Israel Studies ProgramScholarship, Courses & EventsThe Israel Studies Program at the University of Washington promotes the academic study of the histories, cultures, and politics of the State of Israel, Zionism in its various forms and iterations, and the communities of British and Ottoman Palestine, in regional and comparative perspectives.
Through engaging academic programming for campus and community audiences and opportunities for student funding and support, the program lends critical insight into unfolding conversations about nationalism, liberalism, citizenship, globalization, technology, religion, ethnicity, migration, and the military in Israel and beyond.
Israel Studies prides itself on dynamic partnerships with other programs on campus, particularly the Sephardic Studies Program, the Middle East Center, the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and the Interdisciplinary Near and Middle Eastern Studies Ph.D. program. The program engages people from a range of personal backgrounds, academic interests, and political perspectives who may not normally learn with or from one another.
Learning Hebrew, mother and child
How does language connect children to their parents? Hannah Pressman reflects on learning Hebrew as a child and discovering her mother's ulpan notebook.
Using project-based learning to teach the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Graduate Fellow Rob Keener explains that concepts and real-world connections are key to teaching history well.
Wonder Woman and the superpower of Hebrew
The complexities of translating "Wonder Woman" into Hebrew can help us to think about what it means to be a "woman of valor."
The Israel Studies Program brings scholars, writers, and thinkers from diverse disciplines to campus to explore issues related to the State of Israel. View events >
Graduate students from across the University conduct research on a wide range of topics in Israel Studies. Learn more about our students >
Courses
Study the histories, societies, cultures, and politics of the State of Israel through our range of courses. Learn more >
Support Israel Studies
Make a gift to support Israel Studies at the University of Washington and Israel-related scholarship and programming. Learn more >
Dr. Liora R. Halperin, Israel Studies Program Chair & Benaroya Chair in Israel Studies
Dr. Liora R. Halperin is a scholar of Jewish cultural and social history, with particular interests in nationalism and collective memory, language ideology and policy, and Jewish-Arab relations both in Ottoman and Mandate Palestine and in the early years after Israeli statehood. Her first book, Babel in Zion: Jews, Nationalism, and Language Diversity in Palestine (Yale University Press, 2015) was awarded the Shapiro Prize from the Association for Israel Studies for the best book in Israel Studies. She has published academic articles in The Journal of Social History, Jewish Social Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and The Jewish Quarterly Review, among other venues. She is currently working on a second book project about collective memory in and around the European Jewish agricultural colonies (moshavot) established in late 19th-century Palestine, which were regarded after World War I as the first wave (First Aliyah) of Zionist settlement in Palestine. She received her Ph.D. in History from UCLA in 2011.
Faculty
Noam Pianko
Teaching specialty in American Jewish history, history of Zionism and modern Jewish thought.
Joel Migdal
Research in theories of comparative politics and Middle East politics, with an emphasis on Israel and Palestinians.
Naomi Sokoloff
Research and teaching focus on modern Jewish literature, Hebrew, and Israeli culture.
About the Israel Studies Program
Housed in the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, part of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, the Israel Studies Program brings together distinguished faculty with expertise in modern Israel and offers students multiple disciplinary perspectives on the Israeli state, including history, sociology, law, environment, technology, science and culture.
The Israel Studies Program is made possible through the Jack and Rebecca Benaroya Endowed Fund for Excellence in Israel Studies, which was created in 2016 through a $5 million gift from Seattle-area donor Becky Benaroya. The Benaroya Fund supports a faculty chair in Israel Studies as well as an annual lectureship and other public programming.
A standing faculty advisory committee advises Benaroya Chair Liora R. Halperin on Israel Studies public programming; other Israel Studies Program decisions are made by the Benaroya Chair in collaboration with the Director and Associate Director of the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies, as well as the Director of the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.