Full-Time Faculty
Aaron Hahn Tapper
Program Director, Professor
ajhahntapper@usfca.edu
(415) 422-2378
Aaron J. Hahn Tapper, the Mae and Benjamin Swig Professor in Jewish Studies and the founding Director of the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice, has been at USF since 2007. An educator for more than two decades, his primary academic interest is the intersection between identity formation, social justice, and marginalized groups. Aaron completed his PhD in the Religious Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he studied the History of Religions,…
Education: PhD, Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, MTS, Harvard Divinity School, BA, Johns Hopkins University
Oren Kroll-Zeldin
Program Assistant Director, Assistant Professor
omkrollzeldin@usfca.edu
(415) 422-6601
Oren Kroll-Zeldin holds a PhD in Cultural Anthropology and Social Change from the California Institute of Integral Studies where he also received an MA in Cultural Anthropology and Social Transformation. He is the Assistant Director of the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice where he teaches courses on Jewish culture, identity and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and also serves as the associate director of Hebrew San Francisco: Ulpan, a three-week intensive Hebrew language…
Education: PhD, Cultural Anthropology and Social Change, The California Institute of Integral Studies, MA, Cultural Anthropology and Social Transformation, The California Institute of Integral Studies
Paula Birnbaum
Professor
pjbirnbaum@usfca.edu
(415) 422-5167
Biography Paula Birnbaum is the Academic Director of the Museum Studies Master of Arts Program and Professor of Art History and Museum Studies at USF. She is a specialist in modern and contemporary art and holds a doctorate in Art History from Bryn Mawr College. Professor Birnbaum is a former Fulbright Scholar and fellow at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at Stanford University. Birnbaum’s research focuses on modern and contemporary art in relationship to gender and sexuality,…
Education: PhD, History of Art, Bryn Mawr College, MA, History of Art, Bryn Mawr College, BA, History of Art and French Literature, Bowdoin College
Elliot Neaman
Professor
neamane@usfca.edu
(415) 422-6411
Elliot Neaman received a BA in sociology from the University of British Columbia in 1979, an MA in history and philosophy from the Freie Universität in Berlin in 1985, and his PhD in history from the University of California at Berkeley in 1992. His areas of specialization are Modern Germany, The Holocaust, Late Modern Intellectual History, post 1945 Global History, European Diplomatic & Economic History, and theory and methodology of the historical sciences. His first book on the German…
Education: PhD, History, University of California at Berkeley, MA, History and Philosophy, Freie Universität in Berlin, BA, Sociology, University of British Columbia
Stephen Zunes
Professor
zunes@usfca.edu
(415) 422-6981
Stephen Zunes has been at USF since 1995, teaching courses on the politics of Middle East and other regions, nonviolence, conflict resolution, U.S. foreign policy, and globalization for the Politics department, the International Studies major, and the Peace & Justice Studies minor, as well as the Middle Eastern Studies minor, for which he has served as program director. He received his BA from Oberlin College, his MA from Temple University, and his PhD from Cornell University. Prior to…
Education: PhD, Cornell University, MA, Temple University, BA, Oberlin College
Part-Time Faculty
Camille Angel
Adjunct Professor, Full-time Rabbi-in-Residence
csangel@usfca.edu
Camille Shira Angel, an adjunct professor in the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice and the Rabbi-in-Residence of the University of San Francisco, is an ordained rabbi from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and the author of articles including “Crafting a Liturgical Mirror,” in the wonderful new anthology The Sacred Encounter: Jewish Perspectives on Sexuality, and “Ruach Acheret-Ruach Hakodesh: Different Spirit-Sacred Spirit” in Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible. She was the spiritual leader…
Noa Bar-Gabai
Adjunct Professor
nbargabai@usfca.edu
(415) 422-6601
Noa Bar-Gabai earned her PhD in comparative literature from UCLA. Her dissertation and current research examines Hebrew narratives written by Mizrahi (Arab-Jewish) authors with regard to issues of secularism, postcolonialism, and Jewish nationalism.
