Student Awards Group Photo with professors Yael Zerubavel and Jeffrey Shandler

Amanda Cove received The Harold and Betty Perl Endowed Student Award. She is graduating with a double major in Jewish Studies and Political Science. This year, Amanda has been working at Sesame Street Workshop, interning in the Global Education, Research, and Outreach department, where she assists in developing and marketing educational materials to children and adults internationally. Upon graduation, Amanda hopes to continue this work and later pursue either an MBA or a graduate degree in education focusing on curriculum development and communication.

Bryce Diamond received The Barry and Deborah Venezia Adler International Study Scholarship which she will use to study in Salamanca, Spain this summer where she plans to improve her Spanish, explore Jewish life in Spain and examine Sephardic musical practices.

Shira Galler received the The Louis Fishman Memorial Student Award. She is a first semester senior with a Jewish Studies major and a minor in Organizational Leadership. Shira was nominated to become a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She is interested in working in the Jewish community upon graduation next January.

Jason Gosnell received The Baruch S. and Pearl W. Seidman Student Award. He is a first year graduate student, working on an MA in Jewish Studies. In February, Jason Gosnell delivered a talk entitled “Interpreting YHWH’s Space, an Examination of the Temples of the God of Israel” at the “Jewish Spaces, Jewish Places” conference, the second annual Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference in Jewish Studies, held at Carleton University in Ottawa. In May, he will deliver a revised version of the talk at an upcoming conference in Dublin. This summer, Jason will take two graduate courses at Tel-Aviv University.

Samuel Hollander received The Sandra and Stephen M.Greenberg Student Award. He is a junior with a double major in Jewish Studies and Psychology. Sam was nominated to become a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Upon graduation next year, Sam hopes to attend Rabbinical School at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Joshua Jeffreys received the Deborah S. and Herbert B. Wasserman Endowed Research Award. Josh is a first semester senior with a major in Jewish Studies and a minor in History. Josh is currently writing an honors thesis with Professor Azzan Yadin-Israel on the portrayal of King David in the Mishnah. Josh will be attending Hebrew University this summer where he will study Hebrew and pursue research for his honors thesis.

Hannah Johnson received The Gertrude and Jacob Henoch Memorial Student Award. Hannah is a junior with a double major in Jewish Studies and History. Hannah plans to write an honors thesis with Professor Paul Hanebrink on the Holocaust and heroes in film.

Ariel Lubow received The Bernice and Milton I. Luxemburg Student Award. She is a sophomore with a double major in Jewish Studies and Journalism & Media Studies. Ariel spent her freshman year studying and volunteering in Israel. She was recently elected to the Hillel student board.

Samuel Weiner received The Maurice Meyer III and Irma Meyer Endowed Student Award. He is graduating with a double major in Jewish Studies and Political Science and a minor in American Studies. Sam is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. This year Sam wrote a thesis entitled From Gush Emunim to the Yesha Council: The Pragmatic Rhetorical Shifts in the Leadership of the West Bank and Gaza Settler Movement from 1974-1981 with Professors Zerubavel and Sinkoff. For the next two years, Sam will be participating in the Teach for America program in the New York City region.

Guest Speaker Amy Weiss graduated summa cum laude from Rutgers College in 2005 with a double major in Jewish Studies and Sociology. In 2007, she received a Master’s degree in Interdepartmental Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the departments of History and Hebrew & Judaic Studies at New York University, where her dissertation examines the rise of American evangelical Protestant Zionists and their relationship with Jewish Zionists in the post-World War II period. Amy recently received NYU's Torch Prize Fellowship as well as the Sophie Bookhalter Fellowship in Jewish Culture at the Center for Jewish History for the 2012-2013 academic year.