Jeffrey A. Summit Curriculum Vitae |
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86 Bullough Park |
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Present Positions Research Professor, Department of Music and Judaic Studies, Tufts University, 2012–present Education Ph.D. Tufts University 1995 Inter-disciplinary Doctoral Program (Ethnomusicology). Committee: David Locke (chair), Mark Slobin, Mark DeVoto, Joel Rosenberg. Dissertation: "Melody Choice in Contemporary Jewish Worship: A Cross-denominational Study of the Kabbalat Shabbat Service" Honorary Degrees
Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa 2018 Hebrew College Senior Consultant, Hillel International Directed the project “Living our Values,” a yearlong national process to define, determine and implement Hillel International’s organizational values. Designed discussion sessions, led focus groups for diverse stakeholder groups (Board of Directors, Senior National Leadership, Funders, Hillel Executive Directors, Hillel staff members, student leaders). Led working group to draft values, worked with stakeholders to refine and adopt value statement (2020/2021). Led a national working group to determine Hillel International’s vision, mission and educational strategy for Israel work on campus. Developed discussion materials, led focus groups and conducted interviews with diverse stakeholders, submitted final report (2020). Led a national initiative to conceptualize and organize cohort gatherings for groups of Hillel Executive Directors to build networks of personal and professional support (2019). Designed and led a series of four-part seminars for Hillel Executive Directors: “Living well at a time of Challenge” (Dec 2020), “What Matters Now?: An exploration of our relationship and responsibilities to ourselves, our work and our world” (Jan 2021) “Re-thinking our Spiritual Practice” (March/April 2021). Neubauer Executive Director, Tufts Hillel 1979 - 2018 Executive Director and rabbi for medium size non-profit, supervised a full-time staff of nine professionals serving the educational, cultural and religious needs of the Jewish community at Tufts University. Directed programmatic initiatives that engaged 65% of Tufts Jewish students in a broad range of innovative activities, with a focus on social justice and active citizenship. Secured substantial foundation support to develop programs to promote interfaith and intercultural cooperation and understanding. Under the auspices of Tufts Hillel, directed the Cummings/Hillel Program for Holocaust and Genocide Education. Managed an annual budget of approximately $1.5 million. Worked successfully with Tufts University to direct development efforts that secured the funding to build the Granoff Family Hillel Center, endow the operation and maintenance of the Center and establish a $6.4 million program endowment. Over the years, Tufts Hillel received numerous awards from Hillel International, Tufts University and the Boston Jewish community for excellence in campus programming. Served on the Executive Committee of the International Board of Directors for International Hillel. Director, Innovation Lab, Hebrew College, Spring 2020, Spring 2021 Designed Innovation Lab and led a weekly seminar for rabbinic students, rabbis and cantors focusing on thought leadership, project innovation, implementation, and resource development. Provided personalized coaching for 20 participants. Publications Books and Resources The Lord's Song in a Strange Land: Music and Identity in Contemporary Jewish Worship, Oxford University Press, 2000. Winner of the Musher Publication Prize from the National Foundation for Jewish Culture Abayudaya: The Jews of Uganda, with photojournalist Richard Sobol, Abbeville Press, 2002. (popular) Cabaret at the Edge of the World: Performing in the Shadow of the Holocaust; a resource and production guide. With Philip Bohlman and Hankus Netsky. Published by Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, 2005. CD included. Web resources Articles (Academic) “Orality in Modern Judaism as it Connects to the Hebrew Bible” in The Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception. Edited by Constance M. Furey, Joel LeMon, Brian Matz, Thomas Römer, Jens Schröter, Barry Dov Walfish, and Eric Ziolkowski. De Gruyter. Forthcoming “Singing God’s Words: Contemporary Perspectives on Chanting Torah” in Contemporary Jewish Music in America, 2000 – 2022, A Symposium, a special edition of The Journal of Synagogue Music curated by Mark Kligman and Judah M. Cohen. Vol. 46:1. The Cantors’ Assembly of America. 