Education: PhD, Comparative Literature, UCLA, BA, Rhetoric, UC Berkeley
Lee Bycel
Adjunct Professor
ltbycel@usfca.edu
(415) 422-6601
Lee is the rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom in Napa and a Senior Moderator at the Aspen Institute. He has devoted his life to a variety of social justice issues as a teacher, humanitarian and community leader. For fifteen years he was Dean of the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, where he was also Assistant Professor of Leadership and Applied Theology and served as the Smither Visiting Professor of World Religions at the Claremont School of Theology. Lee…
Education: BA from University of California at Berkeley, PhD from Claremont School of Theology
Expertise: Social justice issues
Dalit Gvirtsman
Adjunct Professor
dgvirtsman@usfca.edu
(415) 422-6601
Dalit Gvirtsman was born and raised in Israel, where she studied at the Tel Aviv University and received her BA in general and interdisciplinary studies in the faculty of humanities. She has been an educator and a Hebrew language instructor in the Bay Area for the past 19 years, and developed curriculum for advanced Hebrew learners at Jewish Day Schools grades K-8, as well as for high school students and adult learners. Dalit has been teaching in the Hebrew San Francisco Ulpan at USF since 2016…
Education: BA, Tel Aviv University
Alexis Herr
Adjunct Professor
aherr@usfca.edu
(415) 422-6601
Dr. Herr has dedicated her life to combating genocide and atrocity, and this passion has motivated her educational and professional pursuits and translates into a strong desire to prevent human rights violations. Ms. Herr received a doctorate in Holocaust History from the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. In addition to holding academic positions at Keene State College, Northeastern University, and San Francisco State University, she has also worked for…
Education: PhD, Holocaust History from the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University
Susanne Hoelscher
Adjunct Professor
shhoelscher@usfca.edu
(415) 422-2802
Susanne Hoelscher received her PhD in German Studies from the University of California, Davis, with an emphasis in post-wall Berlin literature and film. She earned an MA in German Studies from San Francisco State University, and completed the Erste Staatsexamen at the Westfälische Wilhelms Universität Münster, Germany, majoring in Education with a focus on German Studies and History. Susanne Hoelscher’s research is focused on late 19th to 21st century German literature and culture and includes…
Education: PhD, German Studies, University of California, Davis, MA, German Studies, San Francisco State University
Natalie Latteri
Adjunct Professor
Natalie E. Latteri earned her PhD in History from the University of New Mexico. She teaches Jewish-Christian Relations at USF in the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice. Latteri is a Fellow of the Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Foundation (2016-17) and the American Academy for Jewish Research (2015), among others. Her research interests include interfaith (Jewish-Christian) relations, messianism and apocalypticism, Christian apocrypha, polemic, haunting and possession, and…
Education: PhD, University of New Mexico, MA, Purdue University, BA, University of California, Davis
Expertise: Interfaith relations in medieval Europe Apocalypticism and Messianism Medieval polemic
Faculty Emeritus
Eli Andrew Ramer
Adjunct Professor
aramer@usfca.edu
(415) 422-6601
Andrew Ramer, an adjunct professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, is the author of numerous books and articles. His primary interests are in multi-faith dialogue, the sacredness of the body, queer inclusion, and our connection to the Earth. Much of his work focuses on Jewish texts, informed by his interest in the Sufi tradition in Islam and the writings of Farid ad-Din Attar, Hafiz, and Rumi; a decades-long Buddhist meditation practice; and his active participation in a…
Esti Skloot
Adjunct Professor
skloot@usfca.edu
(415) 422-6650
Esti Skloot grew up in Israel where she studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and received her teacher’s credentials from the Hebrew Teachers’ Seminary. She received her BA in music from Sonoma State University, and her MA in creative writing at the University of San Francisco. In 1998, Professor Skloot created an on-campus intensive three-week, multi-level Hebrew-immersion summer program — founded under the name Ulpan San Francisco; now called Hebrew San Francisco: Ulpan — and served…
Education: BA, Music, Sonoma State University, MA, Creative Writing, University of San Francisco
