On Monday, December 5, 2011 over a reception in Belfer Hall’s Sky Café, the Yeshiva University community celebrated the publication of A Common Cultural Heritage: Studies on Mesopotamia and the Biblical World in Honor of Barry L. Eichler (Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press), edited by Grant Frame, Erle Leichty, Karen Sonik, Jeffrey Tigay and Steve Tinney. The volume contains 18 articles dedicated to Eichler, dean of Yeshiva College and professor of ancient Near Eastern and Biblical studies at Revel, in appreciation of his contributions, as both a scholar and a teacher, to many aspects of biblical and ancient Near Eastern studies. The international group of authors are all Eichler’s current and former students or colleagues, including BRGS faculty members Richard C. Steiner, Shalom E. Holtz and Shawn Zelig Aster. Guests at the celebration included Mark Cohen, of the CDL Press and a student of Eichler’s, and Professor Grant Frame of the University of Pennsylvania, who, as an editor and colleague, presented the volume to Eichler.

Dr. Peninnah Schram, professor of speech and drama at Stern College for Women, was a keynote speaker at the annual Bikur Cholim Conference sponsored by the UJA-Federation of New York and held on November 13, at the UJA’s midtown location. Her presentation, titled, “God, Give Me Good Listeners!”, focused on the art of listening and telling stories when visiting the elderly or those who are ill. Schram was also recently honored at the Folktales of Israel Festival, hosted at the YU Museum by the Center for Israel Studies.

A 2006 article co-written by Dr. Daniel Laufer, associate professor of marking at Yeshiva University’s SYMS School of Business, and Dr. W. Timothy Coombs made the list of most highly cited articles in a leading managerial journal, Business Horizons. The article, titled “How Should a Company Respond to a Product Harm Crisis?”, provides guidance to practitioners in choosing the appropriate strategy to effectively deal with a product harm crisis. The authors recommend that corporate reputation and consumer-based cues, such as gender and nationality, be incorporated in the decision-making process regarding the choice of a corporate response.

Dr. Zafrira Lidovsky Cohen, coordinator of Hebrew language and literature at Stern College for Women, was nominated to become the National Association of Professors of Hebrew (NAPH) National Conference Coordinator. Her primary responsibilities will include chairing the conference executive committee, coordinating the work of the conference’s professional committees and constructing the program of the annual NAPH Conference on Hebrew Language, Literature and Culture.