Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Launches Redesigned Website (www.huc.edu)

Interested in participating in an archaeological excavation or research in Israel? Viewing a rare 15th century Haggadah? Becoming a rabbi, cantor, Jewish educator, Jewish communal professional, or scholar? Taking a continuing education class or participating in a community program in Los Angeles? Or attending a lecture in Cincinnati or a concert in New York? Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's redesigned website provides information on these international and online opportunities and much more.

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) has launched its redesigned website (www.huc.edu) which provides information on its four centers of learning in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and New York, including material on its academic and professional programs, community and cultural offerings, libraries, research centers, museums, faculty scholarship, online catalogs and exhibitions, and more. Incorporating the international graphic identity of the College-Institute, the new site helps users easily find what they are looking for directly from the home page through improved navigation and search functions.

Rabbi David Ellenson, President of HUC-JIR, noted: "In the Talmud, the commentaries of scholars and teachers who lived centuries apart and in disparate lands appear on the same page, illuminating Jewish thought in a conceptual universe transcending geography and time. Similarly, the advent of new technologies in the 21st century enables HUC-JIR to collapse time and space. With computer technology, we inhabit a global village and have the ability to communicate, teach, and enlighten an infinite number of learners at any time, in any place, and in ways we never imagined. Our website is an indispensable means of recruitment, offering prospective students key information to guide their journey toward Jewish professional careers. It offers opportunities for continuing education for alumni and, in the near future, distance education preparatory courses for those planning to apply to our graduate and professional programs."

The new site highlights upcoming events at HUC-JIR and breaking news, in addition to providing national (and local) calendars of events, faculty articles and papers, convocation addresses, electronically-published editions of HUC-JIR journals and magazines, and directories of faculty and administration. Some of the recent additions to the site include the Experiment in Congregational Education (www.huc.edu/ece), the Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education (www.huc.edu/chhe), HUC-UC Ethics Center (www.huc.edu/ethics), and the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health (www.huc.edu/kalsman).

The HUC-JIR academic catalog, with program descriptions and course listings; the integrated library catalog, containing hundreds of thousands of records of Hebraic and Judaica works; and the holdings of the American Jewish Archives, which document centuries of Jewish life in the Western Hemisphere, are available and continually updated. Online exhibitions range from digitized images from HUC-JIR's 5,000 rare manuscript and archival holdings to the most recent contemporary art expressing Jewish themes.

Essential information for prospective students can guide them toward Jewish professional careers. The site offers opportunities for continuing education for alumni, and will soon provide distance education preparatory courses for prospects planning on applying to graduate and professional programs.

The updated navigation system offers quick links to the College-Institute's programs, including Rabbinical Studies, Cantorial Studies, Jewish Education Studies, Jewish Communal Service Studies, Graduate and Undergraduate Studies, and Continuing Education and Youth Programs. The new navigation bar leads users to general information about the College-Institute as well as admissions, academics, student life, news, publications, libraries, museums, centers, the American Jewish Archives, faculty, administration, and alumni.

Links from the home page allow easy access to HUC-JIR's Press Room, directories of students, faculty, and administration, academic calendars and calendars of events, and the Reform Judaism website. Drop-down menus off the navigation bar list the various choices from each option. This saves users time by allowing them to go directly to any item on a drop-down menu without having to click on the nav bar and then on the page link.