University of Alabama Press, 1994).

Books (edited)
• A place of our own : the rise of Reform Jewish camping : essays honoring the fiftieth anniversary of Olin-Sang-Ruby Union Institute, URJ, in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin edited, with an introduction by Gary P. Zola and Michael M. Lorge (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 2006).
• The Dynamics of American Jewish History: Jacob Rader Marcus's Essays on American Jewry , edited, with introduction and notes by Gary P. Zola (Waltham, MA: Brandeis University Press, 2004).
• Women Rabbis: Exploration and Celebration edited by Gary P. Zola (Cincinnati: HUC-JIR Rabbinic Alumni Association Press, 1996).
• Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion -- A Centennial History, 1875-1975 written by Michael A. Meyer and edited by Gary P. Zola (Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992).
• To Learn and To Teach: Your Future as a Rabbi written by Alfred Gottschalk and revised by Gary P. Zola (New York: Richards Rosen Press: 1988).

Historical Articles
• "The First Reform Prayer Book in America: The Liturgy of the Reformed Society of Israelites" in Dana Evan Kaplan (ed.) Platforms and Prayer Books: Theological and Liturgical Perspectives on Reform Judaism (New York: Rowman & Littlefield Press, 2002), pp. 99-118.
• "The Common Places of American Reform Judaism's Conflicting Platforms" in Hebrew Union College Annual, Volume 72 (HUCA: Vol. LXXII, 2001) pp. 155-191.
• "The Man Behind the Name: Stephen S. Wise" in Stephen S. Wise Temple (October 2001), pp. 6-7.
• "An Account of the Jews and Judaism 34 Years Ago in New York (Circa 1870)" by Zvi Hirsch Bernstein (annotated and translated from the Hebrew by Gary P. Zola), in The American Jewish Archives Journal (forthcoming).
• "Why Study Southern Jewish History" in Southern Jewish History (Vol. 1, No. 1), pp. 1-21.
• "What Price Amos?: Rabbi Perry E. Nussbaum's Career in Jackson, Mississippi" in Mark K. Bauman and Berkley Kalin (eds.) The Quiet Voices: Southern Rabbis and Black Civil Rights (Tuscaloosa, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, 1997), pp. 230-257.
• "Southern Rabbis and the Emergence of a National Association of Rabbis" in American Jewish History December 1997 (Vol. LXXXV, No. 4), pp. 353-372.
• "Funding Rabbinic Education: Retrospect and Prospect" in CCAR Journal Winter, 1997 (Vol. XLIV, No. 1), pp. 9-24.
• "Reform Judaism Magazine" in Popular Religious Magazines of the United States, edited by Mark Flacker (Westport, Conn., Greenwood Press: 1995).
• "Isaac Harby" (entry) in Reform Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Reform Judaism, edited by Marc Lee Raphael, Lance Sussman and Kerry Olitzky (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993).
• "Maximillian Heller" (entry) in Reform Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Reform Judaism, edited by Marc Lee Raphael, Lance Sussman and Kerry Olitzky (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993).
• "Gustavus Poznanski" (entry) in Reform Judaism in America: A Biographical Dictionary of Reform Judaism, edited by Marc Lee Raphael, Lance Sussman and Kerry Olitzky (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993).
• "NFTY After Fifty Years: A Symposium" in Journal of Reform Judaism Fall, 1989 (Vol. XXXVI, No. 4), pp. 1-3.
• "Jews" in Encyclopedia of Colonial and Revolutionary America, edited by John Mack Faragher (New York: Sachem Publishing Associates, 1990), pp. 216-217.
• "The American Rabbinate, 1960-1986: A Bibliographic Essay," (Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, 1988).
• "Louis Kraft" (entry) in Biographical Dictionary of Social Welfare in America, edited by Walter I. Trattner (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1986).
• "Louis H. Levin" (entry) in Biographical Dictionary of Social Welfare in America, edited by Walter I. Trattner (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1986).
• "A History of the Communitarian Settlement Known as 'New Odessa'" (a translation of Herman Rosenthal's Hebrew essay with introduction by Zola) in The American Jewish Farmer (Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, 1986).
• "You Are in Canada Now: Zvi Hirsch Masliansky on Montreal Jews - 1898" in Canadian Jewish Historical Society, Spring 1985 (Vol. 9, No. 1), pp 31-40.
• "HUC, JTS and Women Rabbis" in Journal of Reform Judaism, Fall 1984 (Vol. XXXI, No. 4), pp. 39-45.
• "Reform Judaism's Pioneer Zionist: Maximillian Heller" in American Jewish History, June 1984 (Vol. LXXIII, No. 4), pp. 398-421.

