Colloquium

Graduate students involved with the Program in Jewish Studies or pursuing the Graduate Certificate meet three to four times each semester for an informal, works-in-progress colloquium. At each meeting, one or two students submit current projects鈥攁nything from a seminar paper or grant proposal to a dissertation chapter, conference presentation, or job application鈥攁nd the group provides feedback and reflects, more generally, on the type of project in question. Examples of topics covered include what makes for a successful grant proposal and how to deliver a paper to a conference audience drawn from diverse fields. The group also works together to develop strategies for effectively offering and receiving constructive criticism, a skill relevant in diverse professional contexts.

Participants in the colloquium are eligible for fellowships, research, and teaching opportunities offered by the Program in Jewish Studies. Students interested in joining the group should submit a short application (250-500 words) to our Director of Graduate Studies: the application should describe the student鈥檚 work, along with the connection between this work and the field of Jewish Studies.

In addition to the colloquium, Jewish Studies also offers at least one graduate-level course each semester. You can view a list of examples below and visit our Courses page to see what we are offering each upcoming semester.

  • Ethics, Medicine, and the Holocaust: Legacies in Health and Society
  • Russian Jewish Experience
  • History of Yiddish Culture
  • Modern European Jewish History
  • Readings in European History (depending on the semester syllabus)
  • Readings in Global History: Global History of Genocide (depending on the semester syllabus)
  •  Readings in Global History: Microhistory (depending on the semester syllabus)
  • God and Politics in Jewish and Christian Thought
  • Is God Dead?
  • Topics in Judaism
  • Literature and Culture of the United States: Mystics and Messiahs in Early America
  • Early 20th-Century German Society: The Ruins of Modernity
  • Mediterranean Religious Society
  • Medieval Spain: Religion, Culture and Ethnicity