Yeshiva University Grants Tenure to Twenty Faculty Members

The Yeshiva University Board of Trustees recently awarded tenure to 20 faculty members across the University’s undergraduate and graduate schools.

The newly-tenured professors are Ronnie Perelis, Chief Rabbi Dr. Isaac Abraham and Jelena (Rachel) Alcalay Associate Professor of Sephardic Studies at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies; Dr. Henry Huang, associate professor of accounting at Sy Syms School of Business; Dr. Joseph Angel, associate professor of Bible at Yeshiva College; Dr. Melanie Wadkins, associate professor of psychology at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology; Dr. Moshe Krakowski, assistant professor and director of the master’s program in Jewish education at Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration; Douglas Burgess, Jr., professor of early American history at Yeshiva College; Peter L. Markowitz, associate clinical professor of law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; and Michael Burstein, professor of law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

At YU-affiliated Albert Einstein College of Medicine, tenure was conferred on Dr. Yaron Tomer (Chair, Department of Medicine); Dr. Jean Hebert (Department of Neuroscience); Dr. Laura Santambrogio (Department of Pathology); Amit Verma (Department of Medical Oncology); Joseph Verghese (Departments of Neurology and Medicine; Chief, Geriatrics Division; Director, Resnick Gerontology Center; Director, Montefiore-Einstein Center for the Aging Brain); Dr. Nan Xue (Department of Epidemiology and Population Health; Director, Biostatistics Core, Einstein Cancer Center); Dr. Chinazo Cunningham (Department of Medicine); Dr. Marla Keller (Department of Medicine; Associate Director, Block Institute for Clinical and Translational Research); Dr. Diane McKee (Department of Family and Social Medicine); Adam Kohn (Department of Neuroscience); Dr. Nicholas Sibinga (Department of Medicine); and Dr. Fernando Macian (Department of Pathology).

“Each of these outstanding individuals is deserving of our support and high regard,” said Dr. Selma Botman, provost and vice president for academic affairs. “They represent diverse academic disciplines, engage in fascinating research projects and extend themselves in countless ways to appreciative students. They are a remarkable group whose dedication and accomplishments make them invaluable members of our intellectual community.”

Dr. Ronnie Perelis

The connections between Iberian and Jewish culture have always fascinated Perelis, and he has focused his research on the medieval and early modern periods. His essays on Sephardic history investigate the dynamics of religious transformation within the context of the crypto-Jewish experience. His forthcoming book, Narratives from the Sephardic Atlantic: Blood and Faith (Indiana University Press), scheduled for publication in December 2016, extends this exploration into family and identity in the Sephardic Atlantic world.

Dr. Henry Huang

In today’s volatile financial world, Huang’s research on external monitoring mechanisms is especially relevant. He focuses on the impact these mechanisms (such as securities litigation, shareholder rights, regulations and hedge fund activism) have on firms’ accounting practices, valuation and internal governance. Huang’s findings have been widely cited by academics and professionals and frequently published in such leading journals as Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Banking and Finance and Corporate Governance - An International Review.

Dr. Joseph Angel

Angel, who specializes in the Jewish literature and history of the Second Temple period, has published on ancient Jewish magic, the Second Temple of Jerusalem and the material reconstruction of damaged manuscripts. His first book, Otherworldly and Eschatological Priesthood in the Dead Sea Scrolls (Brill, 2010), explored how the Qumran community and broader segments of Second Temple society used angelic and messianic priestly figures in the Dead Sea Scrolls to reflect their worldview. Angel is working on a new edition as well as writing commentary on the ancient Jewish prayer text known as the Songs of the Sage.

Dr. Melanie Wadkins

Wadkins, an associate professor of psychology at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, touches on a delicate matter in her research and teaching: how the emotion of disgust develops and sustains anxiety disorders, part of her larger investigation into anxiety and related disorders, cognitive and psychoeducational assessment and evidence-based treatments for young people. Her work has appeared in many books and peer-reviewed journals, and she presents often at national and international conferences.

Dr. Moshe Krakowski

As both a teacher in and director of Azrieli’s master’s program in Jewish education, Krakowski is able to investigate conceptual change and cognition; ultra‐Orthodox Jewish education; worldview, epistemology and culture in Jewish schools; curriculum development in Judaic studies; and problem-based learning. He has published on topics ranging from worldview and education, spatial intelligence, pedagogy, cognitive change and Jewish culture in education.

Douglass Burgess, Jr.

Burgess’ research includes maritime history and the history of criminality. His most recent publication, Engines of Empire: Steamships and the Victorian Imagination (Stanford University Press, May 2016), anchors the growth of the modern tourism industry in 19th-Century imperialism, a subject that easily encompasses his twin interests in ships and criminals.

Peter Markowitz

Markowitz is an associate clinical professor of law at Cardozo where he founded and directs the Kathryn O. Greenberg Immigration Justice Clinic. His scholarship focuses on the intersection of criminal and immigration law and on current trends in immigration enforcement, a field of research he has followed as a Soros Justice Fellow at The Bronx Defenders and a teacher at New York University School of Law and The Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University.

Michael Burstein

Burstein is a professor of law at Cardozo, where he teaches and writes about intellectual property, innovation policy, and law and entrepreneurship. His research focuses on the ways in which intellectual property law, corporate law, and public law facilitate relationships among entrepreneurs, markets, and government actors and influence the production and dissemination of innovative works and ideas. He is currently writing about the legal treatment of information as an asset and editing a volume of case studies that explore sharing and commons-based production in entrepreneurial communities.