Religion Studies Department
JESSICA SARAH COOPERMAN
Posen Post-Doctoral Fellow
Department of Religion Studies
Muhlenberg College
2400 Chew Street
Allentown, PA 18104-5586
Phone: (484) 664-3957
Email: Cooperman@muhlenberg.edu
EDUCATION
New York University, New York, NY.
Joint Doctoral Degree Program in European History and Hebrew and Judaic Studies
Ph.D. in Modern Jewish History
Dissertation Title: “A Little Army Discipline Would Improve the Whole House of Israel:” The Jewish Welfare Board, State Power and the Shaping of Jewish Identity in WWI America
Dissertation Advisor: Professor Hasia DinerM.A. in Hebrew and Judaic Studies - Modern Jewish History May 2001
M.A. in Modern European History May 1999University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. 1987 - 1991
B.A. in Philosophy, Concentration in Art History
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Modern Jewish History, Modern European History, World War I, Progressive Era politics, diaspora studies, Zionism, nationalism, gender and masculinity, citizenship, interfaith movements, Holocaust Studies and military history.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA.
• Posen Foundation Teaching Fellow in Jewish Studies 2007-2011
Designed and introduced new courses intended to expand Muhlenberg College’s program in Jewish Studies. Courses include: “Jewish Experience in a Secular Age” , “American Jewish Life and Culture” and “From Zion to Zionism: A History of Jewish Nationalism”. Sponsored and organized campus wide-lectures on Jewish history and secular Jewish culture.
•Instructor, History Department Fall 2010
"Creating the Nation: A History of Nations and Nationalism."
•Instructor, Religion Studies Department 2006-2010
“The Holocaust: History and Meaning.”
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA.
•Instructor, 2006-2007
“The Holocaust and Its Impact."
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY.
•Adjunct Instructor, Spring 2005
“The Holocaust.” Co-designed and taught advanced seminar on the Holocaust.
•Participant, Spring 2005
NEH Sponsored Educators’ Seminar on the Holocaust
•Lecturer/Guide March 2003
“The Jews of East Central Europe.” Assisted in leading a student trip to Vienna, Prague, and Budapest and lectured on the history of the Jews of Central Europe.
The Center for Jewish History, Samberg Family History Program, New York, NY
•Program Manager 2004 – 2005
Lead Instructor of intensive seminar on Jewish History and Genealogy for high school students. Taught and designed seminars on European and American Jewish history, assisted students in independent genealogical and archival research, organized evening programs, guest speakers, and student field-trips. Successfully implemented student outreach and recruitment.
New York University, New York, NY.
•Instructor, Summer 2004
" “The Holocaust: The Third Reich and the Jews.”
•Instructor, Summer 2001
"Western Civilization: European History from the French Revolution to 1945.”
•Teaching Assistant to Professor Hasia Diner Spring 2001
“Human Migration.”
•Teaching Assistant to Professor Katherine Fleming Fall 2000
“Conversations of the West: Antiquity and the Enlightenment.”
•Instructor, 1998 - 2000
“Expository Writing, Writing Workshop I & II.”
The Remarque Institute, New York University, New York NY 2001 - 2005
Worked with Prof. Tony Judt to organize the Remarque Institute Forum, a meeting of cultural and intellectual leaders from across Europe and North America. Assisted Prof. Judt at Forums held in June 2003, on “The Future of the West”; and in November 2004, on “Faith and the State: The Politics of Religion Today.”
The Renaissance Society of America, New York, NY. 2000 – 2003
Copy editor for Renaissance Society publications, including “The Poetic Works of Helius Eobanus Hessus,” Harry Vredeveld, Ed., and “Renaissance Quarterly Journal.”
New York University Archives, New York, NY. Summer 2000
Archival Assistant at the NYU Archives; worked on cataloguing and processing special collections.
WNET Public Television, New York, NY. 1997 - 1998
Researcher and writer for the PBS Heritage Series “Civilization and the Jews.”
Yad VaShem Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Memorial 1995 - 1996
Jerusalem, Israel.
