Dr. Ellen Umansky is the Carl and Dorothy Bennett Professor of Judaic Studies

Jewish studies

Jewish studies is an academic discipline centered on the study of Jews and Judaism. Jewish studies is interdisciplinary and combines aspects of history , religious studies, archeology, sociology, languages , political science, area studies, women's studies, and ethnic studies...

 and Director of the Carl and Dorothy Bennett Center for Judaic Studies at Fairfield University

Fairfield University

Fairfield University is a private, co-educational undergraduate and master's level teaching-oriented university located in Fairfield, Connecticut, in the New England region of the United States. It was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1942, and today is one of 28 member institutions of the...

 located in Fairfield, Connecticut

Fairfield, Connecticut

Fairfield is a town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is bordered by the towns of Bridgeport, Trumbull, Easton, Redding and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. As of the 2010 census, the town had a population of 59,404...

.

Before coming to Fairfield University, Dr. Umansky taught at various institutions including Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

, Vassar College

Vassar College

Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...

 and Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Currently, she serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion and on the Academic Advisory Boards of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York City and the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives.

In 2003, Dr. Umansky was named the first 'Woman of Distinction' by the Women's Auxiliary of the Jewish Home for the Elderly of Fairfield County. And in 2005, the Connecticut Jewish Ledger

Jewish Ledger

The Jewish Ledger is Connecticut's only weekly Jewish newspaper.It was founded in April 1929 by Samuel Neusner and Rabbi Abraham Feldman. Berthold Gaster, whose father had survived the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps, became the newspaper's managing editor in 1958...

recognized Dr. Umansky as a "mover and shaker" in the local Jewish community.

Education

Dr. Umansky received her B.A. from Wellesley College; M.A. from the Yale Divinity School

Yale Divinity School

Yale Divinity School is a professional school at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. preparing students for ordained or lay ministry, or for the academy...

; and her M.Phil. and Ph.D. in religion from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

in 1981.

External links

• Carl & Dorothy Bennett Center for Judaic Studies