Peninnah Schram, professor of speech and drama at Stern College for Women, was the narrator in the Caravan Ensemble concert of “The Spirit of Sepharad” along with singer/guitarist Gerard Edery and four other musicians in a mixed-media performance on March 7, 2009 at the Queens Theatre in the Park.
Rabbi Jacob. J. Schacter, University professor of Jewish history and Jewish thought and senior scholar at Yeshiva University’s Center for the Jewish Future, delivered the Annual Heschel Lecture at the Abraham Joshua Heschel School in New York City on Jan. 29, 2009.
Linda Shires, professor of English at Stern College for Women, lectured on 19th century poetry at the North American Victorian Studies conference in November 2008 at Yale University. Her lecture was entitled “Pippa Passes and the Staging of Point of View.”
Rabbi J. David Bleich, the Herbert and Florence Tenzer Professor of Jewish Law and Ethics at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, gave two lectures in Berlin, Germany – “Ecological Concerns: A Jewish Perspective,” at Berliner tudien Zum Judischen Recht and Homboldt University” and “Nazi Medical Experimentation,” at Organisation der Judischen Artze und Psychologen on Nov. 26 and Nov. 27, 2008, respectively.
Jay Ladin, David and Ruth Gottesman Professor of English at Stern College for Women, gave the following presentations: “Torah in Transition” as part of the Connie and Ruthie Scholar in Residence Program, Congregation Bnai Simhat Torah, New York, NY, Nov. 21-23, 2008; “Toward a Greater Understanding: Transgender Identity and the Jewish Community,” a panel sponsored by “New Voices” magazine at the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, Nov. 25, 2008; “Choosing Life” at Hunter College, Oct. 23, 2008; “Lyrical Ballads?: What Dickinson Did to Narrative,” Emily Dickinson International Society Narrative Institute, Amherst, MA, Aug. 1, 2008; “`Where the Meanings, Are’: Emily Dickinson, Prosody, and Post-Modernist Poetics” at the “Vers libéré?” panel, Metre Matters Conference, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK, July 4, 2008. She also co-edited the current issue of “The Emily Dickinson Journal.”
Rabbi Moshe Tendler, the Rabbi Isaac and Bella Tendler Professor of Jewish Medical Ethics, professor of biology and a rosh yeshiva at Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, led a conversation on ‘The Caring That Is Beyond Curing: A Torah Perspective on Quality of Life and Patient Autonomy’ marking the fifth yahrzeit of Mikey Butler on Jan. 27, 200p, at JCC – Squirrel Hill.
Dr. Steven Fine, professor of Jewish history at Yeshiva College and Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, gave the 28th Annual Jerome Nemer Lecture at the University of Southern California’s Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life on Nov. 10, 2008. He spoke about “The Color of Jewish Life: Imagining Polychromy in the Art of the Ancient Synagogue.”
Dr. Ellen W. Schrecker, a professor of history at Yeshiva University, spoke at a conference on “Free Inquiry at Risk: Universities in Dangerous Times,” at The New School on Oct. 30, 2008. She was subsequently quoted in ‘Academic Freedom Under Many Assaults’ published on Inside Higher Education’s Web site (Oct. 31, 2008).
Dr. Martin H. Rock, a long-time Ferkauf professor of clinical psychology, moderated a colloquium on “Sullivan’s Legacy” in the Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis series at New York University on Nov. 22, 2008. He dedicated it to the memory of a Ferkauf alum, John Fiscalini ‘74F, who passed away this summer.
Reuven Russell (at left), an instructor of speech and drama at Stern College for Women, was one of the two lead characters in the off-Broadway play “The Quarrel” at the DR2 Theater in New York City in September 2008.
Dr. William Stenhouse, associate professor of history at Yeshiva University, was appointed book reviews editor of “Renaissance Quarterly.”
