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Professional Preparation
Ph.D. - Comparative Literature University of Oregon - 1978
M.A. - Comparative Literature University of Oregon - 1976
B.A. - Philosophy University of Oregon - 1972
Research Areas
Areas of Specialization
Holocaust, anti-Semtism, Jewish literature, Jewish history, modern Jewish thought
Publications
Overcoming Alienation: A Kabbalistic Reflection on the Five Levels of the Soul 2028 - Book
Portraits: The Hasidic Legacy of Elie Wiesel 2021 - Book
The Literary Response to the Holocaust 2021 - Edited collection
The Holocaust and the Nonrepresentable: Literary and Photographic Transcendence 2018 - Book
The Legacy of an Impassioned Plea: Franklin H. Littell’s 2018 - Edited volume
Anti-Semitism and Its Metaphysical Origins 2015 - Book
Genocide in Jewish Thought 2012 - Book
A Genealogy of Evil: Anti-Semitism from Nazism to Islamic Jihad 2010 - Book
Appointments
Bomblum Chair/Director University of Memphis [1998–2010]
Distinguished Professor of Russian Literature and Director of the University Honors Program University of Memphis [1996–1998]
Assoc. Prof. of Russian and European Literature Oklahoma State [1993–1993]
Professor of Russian and European Literature Oklahoma State [1993–1996]
Sutton Chair in the Humanities University of Oklahoma [1992–1993]
Director/Associate Professor of Russian and European Literature Oklahoma State [1990–1992]
Associate Professor of Russian and European Literature Oklahoma State [1989–1990]
Assistant Professor of Russian Oklahoma State [1985–1989]
Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian and Philosophy and Assistant to the Dean Oklahoma State [1984–1985]
Adjunct Assistant Professor of English and Assistant to the Dean Oklahoma State [1984–1984]
Presentations
“What History Can Teach Us: Patterns in Antisemitism,”
Tulsa Jewish Community Center
“Antisemitism from Hitler to Hamas,”
Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism, Oxford
“Islamic Jihad and the Holocaust: From Hitler to Hamas,”
International eConference on the Holocaust and Religion
“Antisemitism from Medieval to Modern Times,”
Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, Oxford
“The Singularity of the Nazi Antisemitism,”
Sapienze University, Rome
Additional Information
EDITORIAL SERVICES AND OTHER PROFESSIONAL INVOLVEMENT
Senior Research Fellow for the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy
Commissioner for the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission
Member of the Executive Board of Academic Advisors, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy
Editorial Board member for the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism
Series Editor for Antisemitism Studies, Academic Studies Press
Grant evaluator for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Member of the Scholars’ Platform, Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre, Cambridge, England
Member of the Weinstein Holocaust Symposium, Wroxton, England
Member of the Executive Committee for the International Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust
Consultant for the Philadelphia Center on Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights
Member of Readers’ Committee for the Elie Wiesel Essay on Ethics Award
Facing History and Ourselves Scholar in Residence
Editorial Board for the Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty
Grant reviewer for National Endowment for the Humanities
Reader for: University of Toronto Press, University of Alabama Press, Wipf & Stock Publishers, Berghan Publishers, Lexington Books, SUNY Press, Rutgers University Press, Purdue University Press, Routledge, Cambridge University Press, Palgrave Macmillan; University of Tennessee Press, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; Wayne State University Press; University of Missouri Press; Syracuse University Press; Central European University Press, Budapest, Hungary; University of Washington Press; St. Martin’s Press; University Press of Virginia; University Press of Kentucky; The Russian Review; PMLA; Holocaust and Genocide Studies; Christianity and Literature; Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature; Signs; Shofar; Religion and Literature, Southern Jewish History; Associate Editor of Russian, South Central Review
DISTINCTIONS AND AWARDS
2020
