| News Center |
 |
 HUC-JIR Graduation to Honor Jewish Leaders, Alumni, and Graduating Class of 2009 at Los Angeles Campus Monday, May 18, 2009 Rabbi David Ellenson, Ph.D., President of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), has announced the class of 2009, who will be ordained, invested, and graduated this spring in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and New York. HUC-JIR is the nation's oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual, and professional leadership development center of Reform Judaism.
Communal leaders, relatives, and friends will gather at the Los Angeles Campus for the HUC-JIR Graduation Ceremonies of the 134th academic year.
Rabbi Ellenson said, “The Class of 2009 emerges from the College-Institute imbued with leadership skills, steeped in knowledge, strengthened by a commitment to service, and dedicated to bringing hope and healing to our troubled world. As they touch the lives of others through their sacred work as rabbis, cantors, educators, communal professionals, scholars, and pastoral care-givers throughout North America and around the world, they will be a source of inspiration and guidance.”
HUC-JIR will present the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, to Lowell Milken, Chairman and Co-Founder of the Milken Family Foundation, Dr. Mohammed Fathi Osman, Scholar in Residence, Omar Ibn al-Khattah Foundation, and posthumously to Dr. Michael Signer, z”l, Abrams Professor of Jewish Thought and Culture, University of Notre Dame.
Dr. Tamara Cohn Eskenazi, Professor of Bible at HUC-JIR/LA, will deliver the graduation address.
Dr. Roland Chapdelaine, President, Los Angeles Trade Technical College, will be presented with the Presidents' Medal. Madelyn Mishkin Katz, RJE, Director of Student Life at HUC-JIR/LA, will be presented with a Citation in Recognition.
HUC-JIR alumni will be awarded honorary Doctorates of Divinity, Music, Jewish Religious Education, and Jewish Communal Service in recognition of their 25 years of distinguished professional service:
Rabbinical Alumni – Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa
Cantorial Alumni – Doctor of Music, honoris causa
Communal Service Alumni - Doctor of Jewish Jewish Communal Service, honoris causa
Education Alumni - Doctor of Jewish Religious Education, honoris causa
The College-Institute will award the following earned degrees to its students in Los Angeles:
Master of Arts in Jewish Education Rachel Ackerman Missy Bell Matthew Kahn Luisa Moss Jordi Schuster Laura Siegel Jake Singer-Beilin Rebekah Stern Emily Walsh Julia Weisz
Master of Arts in Jewish Communal Service Missy Bell Benjamin Bloom Rena Fraade David Harris Jessica Ingram Matthew Kahn Laurel Klein Shira Liff-Grieff Luisa Moss Anna Schwarz Laura Siegel Emily Walsh
Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters: Ethan Bair Sarah Bassin Lindy Davidson Jessica Gross Stephanie Kramer Samantha Orshan Miriam Philips Rebecca Reice Beaumont Shapiro Heath Watenmaker
Certificate in Day School Teaching: Jonathan Abelson Joel Abramovitz Coralia Aleman Sarite Alterman Carmela Blau Isaac Jacobs-Gomes Melissa Greenwood Rami Raff Hillel Kurlandsky Brian Roth Donna Seidel Devorah Servi Amy Watenmaker
Please see the national invitation for full event details (http://huc.edu/external/email/09/03/graduation/).
Founded in 1875, Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion is the nation’s oldest institution of higher Jewish education and the academic, spiritual, and professional leadership development center of Reform Judaism. HUC-JIR educates men and women for service to American and world Jewry as rabbis, cantors, educators, and nonprofit management professionals, and offers graduate programs to scholars and clergy of all faiths. With centers of learning in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and New York, HUC-JIR’s scholarly resources comprise the renowned Klau Library, The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, research institutes and centers, and academic publications. In partnership with the Union for Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, HUC-JIR sustains the Reform Movement’s congregations and professional and lay leaders. HUC-JIR’s campuses invite the community to cultural and educational programs illuminating Jewish history, identity, art, and archaeology, and fostering interfaith and multiethnic understanding. |
