Read All About It!

Ashley Bobman, a junior at the UW and a star student in the Stroum Center’s Sephardic Studies Program, has won the prestigious President’s Medal for her academic rigor and service to the community during her sophomore year. Bobman’s involvement with Sephardic Studies, particularly her research project on her great-grandfather’s Ladino writings, was singled out as a noteworthy achievement.

Check out “Reading Her Great-Grandfather,” an article in the Stroum Center’s Fall 2013 Newsletter, to find out more about Bobman’s translation of Albert Levy’s legacy. You can also read “Found in Translation: Ladino Poem about Spanish Exile,” to see one of Levy’s Ladino poems with Bobman’s accompanying translation.

Ashley Bobman grew up on Mercer Island and is the daughter of Bruce Bobman and Karen Tacher-Bobman. She is among the few individuals around the world writing Ladino compositions today, and she has read her original poetry at the Ladino Day celebrations held at the UW in 2013 and 2014.

Here is a quote from the UW website article about the President’s Medal:

While preserving a dying language may seem unrelated to a career in medicine, Bobman sees a strong connection. “This experience has taught me more about who I am and where I came from,” she says, “and it gives me a better sense of what shapes other people.” This sensitivity to diversity along with her focus on “improving the health of individuals in underserved populations” will no doubt serve this future nurse practitioner and her patients well.

To read the rest of the UW website article, click here.

The Stroum Center congratulates Ashley and her family on this amazing and well-deserved award!