In Act I, Scene 1 of the Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman play, 鈥淵ou Can鈥檛 Take It With You,鈥� the character known as Grandpa, the patriarch of the eccentric Vanderhof family, returns home after attending the graduation ceremony at Columbia University, which he does every year for the sheer fun of it. 听鈥淲ell sir, you should have been there,鈥� he announces. 听鈥淭hat鈥檚 all I can say鈥攜ou should have been there.鈥�听
Allow me to echo Grandpa鈥檚 words. 听The Program in Jewish Studies graduated 14 undergraduates, one Master鈥檚 student, and our very first PhD student on May 6, 2016, and 鈥測ou should have been there.鈥� Our six graduating majors discussed their capstone projects, which ranged from the creation of original books of meditation and tales to a series of photographs of repurposed Jewish building sites to an original musical composition for the psalms to an original radio play. 听听Our six graduating minors were also celebrated and, like our majors, are going on to do amazing things next year. 听Our MA student, Kathryn Huether, whose thesis, 鈥淗earing the Holocaust,鈥� blended her interests in music and Jewish Studies will be pursuing a PhD in musicology next year and our PhD student, Nicholas Underwood, whose dissertation was on Yiddish culture in interwar Paris, will be teaching history next year in California.
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Our students garnered many prizes, and the ceremony that revolved around them made their accomplishments clear. 听It also made clear the reciprocity of respect and admiration that exists between our students and our faculty and with family, friends, and community members in attendance, it helped to reinforce the phenomenal warmth and energy that emanates from the people who make up the Program in Jewish Studies at CU. 听It was a wonderful way to end a wonderful year. 听And 鈥渢hat鈥檚 all I can say.鈥�
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Best wishes for a relaxing and productive summer.
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