The Literature, Communication & Media (LCM) Department allows students to explore the richness, range, and complexity of the humanities through studies of Communication, Film, Literature, Music, and Theatre, with special attention being played to a firm grounding in the written word. The department is committed to students themselves becoming effective communicators, and therefore emphasizes the development of creative and critical expressive skills, both oral and written.

This department offers the following major and minor:

• Literature, Communication & Media:

Special concentrations are offered in:

• Literature
• Communications
• Theater

Through the study of literature, communication, and media (theatre, film, the arts), students in the LCM department examine both their cultural heritage and the role of the mass media in reflecting and shaping the values of the contemporary world. Majors are able to analyze, interpret and evaluate the social, ethical and intellectual implications of texts, whether written, performed, or electronic. They are trained to become articulate communicators, able to express their creative vision, critical judgments and the results of their own research, through writing, speaking, performance and/or other modes of communication.

LCM students are encouraged to become aware of their own basic assumptions, able to think creatively and to collaborate successfully as leaders and as part of a team. With an enthusiastic respect for artistic expression and an inquiring, self-aware mind, majors develop professional discipline, a critical awareness of our complex information environment, a sense of social and ethical responsibility, a collaborative attitude, confidence in self-presentation and oral and written communication skills, and, ideally, a creative and courageous imagination.

Students who graduate from the department may apply the skills learned in courses to a variety of work and social environments. Alumni have entered gone on to law school, and to professionals involving administration, global communication, politics, and organizational management; elementary, high school, and college teaching; film production, public policy, communications consulting and management, publishing, educational psychology, librarianship; educational media design, real estate development, and the rabbinate (Reform, Conservative and Orthodox). The department has an excellent record of graduate school admissions, including, for example, Harvard School of Education, University of Michigan Law School, UCLA Law School, Cal State MA programs, Brooklyn College MA Program, Jewish Theological Seminary MAED and Rabbinical Programs, USC Screenwriting, USC Public Policy, and the Annenberg School of Communications at USC.

Opportunities for Creative Expression

As part of its commitment to encouraging students’ creative expression, the Department offers students opportunities to participate in its experiential courses, such as Acting/Directing, Creative Writing, the College Chorus, College Theatre Company, Cymbals - the literary/arts annual, and the campus (newly digital) newspaper.

Internships

Qualified students may apply to the Department Chair for off-campus internships designed to help them develop their particular area of interest in fields such as theatre, film, education, publishing, journalism, law, and librarianship. Students who maintain an average of B+ or better in the Department qualify for nomination to the prestigious Sigma Tau Delta, the international English Honor Society of which the Department is a member.

DEPARTMENT CHAIR & ADVISOR

Miriyam Glazer, Ph.D.
mglazer@ajula.edu
310-476-9777 x206

Ph.D. in English and American Literature, Brandeis University, 1974
M.A. in Rabbinic Studies, Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, 2005.
B.A. in Literature, Theatre & Philosophy, Antioch College, 1966.

Rabbi Miriyam Glazer, Ph.D. is the Chair of the Literature, Communication and Media Department and has been Professor of Literature at AJU for the past twenty years. Her areas of special interest include creating new translations of traditional prayers, as well as new prayers and ceremonies for inclusion in Jewish religious life; American, Jewish, and Israeli poetry and fiction; religious poetry, ancient and modern; and what she calls “Judaism: Body and Soul” – the matrix of spirituality, food, environmentalism and health.

An award-winning teacher and widely published writer who serves as a Scholar in Residence throughout the United States, Europe and Israel, she has been a Greenfaith Fellow and a visiting scholar at Hebrew University, UCLA, and USC. Dr. Glazer has held numerous fellowships, including the National Humanities Institute, Memorial Foundation, and Hadassah-Brandeis Institute. Before joining the AJU faculty, Dr. Glazer was Senior Lecturer & Head of the Foreign Literatures Department at Ben Gurion University of the Negev.

In addition to her position at AJU, Dr. Glazer teaches at the Academy for Jewish Religion and facilitates Torah Study groups, retreats, and conversion classes throughout Los Angeles. She co-writes a bi-monthly column in New York Spirit .

BOOKS/ JOURNALS

Guest Editor, Psalms of the Jewish Liturgy. Shirim XXVII: 1, 2009.

Psalms of the Jewish Liturgy: A Guide to their Beauty, Power & Meaning. A new translation & commentary in memory of David L. Lieber. (NY: Aviv Press, 2009).

Guest Editor, Israeli Women Poets. Special Double Issue of Shirim (Fall/Winter 2005).

The Essential Book of Jewish Festival Cooking, co-authored with Phyllis Glazer (NY: Harper-Collins, 2004). I am responsible for the commentary on the festivals.

Editor, The Bedside Torah by Bradley Shavit Artson. (McGraw Hill, 2001)

Dreaming the Actual: Contemporary Fiction and Poetry by Israeli Women Writers (SUNY Press, 2000). Twenty stories and 80 poems, with a general introduction and introductions to each work. Selected, edited, translated, with Introductions & Notes.