Nursing Professor to Develop Judaism, Health and Healing Course as Rabin Fellow
Dr. Anne Bongiorno, associate professor of nursing, is the most recent winner of the Rabin Fellowship in Jewish Studies.
The Rabin Fellowship is a professional development opportunity that provides faculty from any discipline support for new course creation that broadens the understanding of Jewish life and culture. The course must concentrate on subjects central to the Jewish experience such as Old Testament studies, history of anti-Semitism, Jewish literature, philosophy of Judaism, Jewish-American writers, and Jews and the Civil Rights Movement, to name a few.
Bongiorno will be developing a general education course, Abi Gezunt: Judaism, Health and Healing, to be included in the Jewish studies minor. According to Dr. Jonathan Slater, associate professor and chair of the journalism and public relations department and director of the Jewish studies program, Bongiorno’s course will be aimed primarily at students in nursing and the health professions to help them to better prepare for treating and counseling diverse populations in a wide variety of situations. Abi Gezunt is a Yiddish phrase that means, literally translated, “Stay healthy.”
“Dr. Bongiorno saw the opportunity provided by the Rabin Fellowship as a way to further pursue her interest in clinical ethics and public health concerns and to honor culturally diverse health practices,” Slater said. She will travel to Israel this semester in order to continue her curricular research and to meet with Israeli health care experts.
Mark and Pearlie Rabin established the Rabin Fellowship in Judaic Perspectives in December 2003. Bongiorno’s fellowship carries a stipend, additional support for travel and funding for library purchases.
A number of SUNY Plattsburgh faculty over the last several years have created Jewish studies courses on an array of topics under the auspices of the Rabin Fellowship in Jewish Studies, Slater said. He himself is a Rabin Fellow, having received the award in 2006. The fellowship is funded through contributions to the Plattsburgh College Foundation.
For more information, contact Slater at 518-564-2284 or [email protected].