Gleanings: Portraits of Jewish Educational Leadership from the William Davidson School

Welcome from the Dean

Shira D. Epstein, EdD

I am delighted to welcome you to the January 2022 issue of Gleanings: Portraits of Jewish Educational Leadership from the William Davidson School. This recently revamped format remains true to the original vision of Gleanings, “introducing the cutting-edge principles, concepts, and programs that continue to be developed and implemented by the WDS” through profiles of educational leaders who are impacting the field. The theme of this issue, “Social and Emotional Learning in Jewish Education” highlights four changemakers across Jewish educational settings—in Jewish summer camps, afterschool learning, teacher training, and higher education.

Learning and Meaning-Making at JTS and Beyond

From training hundreds of educators in the theory and practice of social and emotional learning to conducting field-building research in Jewish education, Dr. Jeff Kress now brings his expertise to his work across JTS.

Making Joyful Learning an Active Experience

Nancy Parkes’s commitment to social, emotional, and spiritual learning embodies her own personal experience as an elite athlete and trainer who recognized the power of the mind-body connection.

Social and Emotional Learning and Camp: A Perfect Fit

Leaving her career in television for soul-filling work in the field of Jewish camp, Jill Goldstein Smith embarked on graduate work in Jewish education and discovered how social and emotional learning could help nurture stronger, more resilient learners and communities.

An Accelerator for Jewish Placemaking

Concepts from social and emotional learning influence every aspect of Beverly Socher-Lerner’s work, including how she approaches family education. Creating a totally innovative approach to Jewish afterschool, she focused on meeting the needs of parents and children and building structures and routines that allow for self-reflection, meaning-making, and community-building. Beverly Socher-Lerner started Makom Community, a […]

News from William Davidson School Alumni

We are delighted that so many William Davidson School alumni responded to our call for professional updates! The expansive listing below is inclusive of alumni in our academic programs (MA, executive doctoral), as well as our field-based instructional leadership programs. If you have an update that you would like to share in the next issue, please reach out to Melissa Friedman, Director of Alumni Affairs at mefriedman@jtsa.edu.