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University at Albany Hillel Convenes Summit on Capital District Jewish Campus Life
August 14, 2007Comments (0) | Add | E-mail this to a friend
Participants of University of Albany Hillel's Summit on Capital District Jewish Campus Life. The University at Albany Hillel and the United Jewish Federation of Northeastern NY convened the first Summit on Capital District Jewish Campus Life last month at the Golub Center in Albany.
“The summit was an opportunity for all stakeholders committed to student life to contribute their time, energy and excitement to improving the Jewish community on campuses throughout the capital region,” said Ilene Sykes, president of the United Jewish Federation of Northeastern NY and summit co-chair.
Participants included John Egan, commissioner for the New York State Office of General Services, and Dr. James Anderson and Christine Bouchard of UAlbany’s Department for Student Success. Representatives of other stakeholders also attended, including UAlbany Department of Judaic Studies and Center for Jewish Studies; Shabbos House/Chabad; JERNY: Jewish Educational Resources of New York; and local Jewish community leaders.
“Our students are the next generation of community and Jewish leaders and we are privileged to have such excellent partners as we vision for the future of our community,” said Summit Co-Chair Karen Hausler.
According to UAlbany Hillel Director of Jewish Student Life Aviva Snyder, approximately one-third of the university’s student body, or 5,300 students, are Jewish, with another 1,200 Jewish students attending surrounding campuses. Of particular note are the 1,800 Jewish graduate students at UAlbany which is the largest percentage of Jewish graduate students among U.S. public universities.
“There is a natural partnership between the Jewish Federation and Hillel surrounding the engagement of the graduate student population in the Capital District, with the intention to help keep Jewish professionals in the local area,” said Rodney Margolis, executive director of the United Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York.
Snyder expressed Hillel’s desire to create a Hillel in Albany that will be one of the finest among its peers. She noted that a model for such success is Hillel at Binghamton where a new Hillel grew to provide exceptional service to a large Jewish student population within a short five-year period.
Former assistant director of the Hillel at Binghamton Brian Cohen shared his experience in developing that Hillel as well his current work as executive director of the University of Virginia Hillel. Kerry Newman, current director of development for Hillel at Binghamton, discussed current Hillel activities on that campus.
Stakeholders left the meeting with a commitment to develop a work plan to advance Jewish student life in and around Albany.
“It was inspirational to see how vibrant Jewish student life is in the capital district and how committed the local volunteer leadership is to making Hillel at UAlbany one of the finest in our system,” said Tom Blumberg, chair of Hillel’s New York Committee and member of Hillel’s Board of Directors. “It was a privilege and honor for me to attend and observe first-hand the enthusiasm and focused energy of the Capital District Jewish community. It will be exciting and rewarding to watch the progress of UAlbany's Hillel in the future.”
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