2021 “Knowing how to Tell a Story” in Voices in the Field: Pathways in Public Ethnomusicology edited by Leon Felipe Garcia Corona and Kathleen Wiens. Oxford University Press. 2021 “Searching for a Metaphor: What is the Role of the Shaliach/Shalichat Tzibur (Leader of Prayer)?” in Studying Congregational Music: Key Issues, Methods, and Theoretical Perspectives edited by Andrew Mall, Jeffers Engelhardt and Monique Ingalls. Routledge. 2021 "Digital Technology, Chanting Torah, and the Sustainability of Tradition” in Cultural Sustainabilities: Music, Media, Language, Advocacy edited with an Introduction by Timothy J. Cooley. Foreword by Jeff Todd Titon. University of Illinois Press. 2019 "Technology and the Transmission of Oral Tradition in the Contemporary Jewish Community" in Resounding Transcendence: Transitions in Music, Religion, and Ritual edited by Philip Bohlman and Jeffers Engelhardt. Oxford University Press, 2016 "Advocacy and the Ethnomusicologist: Assessing Capacity, Setting Limits and Making Sustainable Contributions," The Oxford Handbook of Applied Ethnomusicology, edited by Jeff Todd Titon and Svanibor Pettan, Oxford University Press, 2015 "The Participating Observer: Research in Jewish Settings," Musica Judaica: Journal of the American Society for Jewish Music, 2015 "Biblical Cantillation," Grove Dictionary of American Music, second edition (AmeriGrove II), Oxford University Press, 2013 "Musical change in the liturgy of the Abayudaya (Jewish people) of Uganda," co-authored with Michael Beckerman in "Auditory Snapshots from the Edges of Europe," Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 22 (2012), pp. 199–221 "Music and the Construction of Identity among the Abayudaya (Jewish people) of Uganda" in The Garland Handbook of African Music, second edition. Edited by Ruth M. Stone, Routledge Publishing, 2008 "Nusah and Identity: The Contemporary Meaning of Traditional Jewish Prayer Modes" in Music and American Religious Experience. Edited by Philip V. Bohlman, Maria Chow, and Edith Blumhofer, Oxford University Press, 2006 "If You Prolong Your Stay at Table, You Prolong Your Life: Jewish Music and Food" in The Ethnomusicologist's Cookbook. Edited by Sean Williams, Routledge Press, 2006 "The Meaning of Our Melodies: Music and Identity in Contemporary Jewish Worship" in Perspectives in Jewish Learning, Volume VIII, The Spertus College of Judaica Press, 2002 "Identity and Melody Choice in Contemporary American Jewish Worship" in Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Jewish Music. Edited by Alexander Knapp, City University, London, 1997 "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy?" Identity and Melody at an American Simhat Torah Celebration." Ethnomusicology 37/1, 1993 Articles (Popular) "Coffee, Music and the Performance of Peace." Smithsonian Folkways Magazine, Article, video and field recordings, Summer 2013 "Mirembe Kawomera (Delicious Peace): Coffee, Music and Interfaith Harmony in Uganda" in "From the Field," Smithsonian Folkways Magazine, Article and field recordings, Winter 2010 "The High Places" (Mountains and Spirituality) in Appalachia: The Journal of the Appalachian Mountain Club, Winter 2010 "The Power of Music in Community" in Living Torah. Edited by Elaine Rose Glickman, URJ Press, 2005 "Living in Difficult Times" in Living Words. Edited by Susan Berrin, Jewish Family and Life Publishing, 2001 "Shabbat Shuvah" in Living Words. Edited by Susan Berrin, Jewish Family and Life Publishing, 1999 "The Role of the Shaliach Tsibur" in Kerem: Creative Explorations in Judaism. Jewish Study Center Press, Winter 1992–93 Published Poetry “Pressed Flowers” in Appalachia: America’s Longest-Running Journal of Mountaineering and Conservation, Winter/Spring 2022 “And Now They Hold” in The Reform Jewish Quarterly, Spring/Summer 2021 "Behind the Window" in The Reform Jewish Quarterly. Summer 2014 "Another Goodbye" in Appalachia: America's Longest Running Journal of Mountaineering and Conservation. Summer/Fall 2014 Compact Discs (produced, compiled, annotated and recorded) Delicious Peace: Coffee, Music and Interfaith Harmony in Uganda. Recorded, compiled and annotated. CD and video. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2013. Winner of "Best Traditional World Music CD, 2014" from the Independent Music Awards. A Cabaret in the Warsaw Ghetto. Produced with Hankus Netsky. Hillel Foundation at Tufts University, 1993. Expanded and reissued by Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, 2005 Abayudaya: Music from the Jewish People of Uganda. Recorded, compiled and annotated. