Core Faculty

• 

  Andrew Berns

  Professor of History

• 

  F.K. Clementi Schoeman

  Professor of English and Jewish Studies

• 

  Saskia Coenen Snyder

  Professor of HistoryEdward B. Cantey Chair in Liberal ArtsDirector of Jewish Studies

• 

  John Mandsager

  Assistant Professor of Religion

• 

  Agnes Mueller

  Professor of German Comparative Literature

• 

  Meir Muller, Ph.D.

  Associate Dean of Community EmpowermentAssociate Professor, Early Childhood Education

• 

  Risa Strauss

  Hebrew Language Instructor

Agnes Mueller: Research and Contact

Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 1997

Research interests: Connections between antisemitism and gender; antisemitism and anti-Americanism; and antisemitism in contemporary German literature.

Contact: agnes.mueller@sc.edu

Affiliate Faculty

Adam Schor

Associate Professor of History
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 2004

Specialty: Ancient Mediterranean history

Contact: schor@mailbox.sc.edu

Consulting Faculty

Katherine Barbieri

Associate Professor of Political Science
Ph.D., Binghamton University, 1996

Specialty: Israel’s security and economic policies; Israeli-Palestinian economic relations; international relations and international political economy, with a focus on international trade, war, globalization, counterinsurgency, terrorism and counterterrorism.

Contact: katherine.barbieri@sc.edu

Morris J. Blachman

Associate Dean, Continuous Professional Development & Strategic Affairs
USC School of Medicine-Palmetto Health CME Organization
Ph.D., New York University, 1976

Specialty: Intergenerational transfer of Jewish values, especially in relation to secular behavior and Tikun Olam.

Contact: morris.blachman@uscmed.sc.edu

Lauren Sklaroff

Professor of History
Ph.D., University of Virginia, 2003

Contact: sklaroff@mailbox.sc.edu

Emeritus Faculty

Carl D. Evans

Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies
Vice Chair of the South Carolina Council on the Holocaust
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1975

Specialty: Hebrew Bible; ancient Israelite history and religion

Contact: evansc@mailbox.sc.edu

Kevin Lewis

Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies
Ph.D., University of Chicago, 1980, Religion and Culture

Specialty: Holocaust in literature and film; SC Commission on the Holocaust; religion and existentialism; visions of apocalypse; religion in the South; hermeneutics

Contact: lewiske@mailbox.sc.edu

Harvey Starr

Dag Hammarskjold Professor in International Affairs Emeritus, Political Science
Jewish Studies Program Emeritus Scholar
Ph.D., Yale University, 1971

Specialty: International relations; international conflict; Israeli foreign and national security policy; the Arab-Israeli conflict system; and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Contact: starr@mailbox.sc.edu

Faculty Publications

New and Forthcoming Publications

• Agnes Mueller. Holocaust Migration in German Jewish Literatures. Cambridge University Press, 2026.
• Saskia Coenen Snyder. “Under Pressure: Producing Diamonds for Nazi Germany.” Journal of Modern History, forthcoming Winter 2026.
• Saskia Coenen Snyder. “Who Will Follow Our Lead? Women in the Diamond Industry.” Journal of Women’s History, forthcoming Winter 2026.
• Lucie Olbrechts-Tyteca. The Humor of Rhetoric. Translation and critical introduction by F. K. Clementi and Chris Holcomb. Brill, forthcoming.

2025

• Meir Muller, L. Miller and A. R. Gelnick. “What shall we tell the children? Early childhood Jewish education teachers respond to October 7.” Journal of Jewish Education. Advance online publication, 2025.
• Agnes Mueller. “Uneven Faiths: Debórah Dwork’s ‘Saints and Liars.’” Commonweal Magazine, 2025.
• Stanley Dubinsky. “Finding ‘language’ in the Hebrew Bible.” Proceedings of the Linguistic Society of America 10(1): 5877, 2025.

2024

• Federica Clementi Schoeman. South of My Dreams: Finding My American Home. USC Press, 2024.
• Stanley Dubinsky and Meir Muller. “The Jewish moral covenant: A bond stronger than blood.” Shuddhashar FreeVoice Magazine, Issue 40: Blood, 2024.

2023

• Saskia Coenen Snyder. “Diamonds and the Holocaust.” History Today 73(10), 2023.
• Saskia Coenen Snyder. “Antisemitism on Both Sides of the Atlantic: Differences of Degree.” Holocaust Remembered: Stolen Arts and Treasures. Special supplement from the Columbia Holocaust Education Commission 10, April 2023.
• Stanley Dubinsky and Rabbi Hesh Epstein. “How Hebrew kept us a people.” Tablet Magazine, 2023.
• Stanley Dubinsky and Rabbi Hesh Epstein. “When God cries: Why the mysterious sound we heard at Sinai is a haunting reminder of divine love.” Tablet Magazine, 2023.