Instructor, Education Department. Worked with student groups studying the Holocaust and 20th century Jewish and Israeli history.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. 1995 - 1996
Research Assistant to Prof. Yitzchak Reiter, Department of Middle Eastern Studies. Prepared maps and conducted research on Jewish holy sites in connection with Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian proposal for the future joint administration of holy sites in Jerusalem.
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
Association for Jewish Studies 2008
Graduate Student Conference Travel Grant for 40th Annual Conference in Washington D.C.
The Posen Foundation for Secular Jewish Culture 2007-2009
Awarded a teaching fellowship designed to introduce three new courses in Secular Jewish Culture into the Jewish Studies curriculum at Muhlenberg College, to work with librarians to expand library collections in Jewish Studies, and to organize lectures and events to increase the visibility of Jewish studies on the Muhlenberg campus.
The German Historical Institute, Washington, DC. Spring 2004
Awarded a fellowship for dissertation research at National Archives and NY Public Library.
The America Jewish Archives, Hebrew Union College Cincinnati, Ohio 2003-2004
Received a Jacob Rader Marcus Fellowship to conduct dissertation research using the extensive collection of materials on American Jewry at the American Jewish Archives.
The Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture, January 2004
University of Leipzig, Germany.
Invited to the Simon Dubnow Center as a visiting Graduate Student Fellow (declined).
Trans-Atlantic Summer Institute, University of Minnesota, Summer 2003
Ludwig Maximilian Universität, Munich, Germany, DAAD.
Invited to Munich to participate in a seminar on German Citizenship in the 20th Century.
The Center for Jewish History, New York, NY. 2002 - 2003
Granted a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship to conduct research at the archives of the American Jewish Historical Society and the Leo Baeck Institute.
The Remarque Institute, New York University, New York, NY. 2001 – 2003
Awarded a Graduate Student Fellowship to support dissertation research and to assist in the organization and selection of participants for the Remarque Institute Forum.
The Remarque Institute, New York University, New York, NY.
Summer Travel Grant Summer 2003
To conduct dissertation research at the Neue Synagogue, Centrum Judaicum in Berlin, and the Militärgeschichtliche Forschungsamt in Potsdam, Germany.
American Academy of Jewish Research June 2001
Graduate Student Summer Seminar at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY.
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. June 1991
Philip Goldfein, Class of 1926 Prize for best student paper on Shakespeare.
PUBLICATIONS
Book Manuscript in Progress: Serving our Boys: World War I Jewish Soldiers'
Welfare Programs and the Evolution of American Religious Plurialsim
"The Great Migration and the transformation of American Jewry," in History of
Jews and Judaism, ed. Alan Levenson (Wiley-Blackwell, forthcoming).
"Jewish Immigration 1870-1940," co-authored with Shira Kohn, in Encylopedia of Immigration, ed. Elliott Barkan (ABC-Clio, forthcoming).
Review of Translating a Tradition. Studies in American Jewish History, forthcoming.
Review of Forward: Immigrants, Socialism and Jewish Politics in New York, 1890-1917, by Ehud Manor, American Jewish History, forthcoming.
Review of Jewish Preaching in times of War, 1800-2001, by Marc Saperstein,
American Jewish Archives Journal 62, no.1 (October 2010).
CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
The Faiths of Democracy: World War I and the Origins of a "Judeo-Christian" America. Conference of the Association of Jewish Studies, Boston, MA, Scheduled for December 2010.
"The Same Ideal that was handed down to us from Mt. Sinai": The Jewish Welfare Board, Progressive era Politics, and the Discourses of Democracy. Conference of the Organization of American Historians, Washington, DC, April 2010.
The Representative of the Jewry of America: The WWI Jewish Welfare Board and the Power of the State. Conference of the Association of Jewish Studies, Los Angeles, CA, December 2009.
"Some Army Dicipline Would Improve the Whole House of Israel": World War I and the Boundaries of "Jewishness" in the American Military," Conference of the American Studies Association, Washington, DC, November 2009.
"When I get down South": Training for the WWI Military in the American South." Conference of the Southern Jewish Historical Society, New Orleans, LA, October, 2009.