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2003. Nominated for a GRAMMY Award in the category of Traditional World Music. Abayudaya: The Jews of Uganda. CD to accompany the book, Abayudaya: The Jews of Uganda. Abbeville Press, 2002 The Lord's Song in a Strange Land. CD to accompany the book The Lord's Song in a Strange Land: Music and Identity in Contemporary Jewish Worship. Oxford University Press, 2000 Shepherd of the Highways. Lyrics and music by Jeffrey A. Summit. Recorded as LP. Mount Moriah Music, 1976 Book Reviews Review of American Klezmer: Its Roots and Offshoots. Edited by Mark Slobin. University of California Press, 2002. Reviewed in The Newsletter of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, 2003 Review of Music in Lubavitcher Life. By Ellen Koskoff. University of Illinois Press, 2000. Reviewed in Notes, 58/3, 2002 Review of Modern Jews and Their Musical Agendas. Edited by Ezra Mendelsohn, Studies in Contemporary Jewry 9. Oxford University Press, 1993. Reviewed in The Journal of Ethnomusicology, 40/1, 1996 Review of The World Center for Jewish Music in Palestine 1936–1940. Jewish Musical Life on the Eve of World War II. By Philip Bohlman. Oxford University Press, 1992. Reviewed in the Jarbuch fur Volksleidforschung, 1995 Review of Singing for Survival: Songs of the Lodz Ghetto, 1940–45. By Gila Flam. University of Illinois Press. 1992. Reviewed in the Jarbuch fur Volksleidforschung, 1994 Academic Papers and Lectures (selected) “Reimagining Spiritual Experience and Music: Perspectives from Jewish Worship in the United States” Music, Religion, and Spirituality: Inaugural International Symposium, 26–28 August l2-28, 2021 Ljubljana, Slovenia (virtual presentation) Sponsored by the Imago Sloveniae Foundation and the Department of Musicology, University of Ljubljana. “Music and Hasidism in Contemporary America.” Chair and Respondent to panel (Gordon Dale, Tzipora Weinberg, Tina Frühauf). American Musicological Society. Panel sponsored by the Jewish Studies and Music Study Group, 2019 “The Scholar-Activist: Opportunities, Challenges, and Advice for Pursuing Social Justice.” Jewish Music Forum, co-sponsored by the CUNY Graduate Center's Center for Jewish Studies, 2019 “Digital Technology, Chanting Torah, and the Sustainability of Tradition.” Cultural Sustainabilities: Music, Media, Language, Advocacy. Conference at University of California, Santa Barbara. 2018 “Singing God’s Words: The Performance of Biblical Chant in Contemporary Judaism” The Helen Diller Lecture, sponsored by the Center for Jewish Studies. University of California, Berkeley. 2018 "Singing God’s Words: Religious Experience, Chant and Sacred Text." Chanting the Word of God: Cantillation in the World’s Religious Traditions. Symposium at Northeastern University. 2017 “Roundtable: The Ethnomusicology of Religion: Fieldwork Methods and Ethics.” Presenter. SEM (Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology). 2017 “Coffee, Music and Interfaith Harmony in Uganda.” Vassar College. 2017 “Singing God’s Words: Religious Experience, Chant and Sacred Text in Contemporary Judaism” Featured Speaker. Christian Congregational Music: Local and Global Perspectives. Conference at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, Oxford, UK. 2017 "Singing God's Words: Religious Experience, Chant and Sacred Text." Hebrew College, Boston, MA. Rabbi Ebn Leader, respondent. 2017 "Singing God's Words: The Performance of Biblical Chant in Contemporary Judaism." The Jewish Music Forum, a project of the American Society for Jewish Music, New York, NY. 2017 "Singing God's Words: Religious Experience, Chant and Sacred Text." Tufts University, Department of Music Faculty Colloquium. 2016 "Old Wine in New Bottles: Torah Reading, Digital Technology and the Sustainability of Tradition." SEM (Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology). 2016 "The Meaning and Experience of Biblical Chant in Contemporary Judaism." Keynote address at Magnified and Sanctified: The Music of Jewish Prayer, University of Leeds, England, 2015 "Delicious Peace: Coffee, Music and Interfaith Harmony in Uganda." Stanford University, sponsored by The Department of Music; Peace and Justice Studies; The Taube Center for Jewish Studies and the Office of Religious Life, 2014 "Using Poetry to Teach Ethnographic Fieldwork." SEM (Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology) 2014 "The Performance of Sacred Text and the Construction of Religious Experience in the Contemporary Jewish Community." SEM, 2012 "The Performance of Jewish Biblical Chant in North America." Chair and Organizer of Panel, SEM, 2012 "Delicious Peace: Coffee, Music and Interfaith Harmony in