Around Campus


conversation A Conversation with Marty Shichtman by Catherine Kavanaugh


It would be easy to assume that Eastern’s new Jewish Studies program is solely about religion. Not so, says Marty Shichtman, a longtime Eastern faculty member and director of the program. There is also a focus on Jewish culture—how it is similar to and differs from other cultures, and how it has influenced and been influenced by other cultures. In addition to developing curriculum, Shichtman will coordinate EMU’s Jewish Studies Lecture Series and create alliances with EMU’s Jewish community.


Eastern: Why did Eastern start offering a Jewish Studies program in Fall 2011?


Shichtman: Jewish Studies is important to Eastern’s identity as a diverse community. Southeastern Michigan has an extraordinary, vital, and vibrant Jewish population that is engaged in transforming this portion of the state and the whole nation. Michigan’s Jews are active in the arts, in the sciences, in education, in technology, in entrepreneurship and


10 Eastern | FALL 2011


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