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Student Award 2026 Collage
2026 Award Winners
We mark the end of the 2025-2026 academic year by celebrating the successes of Jewish Studies and the Initiative in Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies students. Here are our award winners.  Matthew Fam (PhD Candidate, Department of Comparative & World Literature...
Miriam Udel
Modern Jewish Worldmaking Through Jewish Children's Literature
The Program in Jewish Culture & Society welcomed Miriam Udel to campus on February 23rd as a part of the Krouse Family Visiting Scholar in Judaism and Western Culture Fund's annual lecture series, with additional support from the Center for Children's Books. Udel is the Judith London Evans...
Dan Shapiro Event Flyer
An Evening with Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro
On the evening of January 26th, the Program in Jewish Culture & Society and Illini Hillel welcomed Dan Shapiro to campus as part of the Israel Studies Program, with additional support from the Jewish United Fund. Shapiro, a graduate of Uni High School in Urbana and son of Michael Shapiro, one...
Priscilla Charrat Nelson
Alumni Spotlight

Priscilla Charrat Nelson

Priscilla Charrat Nelson is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of French and Arabic at Bradley University. She obtained her PhD in French Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in August 2017, where she defended her dissertation "Documents et Cheminements: Tracing the Postmemory of the Second World War and the Algerian War of Independence." During her time at UIUC, Dr. Nelson obtained a graduate certificate in Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies and co-organized The Future of Trauma and Memory Studies reading...
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Featured Courses: Fall 2026
RUSS 465

Jewish Culture in the Russian (and Soviet) Empire

This course explores what Jewish culture was in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union and why it was significant.
HIST 400

Making of the Jewish Nation

"Making of the Jewish Nation" traces the development of different forms of Jewish nationalism (diaspora nationalism, Zionism, territorialism, etc.) and the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
GER 261

The Holocaust in Context

Examines cultural representations of the Holocaust in literature, film, and critical essays.