Invited to be a member of The Holocaust Literature and Representation Forum of the Finkler Institute at Bar-Ilan University
Nominated for the President’s Teaching Excellence Award for Graduate Teaching
2019
Nominated for the President’s Teaching Excellence Award for Graduate Teaching
2018
Received the Eternal Flame Award from the Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches for contributions to Holocaust studies
2017
Invited to serve on the Board of Directors for Truth in Textbooks
Invited to be the Betsy Hotel’s Writer-in-Residence for the 2017 meeting of the Jewish American and Holocaust Literature Association
Invited to serve on the International Advisory Board for a worldwide Holocaust Memorial program honoring Elie Wiesel and Leib Glantz
2016
Invited to serve on the Content Review Committee for the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum
Selected as a Fellow in the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism, Oxford University
2014
Called to testify as expert witness in the Farhud reparations hearings in Israeli courts
2009
Winner of the University of Memphis Distinguished Research in the Humanities Award
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award for Emil L. Fackenheim: A Jewish Philosopher’s Response to the Holocaust
2008
Recipient of the Hadassah Myrtle Wreath Award
Selected as Scholar-in—Residence for the American Library Association Let ’s Talk About It program, University of Memphis
2007
Appointed to the Facing History International Scholars Board of Advisors
2006
Appointed to the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Holocaust Commission
2005
Appointed to Hadassah’s Academic Advisory Board and Curriculum Watch
Distinguished Teaching Award Nominee
2004
Awarded Arts and Sciences Research Grant for work on Open Wounds
University College Advising Award
2003
ALA Award for Outstanding Reference Source 2003 for Encyclopedia of Holocaust Literature
University College Distinguished Faculty Award
2002
Invited to Membership in The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi
Booklist Editors’ Choice Award 2002 for Encyclopedia of Holocaust Literature
2000
Winner of the Koach Award for Adult Education, Beth Sholom Synagogue
Winner of the Koret Jewish Book Award for Jewish Thought and Philosophy (for Along the Edge of Annihilation)
1999
Selected by the Warren Center and the Tennessee Holocaust Commission for the Colloquium on the Holocaust, Vanderbilt University
1997
Awarded Arts and Sciences Research Grant for work on The Black Book
Named honorary member of Alpha Lambda Delta National Honors Society
Named honorary member of the Golden Key Honor Society
Selected as Honored Member of Strathrnore’s Who’s Who Registry
1996
Awarded College of Arts and Sciences Certificate of Faculty Excellence
Selected as a Fellow of the Institute on the Holocaust and Jewish Civilization, Northwestern University
In Choice the American Library Association named Exile as one of the best academic books of 1995
Appointed to Resource Advisory Panel for Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs
Awarded Oklahoma Foundation for the Humanities Research Grant for From Kant to the Camps: German Philosophy and the Holocaust
1995
Selected as Russell Kirk Lecturer, "The Permanent Things," Heritage Foundation
Selected as NEH Visiting Scholar, Southern Oregon State College
Selected as Pepperdine University Guest Professor
1994
Awarded the Southem Books Competition Award of Excellence, 1992-1993, for The Gospel According to Tolstoy
Awarded Oklahoma Foundation for the Humanities Research Grant for Along the Edge of Annihilation: The Collapse and Recovery of LW in the Holocaust Diary
Awarded So. Central MLA Research Grant for Along the Edge of Annihilation
Awarded NEH Summer Stipend for Along the Edge of Annihilation
Awarded A&S Research Grant for work on Holocaust in Berlin
1992
Awarded NEH Grant for research in Israel on Sun Turned to Darkness: Memory and Recovery in the Holocaust Memoir
Awarded Oklahoma Foundation for the Humanities Research Grant for Sun Turned to Darkness
1991
Selected for inclusion in Who 's Who in Foreign Criticism on Russian Literature (Moscow: 1nstitutMirovoi Literatury, 1992)
1990
Awarded Arts and Sciences Board of Faculty Award for Excellence in Scholarship
American Council of Leamed Societies Grant for travel to Cambridge, England
