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Shulamit Reinharz, Co-Director
Shulamit Reinharz was born in Amsterdam. Her parents – refugees from Germany - had been in hiding throughout the war in Holland and were among the 10% of the Jews who survived. Shula grew up in New Jersey, received her B.A. from Barnard College and her Ph.D. from Brandeis University. She was on the faculty of the University of Michigan for 10 years, and then returned to Brandeis as a professor of sociology. 

In the 1990’s Professor Reinharz directed the Women's Studies Program at Brandeis University. Among many other innovations created its graduate program and its program in the prevention of violence against women.  She also founded the first graduate program in Jewish Women’s Studies in the world.

Professor Reinharz chaired Hadassah's National Commission on American Jewish Women in 1993. Subsequently, Hadassah established the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, which Shula heads to this day.

In 2001 she opened the Women’s Studies Research Center in a 10,000 square foot facility that she designed and for which she raised all the funds. 

The holder of the Jacob Potofsky Chair of Sociology, Professor Reinharz is the author or co-author of ten books including most recently, The JGirls Guide ( a finalist for the Koret Prize) and the highly praised American Jewish Women and the Zionist Enterprise. With her husband and an Israeli colleague, an annotated volume of the letters of Manya Shohat, one of the founders of Israel.

As of September 2005, Shula has written a weekly column for The Jewish Advocate, the Boston area Jewish newspaper.  Shulamit Reinharz is the mother of two daughters and is married to Jehuda Reinharz, the president of Brandeis University. 


Sylvia Barack Fishman, Co-Director
Sylvia Barack Fishman is a professor of Contemporary Jewish Life in the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis University, and also co-director of the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. Both of her books, The Way Into the Varieties of Jewishness (Jewish Lights Publishing, 2006) and Double Or Nothing? Jewish Families and Mixed Marriage, (Brandeis University Press, 2004) have been the subject of lively discussion by scholars and Jewish communal professionals. Prof. Fishman is the author of numerous articles on Jewish education, the American Jewish family, changing roles of Jewish women, and American Jewish literature, film and popular culture, as well as three previous books: Follow My Footprints: Changing /images of Women in American Jewish Fiction; A Breath of Life: Feminism in the American Jewish Community; and Jewish Life and American Culture . Prof. Fishman received her BA from Stern College at Yeshiva University, which awarded the Samuel Belkin Prize for Distinguished Professional Achievement, and her Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, which awarded her a Danforth Graduate Fellowship.


Lindsey Fieldman, Director of Communications and Marketing
Lindsey Fieldman joined the HBI in November, 2005. Most recently, she managed the marketing and sales for JVibe, a magazine for Jewish teens. Lindsey received her B.A. in Humanities from Arizona State University, and is currently studying for her M.S. in Communications and Management at Simmons College.  Lindsey manages the marketing and communications for HBI, including branding, public relations and event promotion.


Debby Olins, Program Manager
Debby Olins joined the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute in 2000, after spending eleven years in London where she worked for a major exhibition organizer. She holds Bachelors degree from Connecticut College, and a Masters degree from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Debby manages three key HBI programs: Research Awards, Scholar-in-Residence Program, and Lily Safra Internship Program. In addition, she has played a major role in the development of the HBI calendar project and companion exhibits.

Rosalind Landman, Communications Coordinator
Rosalind Landman is the Communications Coordinator at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute.  She joined HBI in September 2006 and is a graduate from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst where she received her B.A. in Music, Theatre and Film Studies.  Rosalind coordinates HBI's annual calendar, the HBI's traveling exhibits, and maintains the HBI website.  Additionally, she works with the Communications and Marketing Director on marketing and PR activities.


Sarah Twichell, Office Coordinator
Sarah Twichell joined the HBI in April of 2006 after working in administrative positions at a variety of non-profit and educational organizations.  She holds a bachelor's degree from the Hartt School and an M.A, from Tufts University.  Sarah handles event planning and general administrative tasks for the HBI.


Lisa Fishbayn, Director of the Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law
Dr. Lisa Fishbayn is Director of the Project on Gender, Culture, Religion and the Law at the Hadassah Brandeis Institute and a Visiting Scholar at the Women's Studies Research Center at Brandeis University.  After completing her doctoral work at Harvard Law School, she taught family law, legal theory and the philsophy of multiculturalism in the Faculty of Laws, University College London.  She has published articles on gender and culture issues in constitutional law, political philsophy and policy.  Her current work examines the intersection of civil and religious law in the struggle to find remedies for the agunah problem.


Michelle Cove, Editor-in-Chief of 614: THE HBI EZINE
Michelle Cove has been writing and editing for national magazines and websites for over 15 years, including her positions as Editor-in-Chief of JVibe (the national magazine for Jewish teens), Senior Editor for Girls' Life, and Senior Editor of Mother Earth News. In 2006, she started a blog for Jewish Women's Archive called Jewesses with Attitude, geared to 20- and 30-something Jewish women. In 1999, Michelle co-authored the national bestseller I?m Not Mad, I Just Hate You!: A new understanding of mother-daughter conflict, published by Viking. Michelle has freelance written articles for numerous publications including Family Fun, Psychology Today, Success, and Body & Soul.


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