| The Program in Jewish Culture & Society

Samantha Ting

Samantha Ting (PhD Candidate, Department of Comparative & World Literature, HGMS, JS) received the inaugural Dara Goldman Memorial Scholarship to present her research at the Annual Conference of the Memory Studies Association, "Memory and Democracy" (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, Argentina). Samantha’s dissertation is the first comparative study of Yiddish and Okinawan Japanese literature. Although geographically and linguistically distant, both developed in the borderlands of imperial power, confronting the legacies of Russia, Japan, China, and the United States. Their...

Dara Goldman Award

The Dara Goldman (1971-2022) Memorial Scholarship supports graduate research. Preference is given to students researching the intersection of Spanish Caribbean Studies and Jewish Studies who need travel support.

Theodore Kemna

Ronald Filler Scholarship

Theodore Kemna (History major) received the Ronald Filler Scholarship. The Dean’s List student, Theodore, has a devotion to local community development that corresponds to the Filler Award’s mission. He currently works as a legislative assistant for Illinois State Senator Paul Faraci. In this role, he manages various constituent services, oversees community outreach, and conducts extensive legislative research and policy construction in various fields of local and state interest. Additionally, he serves as a member of the City of Champaign Plan Commission, a municipal advisory board that...

Samya Sehwail

Richard Abrams Award

Samya Sehwail (Global Studies and History major) is another co-receiver of the Richard Abrams Scholarship. Samya has an outstanding record of civic engagement and volunteers with a number of nonprofit organizations to advocate for underprivileged social groups, work she plans to continue professionally after graduation. Samya is a member of the international organization Partners in Health, which focuses on health equity worldwide and safeguards human rights. She is also a dorm ambassador for Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing, raising awareness...

Lia Koski

Richard Abrams Award

Lia Koski (Global Studies major, Economics and Spanish minors) was co-awarded the Richard Abrams Scholarship. On the UIUC campus, she serves on the executive board as Secretary and Lead Events Coordinator for the Jewish organization, Adamah, an environmental club focused on connecting nature to Jewish values and lessons. Recently, she organized a campus trash clean-up event, collecting 128 pounds of trash, and connected this accomplishment to the Jewish phrase, “Tikkun olam,” emphasizing how it is our duty to give back to the Earth and repair the world in the ways we can. In the...

Richard Abrams Award

The Richard Abrams Endowed Scholarship is awarded to full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students. The scholarship is open to students enrolled in Jewish Studies courses, with preference given to the Program’s minors and majors. Richard Abrams has long been invested in undergraduate education and supporting the study of Judaism and Jewish culture. He is an alumnus of the Gies College of Business Accounting Program at the U of I (class of 1963) and the founder and chairman of Surety Capital Corporation. Abrams’ hope for the endowed scholarship at his alma mater is that it will support our...

Matthew Fam

Gendell Family and Shiner Family Fund

Matthew Fam (PhD Candidate, Department of Comparative & World Literature, HGMS) received the Gendell/Shiner Family Fellowship in support of the research project, “Sinking Cities: Contemporary Southeast Asian Literature in the Apocalyptic Present.” It is a comparative study of post-millennium literary works set in coastal cities at risk of submergence, namely Jakarta, Singapore, and Bangkok. It foregrounds literary work as material evidence for tracking these anxieties and the role memory plays in anticipating what will be lost in the Climate Apocalypse, based on the processual aspects of...

2026 Award Winners

2026-06-01

We mark the end of the 2025-2026 academic year by celebrating the successes of Jewish Studies and the Initiative in Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies students. Here are our award winners. Matthew Fam (PhD Candidate, Department of Comparative & World Literature...

Modern Jewish Worldmaking Through Jewish Children's Literature

2026-05-04

The Program in Jewish Culture & Society welcomed Miriam Udel to campus on February 23rd as a part of the Krouse Family Visiting Scholar in Judaism and Western Culture Fund's annual lecture series, with additional support from the Center for Children's Books. Udel is the Judith London Evans...

An Evening with Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro

2026-05-04

On the evening of January 26th, the Program in Jewish Culture & Society and Illini Hillel welcomed Dan Shapiro to campus as part of the Israel Studies Program, with additional support from the Jewish United Fund. Shapiro, a graduate of Uni High School in Urbana and son of Michael Shapiro, one...

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