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PROJECT
STAFF
CANTOR MARK S. HOROWITZ
Executive Director
ELLEN DRESKIN
Director of Jewish Lifelong Learning
DR. ROBERTA LOUIS GOODMAN
Director of Research and Standards
Cantor Mark S. Horowitz, Executive Director
Mark S. Horowitz is the Executive Director of the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative (JECEI). He holds a Masters Degree in Education from SUNY Buffalo and received his investiture and an honorary doctorate in music from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Horowitz served as the Executive Director of the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Buffalo, NY; the Director of Education and Early Childhood at Temple Beth Am in Williamsville, NY; Assistant Professor of Religion and Fine Arts at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY; and as Supervisor of student teachers and teacher of Sociology of Education and Field Experience at SUNY at Buffalo. He is the Educational Consultant to the Stecher and Horowitz Foundation.
Diana Ganger, Program Director
Diana Ganger is the Program Director of the Jewish Early Childhood Education Initiative. She holds an MSW from Washington University in St. Louis, and a BSW from Haifa University in Israel. Prior to joining JECEI, Diana spent twenty years as the Director of the Moriah Preschool and Daycare Center in Deerfield, IL. Her background includes: former President of the National Jewish Early Childhood Network, Validator and Commissioner for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), member of the Wexner Heritage Foundation, and graduate of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School. Diana has developed and implemented professional development coursework in a variety of settings . She also lectures and consults internationally on Jewish Early Childhood Education and specializes in areas of: ECE administration, Jewish and Reggio big ideas, Staff development and Covenantal schools, amongst others.
Ellen Dreskin, Director of Jewish Lifelong Learning
Ellen Dreskin is a teacher of liturgy, synagogue transformation, and mysticism. She has served for many years on the faculty of URJ Summer Kallot, Hava Nashira, and the URJ Kutz Camp Leadership Academy. Ellen has worked with Jews of all denominations from Houston to Chicago and Los Angeles to Boston, both as a scholar in residence and in her capacity as Director of Programs for Synagogue 2000, a national, not-for-profit institute dedicated to revitalizing and re-energizing synagogue life in North America. She has served as both Cantor and Educator at Woodlands Community Temple in White Plains, New York and at Anshe Chesed-Fairmount Temple in Cleveland, Ohio, and as the spiritual leader of Chavurat Tikvah in Westchester County, New York. Ellen has also served as Associate Dean of HUC-JIR in New York, and sings with Beged Kefet, a musical tzedakah collective. Ellen is a native Texan, a 1986 graduate of HUC-JIR School of Sacred Music, and has a Master’s Degree in Jewish Communal Service from Brandeis University. Ellen lives in Ardsley, NY with her husband Rabbi Billy Dreskin, and their children; Katie, Jonah, and Aiden.
Dr. Roberta Louis Goodman, Director of Research and Standards
Dr. Roberta Louis Goodman joins the JECEI staff after completing nearly five years of service as Director for Distance Learning for Siegal College of Judaic Studies located in Cleveland. Dr. Goodman received her doctorate in adult education from Teachers College/Columbia University, her masters in Jewish Education from the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, a masters in education from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor degree from Northwestern University. Last May, Dr. Goodman received an honorary doctorate from HUC-JIR for her contribution to Jewish education these past 25 years. Dr. Goodman’s work as a researcher began with the Council for Initiatives in Jewish Education (CIJE, now the Mandel Foundation) where she was on the research team that focused on a national study of Jewish educational personnel. Since then, most of her evaluation and research work has been done through her consulting for central agencies for Jewish education, federations, and national and international organizations. Her recent work includes action research for Project Kavod (CAJE), an effort to raise the salaries and benefits of early childhood Jewish educators, a feasibility study of a Jewish community day high school, and a JERRI project focusing on the recruitment and retention of congregational educators. Dr. Goodman’s publications include curricula, student materials, and articles in the areas of faith development and spirituality, research and evaluation, adult education, Jewish educational personnel, grant writing, and other topics. Her books include Teaching about God and Spirituality co-edited with Sherry Blumberg (ARE), Head Start on Holidays with Andye Honigman-Zell (ARE), and the Adult Jewish Educator's Handbook with Betsy Dolgin Katz. She is a past president of the National Association of Temple Educators (NATE), past-chairperson of the HUC Alumni Council, and past member of the Board of Governors of HUC-JIR.
Erica Kaufman, Executive Assistant
Erica Kaufman holds an MFA in Writing from New School University, and a BA in English and American Studies from Rutgers University. Before joining the JECEI team, Erica was the Coalition Assistant at the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education, where she played a worked on the annual Day School/ Early Childhood Educator’s Conference. Erica also teaches writing at Baruch College and is a PhD. Candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is a published poet and prose writer and has won various awards for her writing.
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