Sample Course Descriptions  ||  Core Courses  ||  Adult Education  ||  Israeli Fellowships

Applications should be submitted on behalf of programs or departments of Jewish Studies, Philosophy, Literature, Sociology, Anthropology or other related disciplines, with significant enough faculty and student resources to support the advent or further cultivation of the study of secular Jewish history and cultures. Grants will not be awarded to support existing courses in Jewish culture and civilization, but grants may be considered when such courses are to be extended specifically to cover secular and cultural Jewish thought and history. The courses must be broadly conceived and the combination of courses should not be limited to one national experience. In order to encourage enrollment by the largest number of students, the courses should not have a language requirement. Courses on antisemitism or the Holocaust are not included in this grant. To be eligible for the Posen Foundation Grants, the primary course must focus specifically on the academic study of Jewish secularism and secularization.

Applications may be submitted in the form of a letter or proposal, and will be accepted by email or hard copy. For email submissions, include the institution name in the document title, and combine materials into a single attachment if possible.

Hard copy applications require seven (7) sets. All applications require the following components:

1. Sample syllabi for at least three different courses in secular Judaism or Jewish secularism, including an interdisciplinary core or primary course of the proposal. Peripheral
2. courses need to explicitly examine themes of secularism and secularization, not just secular topics.
3. Brief curriculum vitae of faculty being proposed to teach such courses
4. Statement describing how the study of secular Jewish history might be integrated into existing program and major requirements.
5. Brief history of the program or department and current and past offerings, including number of faculty, majors, and students taught.
6. Detailed budget for the proposal. The budget may not allow for overhead or indirect costs.
7. Timetable for implementation
8. Information sheet with your name, mailing address, telephone number, email, name of institution and title and chair of department in which the courses would be implemented.
9. The grant request must include the signature in support of the application by the appropriate authorities permitted to institute curricula change within the institution.

Interim reports and evaluation will be required.

Email submissions to Myrna Baron.

Submit hard copy applications to: The Center for Cultural Judaism, 80 Eighth Avenue, Suite 206, New York, NY 10011. Tel: 212-564-6711; Fax: 212-564-6721.

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