Jewish Studies Faculty

Boaz Atzili Professor SIS | Foreign Policy & Global Security

Dr. Boaz Atzili is a political scientist who researches and teaches international politics. His interest is in international security with an emphasis on the politics of borders, borderlands and terri…

Ìý atzili@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-1648

Michael Brenner Distinguished Professor of History and Abensohn Chair in Israel Studies CAS | History

Michael Brenner is the Seymour and Lillian Abensohn Chair in Israel Studies and Director of AU’s Center for Israel Studies. He received his PhD at Columbia University and taught previously at Indiana …

Ìý mbrenner@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2752

Max Paul Friedman Professor CAS | History

Max Paul Friedman joined the History Department at American University in 2007 and holds a joint appointment as Professor of International Relations in the School of International Service. From July 2…

Ìý friedman@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2613

Gershon Greenberg Professor CAS | Philosophy/Religion

Gershon Greenberg is the author of three definitive bibliographies of religious thought and the Holocaust, and numerous articles on German-Jewish philosophy, history of Jewish thought in America and r…

Ìý greenbe@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2912

Alan Kraut Distinguished Professor CAS | History

Alan M. Kraut is University Professor of History at American University and a non-resident fellow of the Migration Policy Institute. Specializing in immigration and ethnic history and the history of m…

Ìý akraut@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2410

Lisa Leff Professor CAS | History

Lisa Leff is a historian of European and Jewish history, specializing in the history of Jews in France. She is the author of Sacred Bonds of Solidarity: The Rise of Jewish Internationalism in Nineteen…

Ìý leff@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2401

Allan Lichtman Distinguished Professor CAS | History

Allan J. Lichtman received his PhD from Harvard University in 1973 with a specialty in modern American history and quantitative methods. He became an Assistant Professor of History at American Univers…

Ìý lichtman@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2411

Pamela Nadell Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women's and Gender History CAS | History

Pamela S. Nadell holds the Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women's and Gender History and is Director of the Jewish Studies Program. A specialist in American Jewish history and women’s history, she teaches…

Ìý pnadell@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-2425

Aaron Posner Professor CAS | Performing Arts

Aaron Posner is an award-winning director, playwright, teacher, and former Artistic Director of Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre and New Jersey’s Two River Theatre. He has directed more than 150 productio…

Ìý posner@american.edu

Lauren Strauss Senior Professorial Lecturer, Dir. of Undergraduate Studies for Jewish Studies CAS | History

Dr. Lauren B. Strauss is a professor of modern Jewish history, specializing in American Jewish cultural and political history. She has taught for twenty years at universities in the Washington, D.C. a…

Ìý strauss@american.edu

Adjunct Faculty

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Post Doctoral Fellow

Julie Keresztes Postdoctoral Fellow CAS | History

Dr. Julie KeresztesÌýis a historian of modern Germany who specializes in the Third Reich and the Holocaust. She isÌýthe 2022-2025 American University and Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Center for Advan…

Ìý keresztes@american.edu

Emerita/us Faculty

Richard Breitman Distinguished Prof Emeritus

Richard Breitman is the author or co-author of twelve books and many articles in German history, US history, and the Holocaust. His books The Architect of Genocide: Himmler and the Final Solution (New…

Ìý rbreit@american.edu

Caleen Jennings Prof Emerita

Caleen Sinnette Jennings is Professor of Theatre Emerita. She joined the faculty in 1989, directed for the main stage and taught thirteen different courses in the theatre and general education program…

Ìý (202) 885-3430

Myra Sklarew Prof Emerita

Myra Sklarew was educated at Tufts University and the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University. She studied bacterial viruses and genetics at Cold Spring Harbor Biological Laboratory with Salvador…

Ìý msklarew@american.edu

Russell Stone Prof Emeritus

Russell A. Stone has research and teaching interests that include development, public opinion, social change, Middle Eastern and Third World societies, and environmental sociology. He has published on…

Ìý rstone@american.edu

Howard Wachtel Prof Emeritus

Howard M. Wachtel received his Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan following on an MA from the University of Connecticut and an undergraduate degree from Temple University. He joined the…

Ìý wachtel@american.edu

Affiliated Faculty

Keith Darden Associate Professor SIS | Politics, Governance & Economics

Prof. Darden’s research focuses on nationalism, state-building, and the politics of Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia. His forthcoming book, Resisting Occupation in Eurasia (Cambridge University Pres…

Nathalie Japkowicz Professor CAS | Computer Science

Nathalie Japkowicz is a Professor of Computer Science at American University. She was previously with the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Ottawa where she le…

Ìý japkowic@american.edu

Ìý (202) 885-6486