Encyclopedia Articles
• "Summer Camping" (entry) in The Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism & Jewish Culture, edited by Judith R. Baskin (Cambridge University Press, 2011).
• "Isaac Harby" (entry) in forthcoming Southern Writers: A Biographical Dictionary, revised by Joseph M. Flora and Amber Vogel (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolia Press).
• "Isaac Harby" (entry) in forthcoming The South Carolina Encyclopedia, edited by Thomas M. Downey (Columbia, SC: Institute for Southern Studies).
• "Penina Moise" (entry) in forthcoming The South Carolina Encyclopedia, edited by Thomas M. Downey (Columbia, SC: Institute for Southern Studies).
• "Julius Eckstein" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "Solomon B. Freehof" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "James K. Gutheim" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press)
• "Isaac Harby" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "Edgar F. Magnin" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "David Neumark" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "Benjamin Szold"(entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "Jacob Voorsanger" (entry) in forthcoming American National Biography, edited by John A. Garraty (Oxford University Press).
• "The Rabbinate" (entry) in Contemporary American Religion, edited by Wade Clark Roof (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1999).

Applied Education Articles
• "The High School Community Period" (with Kerry M. Olitzky) in The Jewish Principal's Handbook, edited by Audrey Friedman Marcus and Raymond A. Zwerin (Denver, Colorado: Alternatives in Religious Education, 1983), pp. 327-336.
• "My People Jacob: Thy Tents have Grown Old: A Manual for Organizing Weekend Kallot for Older Adults," (New York: U.A.H.C., 1981).

Contemporary Religious Concerns
• "Are Jews the Chosen People?" Allan L. Smith (ed.), Where We Stand: Jewish Consciousness on Campus (New York: UAHC Press, 1997), pp. 60-65.
• "On Being A Blessing" in The Orchard: A Compendium of Sermonic and Other Material, Fall 1997, pp. 9-10.
• "Becoming A Rabbi: A Wonderful Occupation" in Shofar, November 1989 (Vol. 7, No. 2), pp. 24-25.
• "Who Will Lead Us Tomorrow?" in Reform Judaism, Fall 1988 (Vol. 17, No. 1), pp. 4-6.
• "Becoming a Rabbi" in Keeping Posted (Vol. XXXIII, No. 6), pp. 14-15.

Book Reviews
• Review: Fight Against Fear: Southern Jews and Black Civil Rights by Clive Webb (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2001).
• Review: Rabbi Max Heller: Reformer, Zionist, Southerner, 1860-1929 by Bobbie Malone in AJS Review (Vol. XXIV, No. 1, 1999).
• Review: Branching Out: German-Jewish Immigration to the United States, 1820-1914 by Avraham Barkai in The International History Review (Vol. XXII: June 1998).
• Review: The Forerunners: Dutch Jewry in the North American Diaspora by Robert P. Swierenga in Journal of the Early Republic Summer, 1995 (Vol. 15, No. 2), pp. 305-307.
• Review: This Happy Land: The Jews of Colonial and Antebellum Charleston by James William Hagy in American Jewish Archives Fall/Winter, 1994 (Vol XLVII, No. 2), pp. 357-362.
• Review: Guts and Ruts: The Jewish Pioneer on the Trail in the American Southwest by Floyd S. Fierman in The Western Historical Quarterly (April 1987).
• Review: Jerry Falwell and the Jews by Merrill Simon in Religious Studies Review (Vol. II, No. 3/July 1985).