Dr. Victoria Harrison hopes to make the Jewish studies program at San Jose State University a vibrant minor program for students, and plans to represent a Jewish and Zionist voice on campus.
It’s something this university was missing, said history dean Dr. Jonathan Roth, who created and filled the Jewish studies coordinator position. Harrison, who was a part-time lecturer at SJSU, fills that void, Roth said.
English professor David Mesher previously ran the program in his spare time, but couldn’t dedicate enough time to expand and improve the course list. Mesher is not a Zionist and is a self-described atheist.
Roth hired Harrison, a former Kehillah High School teacher, in late August after securing funding for the program from the university. Harrison previously headed the high school’s English department for four years. Her involvement in both the Jewish community and the university made her a prime candidate for the position.
Harrison has only been at her new post for three months, but she has already worked with departments and organizations to plan new Jewish classes and activities on campus.
“It’s a ‘build as you go’ kind of job,” said Roth, who is working with Harrison to get a feel for what students want from the program.
“My real goal is to figure out where the Jewish students are and what they want to learn about,” Harrison said. She is also working on increasing enrollment in Jewish courses by coordinating with general education requirements and offering scholarships worth $500 for students pursuing a Jewish Studies minor.
In the spring semester, there are currently seven Jewish studies classes, covering a range of topics such as the history of the Jews, ancient Near East, Holocaust literature, media coverage of World War II and three levels of Modern Hebrew.
Harrison wants to create a fall Jewish film class that would be taught in conjunction with the annual Jewish film festival and fulfill a university-wide arts requirement. She envisions a collaborative effort with the Muslim Student Association to co-sponsor campus events.
Harrison will also focus on working with South Bay organizations such as Hillel of Silicon Valley and the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley.
Courses that attract less than 15 students — Modern Hebrew, for instance, rarely attracts more than 10 students — rely on supplemental funding from private donations and community grants.
However, Roth is hopeful that the program will make a comeback and will be successful enough to hold its own. The established history and English courses on Jewish themes consistently fill up, he said.
Classes to be offered this spring — all pre-existing ones so far — cover a variety of Jewish issues.
History of the Jews is taught for the last time by history professor Aaron Goldman, but will be picked up by another professor in the future. The class focuses on Eastern European Jewry, but the curriculum will broaden to include global Jewry next year.
Ancient Near East is taught by Dr. Roth and covers the civilizations of the Hittites, Assyrians, Persians and Hebrews, up until the Roman conquest.
Dr. Harvey Gotliffe examines media coverage of the Holocaust in “World War II and the Press,” which is offered jointly with the journalism and mass communications department.
The Holocaust literature course, taught by Dr. Harrison, reviews memoirs, poetry and other works about the Holocaust by survivors and second and third generation Jews.
Three Hebrew courses, taught by Rina Katzen, are offered at the elementary, intermediate and advanced level, but are second-semester classes and require the instructor’s permission to enter.
For more information, go online, or contact Dr. Victoria Harrison at 408.924.5547 or victoria.harrison@sjsu.edu.