Home

As other top universities across the nation have instituted hiring freezes, Princeton University has recently announced plans to hire a new tenure-track assistant professor of modern Jewish history.

Sean Wilentz, the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor of the American Revolutionary Era and chair of the search committee, said that the ideal candidate would compliment the university's strengths in early modern and modern European history, though the committee is open to candidates with other specialties.

"It would be great to find someone who compliments our strengths, but our priority is to find the best scholar and teacher," Wilentz told The Jewish State.

Though the search is only in its early stages, the committee expects a large pool of applicants. The search committee is now accepting applications as well as informally contacting major leaders in the field for their recommendations. The interviews will hopefully take place between the end of December and throughout January with the expectation of making a recommendation to the History Department, according to Wilentz. The department then usually takes approximately a week after a recommendation is made to make the final decision, he said.

"Princeton takes its hiring extremely seriously," Wilentz explained. Unlike some other universities, the history department at Princeton does not interview job candidates at large academic conferences, but rather narrows down the pool of applicants to a select handful before interviewing them individually. "The [hiring] process is not a mill."

Given the tough job market in academia, Wilentz said he is confidant that the committee will be able to hire an accomplished rising star who will go on to receive a tenure appointment.

"It's a buyer's market, to put it crudely," Wilentz said, adding that, "I think the stars may be aligning for us not only to find, but select an extraordinarily promising younger scholar."

Peter Schafer, the Perelman Professor of Jewish Studies and Professor of Religion and director of Program in Judaic Studies, echoed that sentiment.

"We're in a lucky position to choose among the very best applicants," said Schafer, who predicts a large pool of applicants from across the country and even perhaps Europe and Israel.

While the new professor will find his or her home in the History Department, the professor will also be affiliated with the university's Program in Judaic Studies. There are more than 20 professors who are associated with the program, hailing from a wide range of academic departments including the departments of history, religion, Near Eastern studies, English, and Germanic languages and literatures. The program offers undergraduate and graduate courses, research grants, and lectures on topics related to the Jewish experience from antiquity through today. Additionally, the program is home to The Jewish Studies Quarterly, a prominent academic journal within the field of Jewish studies.

"People have been very responsive to the development of Judaic studies," Schafer said, adding, "We're living in a very open and positive environment at Princeton."

For Schafer, the program's strength is its interdepartmental and multidisciplinary nature. "We are able to go beyond the boundaries of disciplines."

"There is no Jewish studies major, so people come from different majors -- literature, history, even maybe engineering," Wilentz explained. "And that's the point: students and professors from a variety of disciplines can interact and explore a subject that is too big for any single discipline."

The Jewish studies offerings at Princeton have expanded in recent years with the creation of the Tikvah Project in Jewish Thought and the Lapidus Family Fund in American Jewish Studies, which is under the auspices of American Studies program. The Tikvah Project supports courses, lectures, workshops, and fellowships that focus on Jewish thought and philosophy. The project supports the research and teaching of "Jewish thought in the broadest sense of the term," said Schafer.

The Lapidus Family Fund supports the study of American Jewish history through a lecture series and course offerings. In addition, the university has recently hired a professor of Hebrew Bible who will begin next year.

Wilentz said that the Judaic studies program has, over his 30 year tenure at Princeton, "come from nothing to what is now. It is quite lively -- intellectually lively. It's become a real presence on campus."