IJCR Board of Directors
The Board of Directors at the Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations is an advisory body that assists in fulfilling the institute’s mission. It consists of about twenty-five members with roughly an equal number of Christians and Jews.
The board meets two or three times each year in the Clifford-Kahn Board Room in Bellarmine Hall on Saint Joseph's University's campus, which honors the more than thirty-year partnership between the long-standing director of the institute, Rev. Donald G. Clifford, S.J., and Jewish community leader, Charles Kahn, Jr. Meetings are divided between discussing institute programs and engaging in interreligious dialogue on a topic of current interest.
Board members are from the greater Delaware Valley community, together with some members from Saint Joseph’s University. Members are appointed for renewable three-year terms because of their devotion to the vision statement of the institute and their ability and desire to advance its work. Some board members represent local institutions, while others serve out of their personal dedication to Christian-Jewish rapprochement.
Board meetings, which are no more than two hours in length, are chaired by the institute’s directors. Advising the directors on the institute’s focus and direction, establishing priorities, developing strategies regarding management and development, serving as consultants for various projects and initiatives and networking or fundraising efforts are examples of how directors share their experience, expertise and counsel.
Board members are encouraged to enthusiastically promote the institute’s mission, programs, strengths and successes to friends, colleagues and associates, and to attend institute events whenever possible.
Members
- Kelly Anderson, S.S.L., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biblical Studies for the Major Seminary, Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary
- Paul Aspan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Saint Joseph's University
- Gina Christian, National Reporter, OSV News
- Julie B. Deluty, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible, Saint Joseph's University
- Perry Dane, J.D., Professor of Law, Rutgers University School of Law
- Kenneth E. Davis, Senior Director, Duane Morris Government Strategies LLC
- Josey G. Fisher, M.A., M.S.W., Director, Holocaust Oral History Archive, Gratz College
- Nancy Ruth Fox, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics, Saint Joseph's University
- Leonard Grossman, National and local board member, American Jewish Committee; Board of Trustees member, Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
- Barton A. Hertzbach, Esq., Past chair, Board member, the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
- Batame Hertzbach, Chair of Holocaust Programming Committee, board member, Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
- Rabbi Alan Iser, Adjunct Professor, Saint Joseph's University, Villanova University
- *Barbara Kahn, Kahn Foundation
- Adam Kessler, Executive Director Emeritus, Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia
- The Rev. Diane C. Kessler, UCC minister, executive director (retired), Massachusetts Council of Churches
- *Barbara D'Iorio Martino, Past Chair, Board of Directors, Chestnut Hill College
- Joseph B. Modica, Ph.D., University Chaplain, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies, Eastern University
- Adena Potok, Psychiatric social worker and child care counselor, Board of Directors of Jewish Social Policy Action Network
- Ruth N. Sandberg, Ph.D., Leonard and Ethel Landau Professor of Rabbinics, Director, Jewish-Christian Studies Program, Gratz College
- Rabbanit Leah Sarna, Faculty, Drisha Institute for Jewish Education
- Ethan Schwartz, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible at Villanova University
- Mark Smith, Ph.D., Helena Professor of Old Testament Literature and Exegesis, Princeton Theological Seminary
- Rabbi David Straus, Senior Rabbi, Main Line Reform Temple-Beth Elohim; Chair, Jewish Community Relations Council
- Rev. Todd Stavrakos, Pastor, Gladwyne Presbyterian Church
- Rabbi Dr. Robert Tabak, Editor, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association newsletter, RRA Connection
- Domenic J. Vallone, Director of Operations emeritus, Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia; Board member, Cathedral Kitchen, Camden, N.J.
- *Charlotte Cohen Weinberg, Carroll and Charlotte Weinberg Charitable Foundation, Inc.
*honorary lifetime members