Southwestem Bell Faculty Fellowship Award for The Shriek of Silence: A Phenomenology ofthe Holocaust Novel
Awarded University of Oregon Arts and Sciences Alumni Achievement Award
1989
Awarded Burlington Northern Achievement Award for Scholarship and Teaching
In Choice the American Library Association named The Ajjirming Flame as one of the best academic books of 1988
Appointed Honor Lecturer for Mid—America State Universities Association
1988
Finalist for Fred Jones Foundation Outstanding Teacher Award
Grant from Pergamon Press to participate in the Intemational Conference "Remembering for the Future," 10-13 July 1988, Oxford and London
1987
First Runner-up for 1987 M/MLA Book Award for Literature and Spirit
1986
Research Grant from South Central Modem Language Assoc. for study in Geneva
1984
NEH Summer Seminar Grant for study at Harvard University
SERVICE ACTIVITY
Oklahoma State University
Departmental Advisor
Graduate Faculty Nomination Committee
Departmental Personnel Committee (Chair)
Departmental Curriculum Committee
College General Education Committee
Honors Thesis Advisor
Program Review Committee
Faculty Representatives Award Committee (Chair)
Departmental Grants Coordinator
A&S Curriculum Committee
Treasurer, Oklahoma Association of Scholars
Coordinator for Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program
Coordinator of Russian Section
Co-Director of Workshop on Cultural and Linguistic Differences
A&S Humanities Endowed Professorship Committee
University Scholarship Committee for Study Abroad
NEH Stipend Committee
Scholarly Excellence Award Committee
Departmental Policy Handbook Committee (Chair)
Arts and Sciences Promotion and Tenure Committee
Russian Club Advisor
The University of Memphis
CAS Host for Great Conversations
CAS Humanities Representative to the University Council
University Council for Graduate Studies
College of Arts and Sciences Tenure and Promotion Committee
Chair of the Sociology Department Chair Search Committee
Chair of the English Department Chair Evaluation Committee
CAS Communication Group
A&S Dean’s Advisory Council
Scholarships Coordinator Search Committee (Chair)
Recruitment Task Force Committee
Who’s Who Committee
Student Research Symposium Judge
Israel at 50 Committee (Co—Chair)
Search Committee for Executive Director of International Programs
Orr Humanities Center Planning Committee
University College Special Projects Award Committee
Enrollment Management Council Retention Committee
Jewish Student Union Faculty Advisor
President’s Task Force on Academic Excellence and Character Development
General Education Committee
University College Faculty Council
Project Unity Planning Committee
Chair, Bomblum Judaic Studies Faculty Advisory Council
RiverPac Faculty Advisor
Faculty Senate
University Undergraduate Curriculum Committee
Marcus Orr Lecture Series Committee
Alma Bucovaz Urban Service Award Selection Committee
Co-Director, Orr Humanities Center’s Great Books Seminars
Professional and Community Activity
Consultant to the Philadelphia Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Member of the Weinstein Symposium on the Holocaust
Advisory Board for the Annual Scholars' Conference on the Holocaust
Scholars’ Platform for the Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre, Cambridge, England
Co-Editor-in-Chief for the U of Washington Weinstein Series in Post-Holocaust Studies (
Facing History Intemational Board of Scholars
Memphis Holocaust Memorial Committee
Tennessee Holocaust Commission Board of Directors
Belz Museum Board
Consultant for the Belz Museum Judaica Collection
Memphis Holocaust Center Planning Committee
Jewish Historical Society Board Member
Biblical Life Center Advisory Board
Jewish Culture Experience Committee
Association for Jewish Studies Membership Committee
Beth Sholom Synagogue Board
Bomblum Solomon Schechter School Board
Chair of Adult Education Committee, Beth Sholom Synagogue
College Israel Recruitment Committee
Governor’s Tennessee-Israel Cooperation Committee
Annual Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust Advisory Board
Jewish Student Union Board
B’nai B’rith Board
Jewish Book Festival Committee
Vice President for Programming, Jewish Historical Society
Yom HaShoah Committee, Memphis Jewish Federation
Southem Jewish Historical Society Editorial Board
Southern Jewish Historical Society Bomblum Award Committee
President of the Memphis Jewish Historical Society