Education
Gratz College Launches America’s First Master’s Degree in Antisemitism Studies
PHILADELPHIA, February 22, 2024 (Newswire.com) - Gratz College is launching the first Master of Arts degree program in Antisemitism Studies in the United States in Fall 2024. This ground-breaking program will help fill the vacuum of knowledge about antisemitism across Jewish, non-Jewish, and governmental organizations responsible for generating policy to combat prejudice at a time of unprecedented Jew hatred.
It will:
• Provide an academic home for those seeking to develop both a deep theoretical and practical understanding of antisemitism;
• Help generate new and impactful research on the factors that contribute to growing antisemitism and test interventions that can successfully combat it; and
• Arm educators and practitioners with the most effective antisemitism pedagogy and programming.
Through degree concentrations in teaching, advocacy and research, graduates of this program will be uniquely qualified for prominent careers in education, think tanks, government relations, public policy, and community organizations (Jewish and non-Jewish).
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is eager to see this program take shape:
“We’re seeing a dangerous rise in antisemitism, hatred, and bigotry across our country – and it’s more important than ever that Pennsylvanians be equipped with a thorough knowledge of our shared history and the skills to discern fact from fiction. Gratz College is already renowned for its Holocaust and Genocide Studies programs, and I am encouraged the College is expanding upon that work with a new Master’s degree in Antisemitism Studies. I wish the faculty, staff, and especially the inaugural class of Antisemitism Studies students, great success in their work.”
The program is directed by Dr. Ayal Feinberg, antisemitism studies expert and Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies and Human Rights at Gratz College. The program boasts a distinguished interdisciplinary faculty from academia and leading public advocacy organizations. Despite its infancy, the degree has been endorsed by nearly one hundred scholars and public policy experts from around the world. Professor of Political Science at Kalamazoo College R. Amy Elman asserts, “With an emphasis on operationalizing knowledge, informed teaching and ethical advocacy, Gratz’s innovative graduate program fulfills a deep need in countering antisemitism.”
Gratz’s Antisemitism Studies program is also establishing ground-breaking partnerships with the world’s most prominent Jewish organizations and programs to combat antisemitism in the classroom, on campus, and in professional workspaces. In the first such partnership, Gratz and The Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History have joined forces to launch the National Education Fellowship on Antisemitism. The aim of this fellowship is to generate and assess paradigm-shifting middle and high school curriculum to reduce Jew-hatred and prejudice more broadly.
As an early adopter of online education, a 128-year history of Jewish learning, and home to the world’s largest graduate program in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Gratz is uniquely qualified to take on this necessary and overdue program.
On March 4, 2024, the master’s degree program will kick-off with a series of public lectures, including by scholars serving as affiliate faculty for the program. On April 2, 2024, Dr. Avinoam Patt, inaugural director of NYU’s Center for Study of Antisemitism and the Maurice Greenberg Professor of Holocaust Studies, will deliver a keynote lecture, titled, "Awake My People": Jewish Responses to Antisemitism in the Modern Period.” Additional talks will take place before the program officially begins in August.
Prospective students eager to start may apply now and take courses as early as March 2024 with electives in Antisemitism Studies already developed as a preview to the program.
Gratz College is grateful to the Isidore and Penny Myers Foundation for generously supporting the launch of the Antisemitism Studies program. Jay Myers, Board Chair, shared: “The Isidore and Penny Myers Foundation, a family foundation guided by Jewish American values, sees great worth in educating future generations about the roots of Antisemitism, and by doing so, working to combat it. This degree program will create scholars who can devote their talent to meet this challenge. Our Foundation is proud to support this work and by so doing, meet our obligation to help repair the world.”
Contact: lcohen@gratz.edu for more information.
Contact Information:Lori Cohen
Director of Marketing and Design
lcohen@gratz.edu
215-635-7300 x182
Original Source: Gratz College Launches America's First Master's Degree in Antisemitism Studies
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The Harris Poll’s Abbey Lunney to Speak at SXSW
NEW YORK, March 8, 2023 (Newswire.com) - In the post-pandemic, hybrid-work world, business teams are spending more time communicating but doing it less effectively. That research finding, and the reasons for it, will be the subject of a talk at the SXSW Conference with Abbey Lunney, Managing Director of The Harris Poll Thought Leadership Practice.
Lunney will be part of a panel discussion titled "The Path to Productivity, Performance, and Profit through Business Communication," at 3 p.m. Friday, March 10, at conference venue Central City Brewing. The panel is part of a day-long series presented by Grammarly, developer of AI-enabled communication assistance for individuals and organizations.
Lunney will be joined on the panel by Grammarly's Kelly MacDougal to discuss the "2023 State of Business Communication Report," produced by Grammarly and The Harris Poll.
The study's central finding is that communicating effectively at work is a growing challenge for U.S. businesses and employees. It examines the deepening effects of poor communication on everything from productivity to stress, confidence, and job satisfaction.
"We know that effective communication is essential to business success, and even more crucial than ever as businesses try to navigate today's market pressures just as workplaces undergo fundamental transformation," Lunney said. "Our analysis shows we're communicating more than ever across multiple channels — but that communication is becoming less and less effective."
For example, the study finds that employees spent 18% more time year-over-year (YoY) communicating in writing, and that both workers and leaders are using communication channels that are not in real time. However, leaders report a 12% drop in the effectiveness of written communication over the same period — and a 15% decrease in productivity as a result.
Among the study's other detailed findings:
- Workers now spend over 70% of the workweek communicating on various channels.
- Most workers (58%) still wish they had better tools to be more effective.
- The desire for better communication tools is consistent across generations and fields, specially Gen Z (63%), Millennial (65%), Tech (68%), and ESL (71%) respondents.
- More than 8 in 10 business leaders (84%) are feeling the downsides of poor communication, with lower productivity, missed deadlines, and increased costs ranking as the top three.
- Workers report increased stress (+7% YoY) due to poor communication.
- Most leaders (60%) and nearly half (45%) of workers say personal connections have suffered in the hybrid workplace.
The Grammarly report also provides several recommendations to resolve business communication problems, including recognizing that effective communication drives revenues; prioritizing tone and quality of communications to make collaboration more productive; and rethinking investments in communication tools and platforms.
If you are interested in an in-depth discussion about these results, join Abbey Lunney and the Grammarly team at SXSW on March 10 at the Central District Brewery or — for those of you not attending SXSW this year — sign up for a live webinar March 22 (register here).
About The Harris Poll
The Harris Poll is one of the longest-running surveys in the U.S., tracking public opinion, motivations, and social sentiment since 1963, and is now part of Harris Insights & Analytics, a global consulting and market research firm that delivers social intelligence for transformational times. We work with clients in three primary areas: building 21st-century corporate reputation, crafting brand strategy and performance tracking, and earning organic media through public relations research. Our mission is to provide insights and guidance to help leaders make the best decisions possible. To learn more, please visit www.theharrispoll.com.
Contact Information:Madeleine Moench
madeleine@newswire.com
Original Source: The Harris Poll's Abbey Lunney to Speak at SXSW
