Professor

Martha Minow

Martha Louise Minow has shaped laws to help the disempowered, and as dean of Harvard Law School, has also shaped the next generation of lawmakers.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/minow-martha

Penina Migdal Glazer

As a historian, Penina Migdal Glazer has shed new light on the struggles of women to gain acceptance even in eras of supposedly greater opportunity.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/glazer-penina

Henny Wenkart

Through her creation of the Jewish Women’s Poetry Workshop, Henny Wenkart created much-needed community and resources for Jewish women writers.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/wenkart-henny

Barbara Wallace Grossman

A theater historian, voice specialist, director, and author, Barbara Wallace Grossman has made significant contributions to academia, theater, and the Jewish and cultural communities.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/wallace-grossman-barbara

Lillian Mellen Genser

After the narrowly averted disaster of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Lillian Mellen Genser decided to train people to think differently about conflict from early childhood onward.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/genser-lillian

Hilda R. Gage

Hilda R. Gage capped a career of firsts with her appointment as the first female Chief Judge of Michigan’s Oakland County Circuit Court, one of the busiest circuit courts in the nation.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/gage-hilda

Flossie Cohen

Flossie Cohen pushed the boundaries of pediatric medicine throughout her career, from providing bone marrow transplants to creating a pediatric AIDS center.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/cohen-flossie

Kira Radinsky

Computer scientist Kira Radinsky earned a reputation for predicting the future when she developed technology that could anticipate cholera outbreaks and student riots based on data in old newspapers.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/radinsky-kira

Julia Neuberger

Baroness Julia Neuberger holds an unusual double distinction as both a rabbi and a member of the House of Lords.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/neuberger-julia

Sharon Brous

Sharon Brous founded IKAR (essence), a community blending innovative spirituality and strong social justice values to reengage disaffected Jews.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/brous-sharon

Naomi Levy

After suffering tragedies in her own life, Naomi Levy used her skills as a rabbi and writer to give others the tools to move on.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/levy-naomi

Sharon Cohen Anisfeld

As dean of Hebrew College, Sharon Cohen Anisfeld has struck a rare balance between overseeing the seminary as a whole and connecting with each of her students on a personal level.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/anisfeld-sharon

Jill Hammer

Jill Hammer co-founded the Kohenet Hebrew Priestess Institute to offer women alternative ways of connecting with Jewish tradition by focusing on the sacredness of the body and the earth.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/hammer-jill

Emma Nuschi Plank

Emma Nuschi Plank’s multidisciplinary approach to child development helped doctors, teachers, psychologists, and social workers find a common language to work together.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/plank-emma

Randi Weingarten

When she was elected president of the American Federation of Teachers in 2008, Randi Weingarten became the first openly gay leader of an American national labor union.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/weingarten-randi

Shafi Goldwasser

Shafi Goldwasser was honored with the Turing Award, the highest honor in computer science, for her work in revolutionizing the field of cryptography.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/goldwasser-shafi

Liebe Sokol Diamond

Born with a congenital defect that had caused the loss of several fingers and toes before birth, Liebe Sokol Diamond went on to become a leading pediatric surgeon.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/diamond-liebe

Laura Stachel

Stunned by the poor conditions in which Nigerian doctors were working, Laura Stachel created We Care Solar to offer hospitals “Solar Suitcases” that fuel reliable lights.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/stachel-laura

After recognizing a neglected epidemic causing severe pain to children around the world, Karen Sokal-Gutierrez founded the Global Children’s Oral Health and Nutrition Project (GCOHNP) to improve diet and dental care for children and their families.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/sokal-gutierrez-karen

Danielle Butin

Danielle Butin created the Afya Foundation to bring much-needed medical supplies to crisis-stricken communities, providing aid after the 2010 Haitian earthquake, the 2011 Japanese tsunami, 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, and the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/butin-danielle

Deena Gerber

A seasoned social worker and executive director of Jewish Family Service of Greater New Orleans, Deena Gerber helped residents put their lives back together in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/gerber-deena

Shirley Siegel

The only woman in the Yale Law School class of 1941, Shirley Adelson Siegel became a trailblazer as head of the New York State Attorney’s first Civil Rights Bureau in 1959.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/siegel-shirley

Erika Meitner

Erika Meitner’s poetry plays with the idea of overlooked but vital spaces, from malls and suburban developments to women’s bodies.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/meitner-erika

Hanne Blank

Both as a historian and as a fiction writer, Hanne Blank has questioned how we relate to our bodies and our sexuality, from gender norms to fat-shaming.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/blank-hanne

Katya Gibel Mevorach

In her most famous book, Black, Jewish and Interracial: It’s Not the Color of Your Skin but the Race of Your Kin and Other Myths of Identity, anthropologist Katya Gibel Mevorach (nee Azoulay) explored identity politics, “passing” as white, and other social constructs of race.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/mevorach-katya

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