Mission Statement

Established in 1992, our mission is to serve as the intellectual heart of Jewish Studies in Louisiana, cultivating knowledge about Jewish cultures, religion, literature, history, and identity both within the academy and within the community. Jewish and non-Jewish students and faculty at LSU want to know about Judaism and Jewish contributions to civilization; this program works to satisfy that curiosity and to broaden understanding in the following ways:

• Academic Enhancement: Jewish Studies is a Humanities program housed in the college of Arts and Sciences. Its academic goal is to promote an understanding of Jewish civilizations (History, cultures, and religion) through course offerings, library holdings, programming, faculty resources, and by providing leadership for Jewish student organizations.
• Diversity and Interfaith Dialogue: The Jewish Studies Program enthusiastically promotes diversity, interfaith dialogue, and inter-cultural exchange.
• Interdisciplinary and Innovative Scholarship: The Jewish Studies Program brings together internationally known scholars already on campus from a variety of disciplines into a rubric that provides an exciting opportunity to cross-fertilize their research, to build the program's reputation, and to make an impact on Jewish Studies nationally.

Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 6:00 PM, Hill Memorial Library, LSU
Modern Marvels: Jewish Adventures in the Graphic Novel
Discussion Series with Dr. Sharon Aronofsky Weltman
Work Discussed: A Contract With God: and Other Testament Stories
by Will Eisner
For more about the series see: http://www.nextbook.org/ala/librl_marvels.html

Tuesday, September 25 at 6:00 PM, Hill Memorial Library, LSU
Lecture by Award-winning comic book artist and graphic novelist James Sturm:
"James Sturm's America: Cartooning on the Frontier"
Sturm's 2001 graphic novel The Golem's Mighty Swing uses the story of a barnstorming Jewish baseball team in the 1920s to consider issues such as religion, race, and the American dream. A collection of his early work, James Sturm's America: God, Gold, and Golems, will be released on August 21st. The Lecture and Exhibition, "Super Stories," are open to the Public. For more information see the Special Collections website: http://specialcollectionslsu.blogspot.com/2007/08/comic-book-artist-to-give-lecture-at.html

Tuesday, Oct. 2 at 6:00 PM, Hill Memorial Library, LSU
Modern Marvels: Jewish Adventures in the Graphic Novel
Discussion Series with Dr. Sharon Aronofsky Weltman
Work Discussed: The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale
by Art Spiegelman

Sunday, Oct 7, at 5:00 PM, Music School Auditorium, LSU
Readers and Writers Presents: Poets Joseph Lease, David Shapiro, and Chancelier "xero" Skidmore.
Joseph Lease is the author of two full-length poetry collections: Broken World and Human Rights. Lease is Associate Professor of Writing and Literature and Chair of the MFA Program in Writing at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.
David Shapiro received degrees from Columbia and Cambridge Universities and is now a tenured art historian at William Paterson University. He has written over twenty volumes of poetry and prose, and he is working on a collection of selected essays, as well as a new book of poetry. For Rodger Kamenetz's review of Shapiro's Collected Poems, see the following Website: http://www.forward.com/articles/11169/
Chancelier "xero" Skidmore lives in Baton Rouge and has represented it on several national poetry slam teams. Chancelier has ranked in the top 4 in individual national competition twice (2002 and 2005) He teaches poetry full-time through The WordPlay Teen Writing Project, and hosts the teen open mic, Freshhhh Heat, which attracts over 200 young people to every show. His poem "Blue Monday," was selected for the new edition of Spoken Word Revolution Redux. Chancelier has one CD, Unprohibited Narrative Hallucinations, and a chapbook, Crawling: I'm Perfect = Imperfect.
Readings are Free and Open to the Public:
http://www.english.lsu.edu/dept/orgs/readerswriters/speakers.html

Tuesday, Oct. 16 at 6:00 PM, Hill Memorial Library, LSU
Modern Marvels: Jewish Adventures in the Graphic Novel
Discussion Series with Dr. Sharon Aronofsky Weltman
Work Discussed: Julius Knipl, Real Estate Photographer: Stories
by Ben Katchor
(Introduction by Michael Chabon)

Tuesday, Oct. 30 at 6:00 PM, Hill Memorial Library, LSU
Modern Marvels: Jewish Adventures in the Graphic Novel
Discussion Series with Dr. Sharon Aronofsky Weltman
Work Discussed: The Quitter
by Harvey Pekar
(art by Dean Haspiel)

Friday November 2, from 9 AM-12 noon, Louisiana State Museum
"Wordshop": Rodger Kamenetz leads a Writing Workshop: LastNight's Dream: A Living Source for Writers. For more information see thewebsite below: http://www.louisianabookfestival.org/lbf2007/WordShops/Kamenetz.htm

Saturday, Nov 3, from 10 AM-5 PM, Louisiana State Capitol
Louisiana Book Festival: Rodger Kamenetz Reads from his new book: The History of Last Night's Dream at the...
Rodger Kamenetz is the author of the landmark international bestseller The Jew in the Lotus and the National Jewish Book Award-winning Stalking Elijah. His five books of poetry include The Lowercase Jew --he has been called "the most formidable of the Jewish-American poets". His memoir, Terra Infirma, has been described as "the most beautiful book ever written about a mother and son."

Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 6:00 PM, Hill Memorial Library, LSU
Modern Marvels: Jewish Adventures in the Graphic Novel
Discussion Series with Dr. Sharon Aronofsky Weltman
Work Discussed: The Rabbi's Cat
by Joann Sfar

Sunday, Nov 11 at 5:00, Music School Auditorium, LSU
Readers and Writers Presents: Rodger Kamenetz and Laura Mullen.
Rodger Kamenetz will be discussing his new book, The History of Last Night's Dream. Laura Mullen is on the faculty at Louisiana State University and is the author of five books: The Surface; After I Was Dead; The Tales of Horror; Subject, and Murmur, as well as a chapbook, Turn. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Rona Jaffe Prize, and several MacDowell Colony Fellowships. Her poetry has been widely anthologized and her prose has appeared in Civil Disobediences: Poetics & Politics in Action, Paraspheres, and elsewhere.
Readings are Free and Open to the Public.

To graduate with a minor in Jewish studies, students must complete 15 hours of electives, including a minimum of six hours at the 3000-level or above. Electives must be chosen from at least two disciplines, such as Religious Studies, English, Hebrew, History, or Sociology.

Jewish Studies offers courses ranging from Hebrew Language and Biblical Studies to courses on the Political history of the Middle East and Jewish Literature. Some sample courses include:

In addition, special topics courses and courses with sections advertised as Jewish Studies may be accepted for the minor upon approval of the director.

• GERMAN 4091: Germans and Jews: The Literary Experience, Prof. Irene Di Maio, idimaio@lsu.edu

• REL 1002, HEBR 1002: Beginning Hebrew, Prof. Isbell
• REL 1004: Old Testament, Prof. Irvine
• REL 2004, HEBR 2004: Intermediate Hebrew, Prof. Isbell
• REL 3101: American Judaism, Prof. Isbell

• Charles Isbell, cisbel1@lsu.edu, 106 Coates Hall, (225)578-2220

• Hillel at LSU, the Jewish student organization
• Sigma Alpha Mu, the Jewish fraternity on campus
• Beth Shalom, a local synagogue
• B'nai Israel, a local synagogue
• The Jewish Federation of Greater Baton Rouge

For additional information, contact Dr. Charles Isbell, cisbel1@lsu.edu, 106 Coates Hall, (225)578-2273.