Muhlenberg Partners with Jewish Theological Seminary
Muhlenberg College and the Albert A. List College of Jewish Studies at the Jewish Theological Seminary have entered into a partnership that will provide semester-long study opportunities for Muhlenberg students at JTS in New York City.Thursday, January 20, 2011 11:45 AM
The College already operates a successful off-campus study program with study abroad agreements with 153 schools around the world. It also offers a business semester at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, a London Theatre Semester at Goldsmith’s College, and a popular Washington, DC, semester. In addition, Muhlenberg has health professions partnerships with Drexel University, Temple University and Thomas Jefferson University; an optometry partnership with the State University of New York College of Optometry; and a combined program in engineering with Columbia University.
"This new opportunity for our students to spend a semester at JTS will expose them to a wide range of world-class Jewish Studies course offerings,” said Dr. Hartley Lachter, Director of Muhlenberg’s Jewish Studies program. “The chance to spend a semester in New York in dialogue with preeminent scholars and engaged students in the field will certainly enhance their four year experience. I think it will prove to be an important component of our Jewish Studies program as we move into the future."
Muhlenberg, which boasts a vibrant Jewish life on campus, was the first liberal arts college in the nation to receive Foundation status from Hillel International. It dedicated a new Hillel House in 2000. The Hillel House is currently undergoing a major renovation and addition. The dedication of the new Hillel facility is slated for Feb. 26, 2011. Currently, more than one-third of the student body at Muhlenberg is Jewish. Muhlenberg has the fifth highest percentage of Jewish students of any college or university in the nation.
“I am so pleased that we will have the opportunity to welcome Muhlenberg students to JTS each spring for a semester of intensive Jewish studies,” says Dr. Shuly Rubin Schwartz, the Irving Lehrman Research Associate Professor of American Jewish History and Walter and Sarah Schlesinger Dean of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies at JTS. “The terrific students attracted to Muhlenberg’s fine liberal arts institution and excellent Jewish Studies program will find multiple avenues for enrichment through their experiences with JTS faculty and students in the classroom, in our residence hall and in New York City. And, the JTS community will benefit immeasurably from their involvement in our community.”
About Muhlenberg College: Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Muhlenberg experience is characterized by a deep sense of community and connection, intense student-faculty relationships and collaboration; small classes; passionate teaching and active learning; and powerful outcomes in terms of graduate school and entry-level career placement.
About the Jewish Theological Seminary: The Jewish Theological Seminary, one of the world’s leading centers of Jewish learning, integrates rigorous academic scholarship and teaching with a commitment to strengthening Jewish tradition, Jewish lives, and Jewish communities. JTS articulates and transmits a vision of Judaism that is learned and passionate, pluralist and authentic, traditional and egalitarian; one that is thoroughly grounded in Jewish texts, history, and practices, and fully engaged with the societies and cultures of the present. The leaders trained by JTS—rabbis, cantors, scholars, educators, communal professionals, and lay activists imbued with this vision and prepared to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century—serve Conservative Judaism, the vital religious center for North American Jewry, and our society as a whole.
