Cohen Center's Charles Kadushin to receive the Marshall Sklare Award

Charles Kadushin

Charles Kadushin, a distinguished scholar at the Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Studies, and a visiting research professor in the Department of Sociology, will be honored with the Marshall Sklare Award at the Association for Jewish Studies' annual meeting this weekend.

The Sklare Award is given annually by the Association for the Scientific Study of Jewry (ASSJ) to a senior scholar who has made a significant academic contribution to the social scientific study of Jewry. Kadushin, who is being recognized for his work on social networks, will deliver an address and receive the award on Sunday, Dec. 20.

“This is a great surprise since I am relatively new to this field,” Kadushin said. “I started about 15 years ago when a few colleagues, and notably Len Saxe, got me interested in contemporary Jewish studies. The Cohen Center gave me a home to work in this area and provided opportunities for research.”

The annual award is named in memory of former Brandeis faculty member Marshall Sklare (1912-1992), who is credited with being the “founding father of American Jewish sociology."

Kadushin is a pioneer of the social network field. His book, “Making Connections: An Introduction to Social Networks Concepts, Theories and Findings,” will be published by Oxford University Press in late spring, 2010. He has conducted many large survey research projects including elite studies and a congressionally mandated study of the adjustment of Vietnam Veterans. His work with the Cohen Center currently includes surveys of Jewish populations and evaluation studies.

Kadushin is the third Brandeis faculty member to receive the Marshall Sklare Award, after Bernard Reisman, professor emeritus and former director of the Hornstein Program in Jewish Communal Service, and Jonathan Sarna, the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History.