Graduation 2019-2020

Kate Anne Sadow
Kate is currently pursuing a BA in Jewish Studies and is this year's recipient of the Jewish Studies Freshman & Sophomore Scholarship, which recognizes the academic merit of freshman and sophomore students pursuing a Jewish Studies major or minor. Kate is part of the Program in Jewish Studies because it is important for them to learn about culture and history so they can then pass on that knowledge while working with children.

Rachel Halmrast
Rachel is one of this year's recipients of the Jewish Studies Adopt-A-Student Scholarship and will benefit from tuition assistance and the opportunity to build a relationship with our generous donors, Wayne and Jane Zirkin.

Jenna Solomon
Jenna is a double major in Political Science and Jewish Studies and also pursuing a certificate in Public Health. She is one of this year's recipients of the Jewish Studies Adopt-A-Student Scholarship and will benefit from tuition assistance and the opportunity to build a relationship with our generous donors, John and Kathy Rosenbloom. Jenna enjoys being part of Jewish Studies at CU because of the genuine connections she has made with classmates, professors, and the administration. "I feel like the Program in Jewish Studies is a family and, as an out of state student, I feel very grateful to be a part of this program."

Sarah Schleifer
Sarah is currently a major in English Literature, a minor in Jewish Studies, and pursuing a certificate in Peace, Conflict, and Security Studies. The Katherine Jacob Lamont Scholarship will support her academic work at CU. Sarah says that it has always been important for her to learn about her Jewish heritage, even more so in an academic context, "The Program in Jewish Studies has given me the opportunity to learn about Judaism and Jewish life and culture through time and space, as well as my community, my history, and myself." Sarah is also passionate about restorative justice and worked with CU Boulder's Restorative Justice Program this past spring semester.

Jenna Solomon
Jenna is a double major in Political Science and Jewish Studies and also pursuing a certificate in Public Health. In addition to her Adopt-A-Student Scholarship, she received the Barry and Sue Baer Undergraduate Scholarship, which will support her in her academic endeavors. In addition to her other accomplishments, Jenna has served on the Jewish Studies Student Advisory Board since Fall 2017. Through this position, she has thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the PJS community and creating events empowering students to learn and engage with the program.

Gregg Drinkwater
Gregg recently completed his PhD in U.S. History with a focus on American Judaism, sexuality, and gender in the twentieth century and a certificate in Jewish Studies. The Barry and Sue Baer Graduate Fellowship helped him cover costs to attend the annual conference of the Association for Jewish Studies. At the conference, Gregg spoke on a panel on sexuality, politics, and American Judaism and presented a paper on the relationships between U.S.-based gay and lesbian Jewish groups, Israel, and Zionism from the 1970s through the early 1990s.

Adi Nester
Adi is graduating with her PhD in German Studies and a certificate in Jewish Studies. The Barry and Sue Baer Graduate Fellowship also helped Adi attend the annual Association for Jewish Studies conference, where she presented a paper on a panel on new perspectives on Holocaust Representation in literature and music.

Adi Nester
This year, Adi also received the Ulrich Goldsmith Memorial Prize. This rewards academic writing on a topic pertaining to any aspect of German-Jewish culture in the pre- or post-World War II period. Adi's essay, "The End of Abstraction and the Beginning of the People: On Law and Representation in Arnold Schoenberg's Moses und Aron," has been published in The German Quarterly. 

Meg Madorin
Meg is currently an MFA candidate in Dance. Her research interests involve the body’s role in consciousness and the perception of identity. While working in the PHAJ Collections, she will look at how 20th-century Jewish-American experiences of "otherness" have filtered into later generations' racial identity. Meg says was drawn to the PHAJ Collections because of the Program in Jewish Studies' diligent attention to embodiment. She feels that she is finding a marriage of these two ideas in Jewish Studies, due to their significant resources on Jewish life in the Collections, and their focus on embodiment. She looks forward to performing this research from the lens of psychology and the body, learning not just what was thought about identity during this period, but how it felt.

Tiffany Beebe
Tiffany is currently a PhD candidate in History. Her dissertation looks at Jewish refugee industrialists to Britain in the 1930s and 1940s who moved their businesses from the Continent to the "Special Areas" of Britain – the areas designated by the government as most in need of extra assistance recovering from the Great Depression. Tiffany will use the Mazal Collection to study antisemitism in modern Britain. Her project takes the Irving v. Lipstadt trial over Holocaust denial as a starting point, working through issues such as the role of the internet and social media, and ends with the accusations of antisemitism in the Labour party and its role in recent elections.