Jewish Education (M.A.)

Faculty

Hana Bor 
BSW, Tel Aviv University
MA, University of Judaism 
PhD, Baltimore Hebrew University

Dr. Hana Bor literally brings a world of teaching and education administration experience to Towson University. She was raised and received her bachelor’s degree in social work working with youth as well as seniors in Israel. She earned a dual master’s degree in Jewish education and Jewish studies and her Ph.D. degree in political science in the United States. She taught in and established local schools and trained her university students to combine professional teaching standards with community sensitivity.

She joins Towson as associate professor and Director of Master of Arts in Jewish Education and Master of Arts in Jewish Communal Service, after being an associate professor and the director of the professional programs at the graduate level of Baltimore Hebrew University. Her Towson courses will feature methodologies for teaching, and techniques for leadership and management for classrooms and schools. She will continue to work directly with students to help them develop their career paths and assume leadership positions in educational and communal service settings.  She will also create and supervise student internships and professional development.

Dr. Bor will continue her teaching to deepen students’ understanding of life and education around the world and to implement problem-solving in today’s schools.  She has organized and led student seminars to Israel that featured discussions with political leaders and sharing experiences with school administrators, teachers and fellow students. She involved her students in joint programs between Baltimore and Odessa, Ukraine, and is working with an international task force to promote Jewish literacy. Dr. Bor applied her experience in community organization and development in Netanya, Israel, to creating and directing community schools in the United States and creating university partnership programs, including setting up dual degree programs in Baltimore and seminars for students visiting Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Dr. Bor chairs the Association of Institutions of Higher Learning in Jewish Education and often presents workshops and lectures at regional and national conferences, such as the international conference of the Network for Research in Jewish Education. Her personal research interests are in pedagogy and methodology, curriculum planning, administration and management. For example, she is researching practical applications of how community school administrators can bridge cultural gaps in hiring and training teachers with varied backgrounds.

Rebecca Shargel  
BA, Brandeis University, Boston
MA, EdD, William Davidson School of Education, JTS

Dr. Rebecca Shargel is the 9 th literacy faculty member to join the EDTL (Educational Technology & Literacy) department in the College of Education.  Dr.  Shargel received her Doctor of Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2008. Her dissertation investigated how Jewish day school students made sense of classical Hebrew texts in discussion.

Her scholarly interests include the pedagogy of classical Jewish texts, curricular integration, and qualitative research methods.  Currently, Shargel is researching educator’s perspectives on the integration of science and religion in the Jewish high school. 

Shargel’s hobbies include modern dance, speaking Hebrew, and studying the Feldenkrais Method of kinesthetic learning.