Dr. Jonathan Fast, professor at Wurzweiler School of Social Work, presented a paper, “The School System From Hell,” at the annual Oxford Symposium at Brasenose College in Oxford, England, in August 2008. Fast was one of 22 academics from around the world invited to the symposium, which was organized by the University of San Franciso’s Center for Family and Child Development.
Pearl Berger, Benjamin Gottesman Librarian and dean of libraries at Yeshiva University, gave the Annual Feinstein Lecture, entitled “From Otzar Seforim to Otzar Hokhmah: Transitions and Transformations,” sponsored by the Foundation for Jewish Culture at the Association of Jewish Libraries Annual Convention in Cleveland, OH, in June 2008. Shulamith Z. Berger, curator of special collections, presented a paper, “Yeshiva’s Edifice Complex: Vision and Reality – A Lecture of the Background and Plans, Both Realized and Unrealized, for Building the RIETS/Yeshiva College Washington Heights Campus in the 1920s,” at the conference.
Dr. Jonathan Feldman, assistant professor at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, co-presented a paper entitled “Emotional symptoms during asthma exacerbation and under-estimation of pulmonary impairment in pediatric asthma” at the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society in Toronto in May 2008.
Dr. Greta Doctoroff, assistant professor at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, co-presented two posters, “Delivering the Incredible Years Series Teacher Training and Dina Dinosaur Child Training Program in the context of Head Start: Examining a model of program delivery” and “An independent replication of the Incredible Years Classroom Management Teacher Training Program in Head Start,“ at the annual meeting of the Society for Prevention Research in San Francisco, CA in May. She was also invited to be the colloquium speaker at the Developmental Psychology Brown-Bag Series at CUNY Graduate Center in January 2008. She spoke about “Preschool children at-risk for early school failure and conduct problems.”
Dr. Carl Auerbach, associate professor at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, presented “Identity changes in former combatants involved in Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation activities” at the First International Academic Conference on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Pathways to Peace, held at Central Connecticut State University in March 2008.
Dr. Ira Saiger, visiting assistant professor of psychology at Yeshiva College, was a featured speaker at ‘From Generation to Generation and Back Again,’ a conference on intergenerational perspectives held by the Mid Atlantic Group Psychotherapy Society in fall 2007. Saiger, a 2003 graduate of Ferkauf, and his father, George Max Saiger, MD, a 1967 graduate of Einstein, led the conference.
David Glaser (at left), professor of music at Stern College for Women, had a number of his compositions performed this year. The Yeshiva University Ensemble-in-Residence, whose players form the Momenta String Quartet (pictured below), and guitarist Oren Fader performed “Kinesis” at the Center for Jewish History on April 3, 2008. “Fantazy” for two violas da gamba was performed by Parthenia at Picture Ray Studios on March 5, 2008, and the New York New Music Ensemble performed “Catalyst” for flute, clarinet, cello and percussion at Merkin Concert Hall on Feb. 23, 2008.
Christopher Buchenholz, visiting assistant professor of music at Stern College, premiered a new piece at a performance entitled “The World of Milton Babbitt” performed by the Manhattan Sinfonietta at Merkin Concert Hall on Feb. 10, 2008.
Rabbi J. David Bleich, Herbert and Florence Tenzer Professor of Jewish Law and Ethics at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, spoke about “To Treat or Not to Treat,” at the Jewish United Fund in Chicago on Feb. 24, 2008.
Dr. Victor Schwartz, university dean of students, was featured on “Mental Health Update,” a special on Manhattan cable television, in May. He also participated at the American Psychological Association’s national convention, at asuicide hotline-sponsored lecture for high school and college administrators and mental health professionals, and in discussions at two local high schools about transitioning to college life. He also gave a grand rounds talk at Beth Israel Medical Center’s psychiatry department on Jan. 24, 2008.
Dr. Joshua Zimmerman, associate professor of history, spoke on “The Attitude of the Polish Home Army (AK) to the Jewish Question During the Holocaust: The Case of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising” at the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies conference, ‘From Past to Present: The State of Research in Polish Jewish Relations,’ on Jan. 13, 2008.
