Karlip Voted YC's Best Teacher

The beginning of each semester is often a time filled with a certain amount of anxiety and uncertainty for the undergraduate student body of Yeshiva University. As students prepare to confront the rigorous demands of Yeshiva's dual curriculum, the excitement brought on by the anticipation of the new avenues for their intellectual and academic advancement is often tempered by various questions that naturally accompany the new semester and its encounter with the unknown.

Usually the networking within the Wilf Campus' uniquely small student body is able to calm any of these worries. Oftentimes, though, a student may not be familiar with a given professor or a given course, but has a friend who can help with the questions and need for information. However, when a newly hired professor enters his first semester at YU, this built-in safety falls apart. Without anyone there to reassure the students, the traditional worries become more accented.

This past academic year, one professor, Dr. Joshua Karlip, seems to have answered students' uncertainties rather resoundingly. In his first year teaching courses on the Wilf Campus, Dr. Karlip has been voted the 2008 Yeshiva College Professor of the Year.

Dr. Karlip, who previously taught the Baltimore Hebrew University after receiving his doctorate in Jewish History from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, explained that the students weren't the only ones who had some questions when he first joined the Yeshiva College faculty.

"Before I arrived at YU, I wasn't sure how students would react to my academic demands of them. I knew that students juggle a heavy double schedule."

Yet, according to the first year professor, he found his interaction with his students to be more than sufficiently rewarding. "Overall, I have found that students engage in the subject matter. Many choose to stay to discuss issues of Jewish history with me after class. Students have also sought me outside of the classroom after I no longer am their professor. Students will show up at my office to share news of their engagement or to tell me about the latest topic in Jewish history that they have researched. Such moments are very rewarding for me."

Dr. Karlip articulated that the being voted Professor of the Year was a very meaningful award for him as it confirmed that the students appreciated his hard work and found his class interesting and thought provoking. Trying to explain why his students have taken to him so quickly he cited the content of the subject matter as well as many of the methods he tries to incorporate into his mode of teaching.

"Many of my students told me that they found the subject of Modern Jewish History very interesting," said Dr. Karlip. "Studying about such topics as the battle between the Reform and the neo-Orthodox in Germany and the rise of Zionism gave them an appreciation for the contemporary Jewish experience. My parents, both educators, always taught me that students will become engaged in the subject if you treat both them and the topic with respect."

Dr. Karlip added that he "always try to involve my students in class conversations and debates. I see how exciting it is for them to understand aspects of their Jewish identity within an historical context."

The students choosing Dr. Karlip as Professor of the Year also represents a step forward with regards to one of the greater goals of Yeshiva University as a whole: the continued improvement of the Jewish studies department. In fact, this is the third consecutive year that the YC honor has gone to a Jewish history professor.

Said Karlip, "When I came to visit YU in February 2007, Dean Srolovitz told me that he envisioned YC as developing one of the top Jewish Studies departments in the country. I feel very honored that the Jewish History Search Committee chose me to help achieve this goal."

In the same vein, Dean Srolovitz thought the students' decision had similar implications. The dean commented, "I am thrilled that YC's students have chosen to recognize Professor Karlip as the YC Professor of the Year. I find it gratifying that our new faculty is so well-received by the students. Professor Karlip is indeed a first-rate scholar, a first-rate teacher, and a first-rate colleague. I am proud that he is a member of our faculty."