Steinhardt Social Research Institute

Sunday, October 23, 2011

2:00 pm - 2:30 pm

Opening Session:  Introductions/Framing and Conference Goals (Mandel G12)
 
Speakers:  
 
Leonard Saxe (Brandeis University)
Harriet Hartman (Rowan University, ASSJ)

Plenary 1:  The Religious Landscape (Mandel G12)
 
Moderator:  Michael Feuer (George Washington University)
 
Speakers:
 

Charles Kadushin (Brandeis University)
Asking About Religion

Alan Cooperman/Greg Smith (Pew Forum)
How Unique are Jews (Demographically) in the US?

Debra Kaufman (Northeastern University)
Questions about the Meaning of Jewish Identity

Plenary 2:  Defining the Jewish Population and Focus of Jewish Socio-Demographic Research (Mandel G12)
 
Moderator:  Harriet Hartman (Rowan University, ASSJ)
 
Speakers:
 
Barry Kosmin (Trinity College)
A Flexible Classification System for American Jews in the 21^st Century:  Meeting the Challenge of Ideological and Sociological Diversity

Laurence Kotler-Berkowitz (Jewish Federations of North America)
Defining the Jewish Population:  Analytic and Policy Implications 

Benjamin Phillips (Abt-SRBI)
Finding Jews: Current Prospects and Future Opportunities

Bethamie Horowitz (New York University)
The Perils of Shifting from Individuals to Collectives in Changing Times

Dinner and Presentations (Mandel Atrium) (Registered participants only)
 
Social Scientific Research on American Jewry

Speaker: Uzi Rebhun (The Hebrew University) 

Honoree:  Sidney Goldstein (Brown University)

Barry Shrage (Combined Jewish Philanthropies)
Gary Rosenblatt (The Jewish Week)
The State of American Jewry and What Practitioners Need to Learn from Research

Monday, October 24, 2011

Continental Breakfast/Small Group Discussions (International Lounge)
 
Discussion Tables:
 
Gender Balance/Imbalance among Socio-Demographic Researchers

Standardizing Core Questions for Community Socio-Demographic Studies

Methods for Synthesizing Data across Studies

Funding for Research: Needs and Prospects

Assessing Jewish Political/Israel Attitudes

Plenary 3:  Community Studies (Rapaporte Treasure Hall)
 
Moderator:  Gil Preuss (Combined Jewish Philanthropies)
 
Speakers:
 
Ira Sheskin (University of Miami)
Uses of Local Jewish Community Study Data in an Era without a National Jewish Population Survey

Bruce Phillips (HUC-JIR, University of Southern California)
Using Local Jewish Community Studies for Academic Research

Matthew Boxer and Daniel Parmer (Brandeis University)
Challenges of Studying Small Communities and Seasonal Residents

David Dutwin (Social Science Research Solutions)
Error in Jewish Community Studies

Plenary 4:  Numbering the Jews (Rapaporte Treasure Hall)
 
Moderator:  Sylvia Barack Fishman (Brandeis University)
 
Speakers:
 
Sergio DellaPergola (The Hebrew University)
How Many Are We Today? The Demographic Perspective

Arnold Dashefsky (University of Connecticut, North American Jewish Databank)
Numbering American Jews:  A Composite Estimate 

Leonard Saxe (Brandeis University)
Creating Valid Estimates of the Size and Character of the American Jewish Population

Ariela Keysar (Trinity College)
Religious and Secular Jews

Lunch and Discussion of Institutional Data (International Lounge)

Sponsored by the JData Project funded by the Jim Joseph Foundation

Speaker: Fred Lawrence (President, Brandeis University)
 
Speaker:  Amy Sales (Brandeis University)
Discussant: Leora Isaacs (Jewish Education Service of North America)

Plenary 5:  Jewish Immigrant Groups in the United States (Rapaporte Treasure Hall)
 
Moderator: Steven Gold (Michigan State University)
 
Speakers:

Aviva Zeltzer-Zubida (Jewish Agency for Israel)
Affinities and Affiliations: The Many Ways of Being a Russian-Jewish-American

Yinon Cohen  (Columbia University)
Israeli Jews in the United States

Judit Bokser Liwerant (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
Latin American Jews in the U.S.: Community, Identity, and Belonging in Times of Transnationalism

Plenary 6:  Use of Knowledge by Researchers and Policy Makers (Rapaporte Treasure Hall)
 
Moderator:  Sarai Brachman Shoup (Berman Foundation)
 
Speakers:  
 
Steven M. Cohen (HUC-JIR, Berman Jewish Policy Archive)
Ideas and Ideology, Impact and Integrity: The Challenges of Conducting Effective Jewish Social Research in a Contested Community 

Shmuel Rosner (Jewish People Policy Institute)
Perplexed by the Numbers:  How Data are Used, Confused and Abused

Eetta Prince-Gibson (Jerusalem Report)
When Disciplines Interact 

Samuel Heilman (Queens College/CUNY)
A Journal Editor's Perspective

Sandy Cardin, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation 
The Open Source Challenge: Community-Wide Data Sharing Will Enhance Philanthropic and Nonprofit Impact 

The Future of Socio-Demographic Research on American Jewry (Rapaporte Treasure Hall)

Moderator:

Jonathan D. Sarna (Brandeis University)