Dr. Stuart Miller, “the face of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at UConn,” retires after 40 years
In his 40 years as professor of Hebrew, History and Judaic Studies at the University of Connecticut, Dr. Stuart Miller has shared his knowledge of rabbinic Judaism and Greco-Roman Palestine with thousands of students and mentored numerous graduate students. He served as academic director of the UConn Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Life, helping to build the program that exists today.

Read the Southern New England Jewish Ledger article about Professor Miller's retirement.

Professor Miller was recently elected to the AAJR (American Academy of Jewish Research). Stuart's scholarship is widely recognized for its path-breaking contributions to the study of Greco-Roman Palestine and Rabbinic Judaism. During his four decades of service, he has been a devoted teacher to literally thousands of UConn students. Stuart was interviewed on the UConn 360 podcast this month, as he reflected on his years in Storrs and beyond. You can listen to the podcast here.In Spring 2023, we will host a scholarly symposium at UConn to celebrate Stuart’s many accomplishments with former colleagues and students.

His book publications include Studies in the History and Traditions of Sepphoris (E. J. Brill, 1984), Sages and Commoners in Late Antique ’Erez Israel: A Philological Inquiry into Local Traditions in Talmud Yerushalmi (Mohr-Siebeck, 2006), and At the Intersection of Texts and Material Finds: Stepped Pools, Stone Vessels, and Ritual Purity among the Jews of Roman Galilee, which appeared in 2015 in the Journal of Ancient Judaism Supplement Series (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht).

For more please visit: http://aajr.org/aajr-history/

Professor Susan Einbinder was recently elected to the AAJR (American Academy of Jewish Research). Susan's scholarship on medieval Jewish and European history and culture is widely recognized for its path-breaking contributions to the study of Jewish-Christian and Jewish-Muslim relations in the medieval period. Over the last two years, her scholarship on the Black Death and religious responses to pandemic and plague has attracted global interest and attention. Susan's newest book, Writing Plague: Jewish Responses to the Great Italian Plague, will be published by the University of Pennsylvania Press later this year. She has been the recipient of many prestigious awards and fellowships, including a Guggenheim, a fellowship from the Center for Advanced Studies at Princeton, and the National Humanities Center. 

For more please visit: http://aajr.org/aajr-history/

Congratulations to Associate Professor Sarah Willen whose book Fighting For Dignity: Migrant Lives at Israel’s Margins is the winner of the Association for Israel Studies Yonathan Shapiro Award for Best Book in Israel Studies published in 2019.

From the Association of Israel Studies:

The Association for Israel Studies annually awards the Shapiro Prize for the best book in Israel Studies published during the last calendar year. This award honors the memory of Yonathan Shapiro (1929-1997), one of Israel's most distinguished and influential sociologists. The award pays tribute to outstanding scholarship in the history, politics, society, law, economics, state, and culture of Israel and also the pre-1948 Jewish community in Palestine.

Willen's book provides a first-rate ethnographic account of migrant lives in Israel and the consequences of the Israeli state’s deportation policy that devastated Tel Aviv’s migrant communities and, in the process, violated the migrants’ human rights and human dignity. The book draws on more than twenty years of direct observation and engagement with migrants as well as Israeli activists. It makes a major contribution to the field of Israel Studies by combining scholarship of the highest standard with an argument that is both urgent and essential, reminding us of the importance of tolerance and understanding as fundamental values of the Jewish state and Israeli society.

The Marshall Sklare Award is given annually by the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ) to a senior scholar who has made a significant scholarly contribution to the social scientific study of Jewry, primarily through the publication of a body of research in books and articles or of published work related to public policy.

We are proud to share that Professor Emeritus Arnold Dashefsky, founder of the Center for Judaic Studies, will receive the Sklare Award this year for his career-long distinguished contributions to the field of sociology. Awardees are prolific scholars who have helped to shape the modern study of Jewish life. 

The Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry is a cross-disciplinary organization of individuals whose research concerns the Jewish people throughout the world. The ASSJ encourages and facilitates contact among researchers, supports the dissemination of research, and assists in the cultivation of younger scholars.