"A Home Away from Home: Soldiers’ Welfare huts and Jewish “homes” in the WWI American Military,” proposed for the Conference of the Association of Jewish Studies, Washington DC, December 2008.
“The Jewish Welfare Board and ‘Non-Sectarian’ Soldiers’ Services in the WWI American Armed Forces,” Biennial Scholars Conference on American Jewish History, Los Angles, CA, June 2008.
“The Jewish Welfare Board, the YMCA, and the Provision of “Morally Uplifting” Soldiers’ Welfare Services during the First World War,” Conference of the Western Jewish Studies Association, Los Angeles, CA, April 2008.
“American Maccabees: Patriotic Service and Recruitment for the World War I Jewish Legion,” Conference for the Association of Jewish Studies, Chicago, IL, December 2004.
“The Jewish Welfare Board, World War I and the Battle for American Jewry,” Conference of the Association of Jewish Studies, Boston, MA, December 2003.
“Preaching Politics: The National Jewish Welfare Board and the Politics of Jewish American Identity,” The Center for Jewish History, October 23, 2003.
“Being the Same but Different: Jewish Masculinity, the American Jewish Chaplaincy and the First World War,” Yale University Conference on Diaspora, October 2002.
“Theorizing the Jewish Diaspora,” Europeanists Colloquium, New York University, 2000.
FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS
Association for Jewish Studies December 2008
Graduate Student Conference Travel Grand for 40th Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.
The Posen Foundation for Secular Jewish Culture 2007-2011
Awarded a teaching fellowship designed to introduce three new courses in Secular Jewish Culture into the Jewish Studies curriculum at Muhlenberg College, to work with librarians to expand library collections in Jewish Studies, and to organize lectures and events to increase the visibility of Jewish studies on the Muhlenberg campus.
The German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C. Spring 2004
Awarded a fellowship for dissertation research at National Archives and NY Public Library.
The America Jewish Archives, Hebrew Union College, 2003-2004
Cincinnati, Ohio
Received a Jacob Rader Marcus Fellowship to conduct dissertation research using the extensive collection of materials on American Jewry at the American Jewish Archives.
The Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture, January 2004
University of Leipzig, Germany.
Invited to the Simon Dubnow Center as a visiting Graduate Student Fellow (declined).
Trans-Atlantic Summer Institute, University of Minnesota, Summer 2003
Ludwig Maximilian Universitat, Munich, Germany, DAAD.
Invited to Munich to participate in a seminar on German Citizenship in the 20th Century.
The Center for Jewish History, New York, NY. 2002-2003
Granted a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship to conduct research at the archives of the American Jewish Historical Society and the Leo Baeck Institute.
The Remarque Institute, New York University, New York, NY. Summer 2003
Awarded a Graduate Student Fellowship to support dissertation research and to assist in the organization and selection of participants for the Remarque Institute Forum.
The Ramarque Institute, New York University, NY. Summer 2003
Summer Travel Grant
To conduct dissertation research at the Neue Synagogue, Centrum Judaicum in Berlin, and the militargeschichtliche Forschungsamt in Potsdam, Germany.
American Academy of Jewish Research June 2001
Graduate Student Summer Seminar at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY.
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. June 1991
Philip Goldfein, Class of 1926 Prize for best student paper on Shakespeare.
ADDITIONAL EDUCATION
Columbia University, New York, NY. Summer 2001
Uriel Weinreich / YIVO Institute Yiddish Language Summer Program.
Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont. Summer 1999
German language immersion program.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel. 1994 - 1996
Master’s program in European History.
Nishmat College for Women, Jerusalem, Israel. 1999 -1993
Text-based study of Jewish law and philosophy.
Kings College, London, England. 1989 -1990
College courses in English and Continental philosophy.
LANGUAGE PROFICIENCIES
Hebrew – fluent
Yiddish – reading knowledge
German – reading knowledge
French – reading knowledge
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Association for Jewish Studies, American Historical Association, American Studies Association, Organization of American Historians, Women and Gender Studies reading group at Muhlenberg College.