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Department Chair and Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Public Policy

david mednicoff

Professor Mednicoff's research deals with broad connections between legal and political ideas and institutions at the national and transnational levels, particularly as these relate to current issues in the Middle East.

david mednicoff

Professor of Judaic and Middle Eastern Studies

aviva ben-ur

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

aviva ben-ur

Distinguished Professor Emeritus

Jay R. Berkovitz

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.

Jay R. Berkovitz

Professor Emeritus

Shmuel Bolozky

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.

Shmuel Bolozky

Five College Lecturer in Hebrew

Joanna Caravita

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

Joanna Caravita

Office Manager, Department Administrator

Photo of Rachel in her office.

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

Photo of Rachel in her office.

Professor of Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies

Tayeb El-Hibri

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

Tayeb El-Hibri

Professor of Judaic and Middle Eastern Studies & Film Studies Adjunct Professor

Olga Gershenson

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.

Olga Gershenson

Assistant Professor of History & Middle Eastern Studies

Hadi Jorati

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

Hadi Jorati

Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies

Jordan Katz

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.

Jordan Katz

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