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Jewish Life Liaison Program

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This year, a new initiative called the Jewish Life Liaison program began at Albany.  This program hires students to create programs within the Quads in which they live.

This program was piloted in the Spring semester of 2003.  Dan Mandelkorn, a student living at State Quad, was selected as the first JLL.  Next year, there will be two Jewish Life Liaisons.

Goals of Jewish Life Liaison Program:

  • To increase the amount of Jewish programming within Residential Halls and Quads and accordingly increase the visibility of the Jewish community within those campus locations.
  • To increase the number of students involved in the greater campus Jewish community via engagement programming aimed specifically at uninvolved Jewish students within Residential Halls and Quads.
  • To empower Jewish Life Liaisons by teaching them leadership, organizational, budgeting, and programmatic skills.
  • To work collaboratively with the various departments within student affairs in order to promote and advocate for Jewish life on campus and within the Residential Halls and Quads.

Premise: Engagement is Hillels methodology for involving students who are not typically active in Jewish life on campus; many of these engagement students are found in Residential Halls. It would be highly effective to encourage more programming within the Residential Halls and Quads. Jewish Life Liaisons would be paid programmers and representatives of Hillel, as well as proponents of Jewish life on campus as a whole. 

Jewish Life Liaisons will be undergraduate students living on campus, residing specifically within the student population that they will serve. Jewish Life Liaisons will serve both a programmatic and a resource role within the Quads in which they reside. Liaisons should be creative, out-going and dynamic.

Responsibilities:

  • Manage a budget of 250 dollars as granted by Hillel in order to run cost-effective programs. The JCSC Fellow must approve use of this money before it is applied.
  • Plan four dynamic Jewish based programs per semester. Programs should respond to the particular needs of their Residential Hall and Quad.
  • Distribute flyers and disseminate information around the Quad and Residential Halls about their programs and Hillel programs.
  • Evaluate and document all programs. Liaisons will hand in an end of the year book complete with all flyers, program evaluations and suggestions for future Jewish Life Liaison programs, due on the last day of classes.
  • Encourage all program participants to become involved in campus-wide Hillel activities.
  • Meet bi-monthly with the other Jewish Life Liaisons to strategize best practices.
  • Meet once a week, one on one, with the JCSC Fellow for supervision and guidance.
  • Freshmen Jewish Life Liaisons should act as leaders and participants in FYSH (First Year Students of Hillel) activities. Non-Freshmen Jewish Life Liaisons will act as mentors for the FYSH student leadership.

Selection process: Applications will include resumes, references and essays. There will also be a competitive interview process involving the Hillel staff and selected student leaders to ensure that the best possible students can be selected. Furthermore, the prestige with which this position should be considered will be reinforced via this process.

Costs: A stipend of $50 per program, with a maximum of 4 programs will be allotted to each Jewish Life Liaison. In addition, a program budget of 250 dollars per semester will be allotted to each Jewish Life Liaison to pursue, publicize and implement programs.

To see the Jewish Life Liaison Application, click below.

Long term goals: Given success of this pilot program, the Jewish Life Liaison program will expand to include a Jewish Life Liaison at every Quad. Letters will be sent during the summer to recruit incoming students as well as returning students to apply for the opportunity to be Jewish Life Liaisons. Information about the Jewish Life Liaison program will also be available during summer orientation sessions. Students will be selected based on their qualifications, with a specific desire to recruit a diverse group of Jewish Life Liaisons.