Uganda." Amherst College, 2012 "Delicious Peace: Coffee, Music and Interfaith Harmony in Uganda." Wesleyan University, 2012 "The Meaning and Experience of Chanting Torah." Keynote Address, Women Cantors' Network Conference, 2012 "Advocacy, Social Justice and Religious Music." Invited lecture for the Society for Ethnomusicology's Special Interest Group on Religious and Sacred Music. SEM 2011 Respondent to Edwin Seroussi's lecture, "Sephardic Liturgy and the Soundscape of the Reform Movement of Judaism." Boston University, January 2011 "Tradition in Transition: Recent Musical Change in the Liturgy of the Abayudaya (Jewish people) of Uganda." SEM 2010 Chair and Organizer of panel "Jewish Liturgical Music in Transition." SEM 2010 "Cabaret at the End of the World: Music as Spiritual Resistance during the Holocaust." Faculty Colloquium, Department of Music, Tufts University. October 2009 "Cabaret at the Edge of the World: Music and Spiritual Resistance during the Holocaust." Weber State University, Ogden, Utah. April 2009 "Beyond Advocacy: Defining Success and Setting Limits." Forum Presentation, SEM 2009 "Coffee, Music, and the Commodification of Peace in Eastern Uganda." Graduate Symposium, (ethnomusicology) Wesleyan University, November 2007 "Coffee, Music, and the Commodification of Peace in Eastern Uganda." SEM October 2007 "Technology and the Transmission of Oral Tradition in the Contemporary Jewish Community." Yale University/Amherst College Conference, "Sacred Music in Transition." 2006 "Coffee, Music and the Commodification of Peace in Uganda." Ethnomusicology Faculty Seminar, Indiana University, 2006 "The Music and Culture of the Jews of Uganda." Judaic Studies Program Lecture, Indiana University, 2006 "Musical Diasporas: The Sounds of Afro-Creolite, Wandering Jews, and Unfinished African Migrations." Chair and discussant. SEM, 2005 "Music and Culture of the Abayudaya of Uganda." Faculty Colloquium, Vanderbilt University, 2005 Scholar in Residence, Michigan Festival of Sacred Music, Kalamazoo, Michigan, 2005 "Abayudaya: Music from the Jewish People of Uganda." Spertus College of Judaica, Chicago, Invited to deliver The Solomon Goldman Lecture, 2005 "Music and Identity among the Abayudaya of Uganda." Northeastern University, Invited lecture, Musicology seminar, 2005 "Collaboration between Producer/Recordist and Record Label: The Diffusion of Musical Knowledge via Recording Sales." SEM, Panelist, 2004 "The Music and Culture of the Abayudaya of Uganda." Pinkus Family Lecture, Drew University, 2004 "Music and Identity in Jewish Worship." Boston University, Ethnomusicology seminar, 2004 "Music and the Construction of Jewish Identity Among the Abayudaya of Uganda." Brown University, Conference on "Music and Identity," 2004 "Music and the Construction of Jewish Identity Among the Abayudaya of Uganda." SEM, 2003 "The Coded Meaning in Melody in Contemporary Jewish Worship." Princeton University, Invited lecture by the Department of Music, 2003 "The Music of the Abayudaya of Uganda." Hebrew College, Boston, MA, 2003 "Music and the Construction of Jewish Identity Among the Abayudaya of Uganda." Yale University, Conference "Jewish Music Today," 2003 "Code-switching and Melody Choice in Jewish Worship." University of Santa Barbara, Invited lecture to Graduate Seminar in Ethnomusicology, 2003 "Music and the Construction of Jewish Identity." Dartmouth College, Invited lecture to Ethnomusicology seminar, 2002 "The Meaning of Our Melodies: Music and Identity in Contemporary Jewish Worship." Stanford University, Invited lecture, The Department of Music and the Department of Religion, 2001 "Music and the Construction of Community among the Abayudaya (Jewish People) of Uganda." SEM, 2001 "The Meaning of Our Melodies: Music and Identity in Contemporary Jewish Worship." Spertus College of Judaica, Chicago, Invited to deliver The Solomon Goldman Lecture, 2000 "The Torah Service and the Re-enactment of Revelation." SEM, 2000 "Code-Switching and Melody Choice In Contemporary Jewish Music." Harvard University. Invited lecture, Ethnomusicology seminar, 1999. "Constructing Authenticity through the Performance of Sacred Text" SEM, 1999 "Identity and Melody Choice in Contemporary American Jewish Worship." City University, London, England, "Jewish Music Today: Second International Conference on Jewish Music," 1997 "A Consideration of the Sabbath Hymn, Lekhah dodi." SEM, 1996 "Nusach and Identity in Contemporary Jewish Worship." University of Chicago, Conference "Music and American Religious Life," 1994 "Code-Switching and Melody Choice in Contemporary Jewish Worship" SEM, 1993 "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy: Melody and Identity Choice in an American Simhat Torah Celebration." SEM, New England Region, 1991 "The Role of the Part-Time Cantor." SEM, New England Region, 1989 Oral History Projects Generation to Generation: An Oral History Project with the Jewish Community of Somerville, Massachusetts. With Jeff Todd Titon. Winner of International Hillel's Haber Award for Excellence in Jewish Campus Programming. 