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Doctoral & Postdoctoral Programs
The Mandel Center is home to some of the field's emerging thinkers via doctoral and postdoctoral programs.
Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
The Mandel Center builds capacity in the field of Jewish education by supporting scholars who have completed or are close to completing their doctoral dissertations in Education or Jewish Education at other universities. Postdoctoral fellows are full-time members of the Mandel Center staff, working on Center projects while also pursuing their own intellectual projects. The term of the fellowship is typically two years.
Postdoctoral Fellows
| 2011-12 | Tsafrir Goldberg Dissertation: "'Everyone knows that’s how things were': High school students’ history learning processes--Between collective memory narratives and disciplinary skills," The Hebrew University, 2006. |
| 2009-2011 | Renee Rubin Ross Dissertation: "Parental involvement and community cohesion at a Jewish, Catholic, and independent day school," New York University, 2009. |
| 2008-2009 | Inbar Galili-Schachter Dissertation: "Teachers and commentators: hermeneutics of teaching Jewish philosophy in secondary schools: Case Studies," Hebrew University, 2008 |
| 2006-2008 | Eran Tamir Dissertation: "The politics of education reform : state power and the field of educational policy in New Jersey," Michigan State University, 2006 |
| 2004-2006 | Susan M. Kardos Dissertation: "Supporting and sustaining new teachers in schools : the importance of professional culture and mentoring," Harvard University, 2004 |
Doctoral Program
Brandeis's Near Eastern and Jewish Studies Department (NEJS), with the support of the Mandel Center, offers a Jewish education track within the doctoral program in Jewish studies (itself one of three doctoral programs housed within the department). Appropriate candidates for the program arrive with an M.A. in education or another relevant field, and have research interests that align with the focus of the Mandel Center on teaching and learning in Jewish educational settings.
While at Brandeis, students are supervised by Mandel Center faculty, participate in research projects, and become active and valued members of the intellectual community at the Center.
The doctoral program is divided into three areas: coursework, comprehensive exams and the dissertation proposal, and the dissertation itself. Coursework includes classes at Brandeis in NEJS and other relevant departments, education or Jewish studies courses at area universities, independent studies or reading courses with the faculty of the Mandel Center or others, and the possibility of a semester or year abroad, either domestically or internationally.
Reading lists in general and Jewish education provide a broad basis for advanced work in the field as a candidate prepares their own specific literature review and methodological plan for their dissertation. The dissertation typically involves an empirical study of some aspect of teaching and learning in Jewish educational settings.