I am Irene Kaplan Leiwant Professor and Chair of Jewish Studies at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, MA.
I received my B.A. from Hampshire College and a Diploma in Jewish Studies from the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Judaic Studies. I am a Wexner Graduate Fellow and completed my doctorate in the Department of Religious Studies at Stanford University with a specialization in modern Jewish Thought.
I held the Hazel D. Cole Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Washington and the Jacob and Hilda Blaustein Post-doctoral Fellow in Judaic Studies at Yale University. Before joining Mount Holyoke College, I spent nine years on the faculty of the Religion Department at St. Olaf College, in Northfield, MN.
I was raised in Seattle, WA.
SELECTED HONORS, AWARDS, & FELLOWSHIPS
2019 The Obligated Self awarded the 2019 American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion, Constructive-Reflective category
2018 The Obligated Self named as finalist for the National Jewish Book Award
2017 Cashmere Subvention Grant in Jewish Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies
2014-15 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship
2014 Hadassah Brandeis Institute Research Award (Senior level)
2013 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Stipend
2011 Hadassah-Brandeis Institute Research Award (Junior level)
2010 Hadassah-Brandeis Institute: Rosalie Katchen Travel Grant