Mandel Center Researcher Wins Glatzer Prize
Dr. Orit Kent studies with fellow researcher Elie Holzer.
Dr. Orit Kent is awarded Prize for her Dissertation work
September 1, 2009
WALTHAM, Mass. – The Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education congratulates Senior Research Associate Orit Kent on receiving the 2009 Glatzer Prize for her exceptional dissertation.
The award, presented to Dr. Kent in May by the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis, recognizes Dr. Kent’s dissertation: “Interactive Text Study and the Co-construction of Meaning: Havruta in the DeLeT Beit Midrash." Dr. Kent's work responds to the problem that, while hevruta is being used in a wide range of educational settings in the United States, it has not been systematically studied to understand how learners work together, how they interpret the text, and how their learning is supported or constrained.
Dr. Kent’s research demonstrates the complexity of havruta and provides a theory of havruta learning, highlighting six central practices -- listening, articulating, wondering, focusing, supporting and challenging -- and their interplay. Dr. Kent probes some of the ways in which havruta as practiced by adult learners has the potential to engage students in generative, textually grounded interpretations of classical Jewish texts, as well as missed opportunities. Her ideas can help educators better name for their students what good havruta learning looks like and help their students better achieve constructive havruta conversations, as well as provide other researchers with a framework for further study of this complex and rich phenomena. The dissertation situates her theory of havruta learning in scholarly ideas about learning, text study and progressive education. Dr. Kent based her research on data she gathered in the Beit Midrash for Teachers at the Mandel Center, which she co-designed and has taught since 2003.
“Her work is highly original and made a significant contribution to the field,” says Jon A. Levisohn, acting director of the Mandel Center and a member of Dr. Kent’s committee of examiners. “The dissertation brings to bear theoretical literature from disparate fields in order to understand a central Jewish educational phenomenon. Dr. Kent’s extremely close and careful analysis of empirical data generates a nuanced theory of hevruta that has immediate implications for practice.” The Mandel Center also awarded Dr. Kent with a writing fellowship to support the development of this dissertation.
The Glatzer Prize is awarded each year to the most exceptional doctoral dissertation in the NEJS Department that year. Dr. Kent shares the 2009 prize with Karen Auerbach. The prize is named for Nahum Glatzer, who served as the Philip W. Lown Professor of Jewish Thought and as Chairman of the Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department at Brandeis from 1957 to 1969. Glatzer played a vital role in the shaping and development of the department. The prize has been awarded each May for more than 10 years.