Directory

Professor Brian Ogilvie studied at the University of Chicago, where he received his B.A. (1990), M.A. (1992), and Ph.D. (1997), as well as at Cambridge University, where he was a member of Trinity College. 

Professor Ben-Ur is a historian specializing in Atlantic Jewish history, slavery studies, and the Ottoman diaspora.

Jay R. Berkovitz received his Ph.D. at Brandeis University. His research and teaching focus is on the early modern history of European Jews, with special emphasis on Jewish law, family, ritual, and communal governance.

A linguist by training, Professor Bolozky specializes in Hebrew phonology (sound systems of languages) and morphology (word formation). His work centers on natural phonetically-motivated processes and on word-formation patterns and productivity.

Prof. Caravita's research focuses on native and non-native teachers of Hebrew and Arabic.

Rachel Diana is the office manager and department administrator in the Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies at UMass Amherst.

Professor El-Hibri specializes in classical Arabic historiography and in medieval and modern Arabic literature.

Olga Gershenson is Professor of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies and of Film Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is a multi-disciplinary scholar, with interests at the intersection of culture, history, and film.

Hadi Jorati is a historian of Pre-modern Islamic societies, with a focus on Intellectual History and History of Science.

Jordan Katz is a historian of early modern Jewry, with a focus on Jewish cultural history, history of medicine, and women and gender in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.