Scholar-in-Residence 2012
Smith Family Scholar-in Residence Program with Riv-Ellen Prell
March 31 through April 1, 2012
Please note: Childcare will be available for all Scholar-in-Residence Events
“A Vibrant American Jewish Culture: Historical Foundations and Contemporary Promises and Challenges”
Friday, March 30 – 6 p.m.
Services followed by Shabbat Dinner and An
Informal Conversation with Riv-Ellen Prell
Saturday, March 31- 9 a.m.
Sermon and Post-Kiddush Learning Event
Sunday, April 1 – 9 a.m.
Brunch and Learn
Riv-Ellen Prell, an anthropologist, is Professor of American Studies and affiliated with the Center for Judaic Studies and the Department of Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies at the University of Minnesota. She is the author of Prayer and Community: the Havurah in American Judaism, which was awarded the National Jewish Book Award for American Jewish Life, Fighting to Become Americans: Jews, Gender and the Anxiety of Assimilation, and editor of, among other works, Women Remaking American Judaism. She has published over 100 scholarly articles, essays, and reviews, as well as writing for a variety of Jewish publications on Jewish life and culture in the United States. Her research focuses on gender, women and family in American Jewish culture, and American Judaism and Jewish practices.
Professor Prell was a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania as well as a visiting faculty member and scholar-in-residence at Hebrew University, New York University, Vassar College, William and Mary, and the University of British Columbia among other institutions. She has also taught for many synagogues, Jewish foundations, and Jewish Community Centers.
In 2011 the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry honored her with the Marshal Sklare Award for distinguished achievement in scholarship and contribution to public policy. Her book, Baby Boomers and their Jewish Summer Camps: The Making of a Cultural Revolution, is forthcoming for New York University Press.