1993 Telling History: An Oral History Project with the Jewish Community of Annecy, France. In conjunction with Tufts European Center, Talloires, France. 1987—1994. Winner of International Hillel's Haber Award for Excellence in Jewish Campus Programming. 1990 Funded Research Projects "Delicious Peace: Coffee, Music and Muslim, Jewish, Christian Harmony in Uganda" Funded by the Granoff Family Foundation and the Amy P. Goldman Foundation, 2008–2012 "Changing Attitudes Across Religious Community: Developing Models for College Campuses." Funded by the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Academic Affairs, co-principle investigator (with Jonathan Wilkenfeld), 2006–2009 Special Projects Designed a led a four-part seminar for Tufts University alumni/ae “Living Well in a Time of Challenge,” exploring themes of friendship, hope, courage and mortality though texts, poetry and interactive discussion. Sponsored by Tufts University’s University College. July 2020 Host of the podcast “Speaking Torah,” presented by Hebrew College. In this podcast, writers and scholars reflect on the relevance of Torah today—and how its values can inform and help us in a world in need of healing and hope. Conceived and convened a three day conference “Music, Social Justice and Resistance” for faculty, musicians, activists and philanthropists in Tiverton, RI, sponsored by Tufts Department of Music and Tufts Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life. The conference’s framing question was: Taking into account the current political direction in our country, and rising authoritarian tendencies globally, how can we --as musicians, activists and scholars –leverage our research, teaching, performance and activism to develop and intensify social justice initiatives with local and global impact? May, 2017 Co-directed proof of concept year for IMAGe (with Dyan Masurana, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy), Initiative on Mass Atrocity and Genocide at Tufts University a university-wide program to leverage teaching, research and active citizenship to address genocide and mass violence. 2014, 2015 Co-convened (with Anne Heyman) a five day conference for Tufts faculty, administration, philanthropists, university leadership, graduate and undergraduate students and outside scholars entitled "Addressing Mass Atrocities and Genocide: Education and a Call to Action." Tufts European Center, Talloires, France. July 2013. "The Jews of Sub-Saharan Africa." Aired on Public Radio International's program "Afropop." Extensive interview on my research with the Abayudaya webpublished here. Served as Program Advisor. Courses Graduate Seminar in Fieldwork (Ethnomusicology) Academic Service Ethics Committee, Society for Ethnomusicology, 2021–present SEM Investment Advisory Committee, 2008–present (appointed Chair in 2018) Editorial Board, Ethnomusicology, 2017–2021 Elected council member, Society for Ethnomusicology, 2011–2013 Program Chairman for the annual meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, 2008 Graduate advisor and committee member for MA theses in ethnomusicology Invited to contribute evaluation for tenure and promotion review, 2009–present Regularly invited to referee articles for the journal Ethnomusicology Committee for Graduate School admissions in the Music Department's Ethnomusicology Program, 2006–present Music Department Search Committee for senior and junior faculty positions, 2005/2006 Community Service World Peace Foundation, affiliated with The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Member, Board of Trustees Appointed by Governor Deval Patrick to serve on the Governor's Advisory Board of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, 2007–2009 Founder of the "Abayudaya College Scholarship Project" raising funds to send more than 50 students to college in Uganda, 2001–2020 Prizes, Awards and Grants Tufts University, Hosea Ballou Medal, established to recognize members of the Tufts community who have rendered exceptional service for the institution. 2018 Combined Jewish Philanthropies (Boston Jewish Federation) Rabbinic Leadership Award, 2015 Inaugural recipient of the Anne Heyman Spirit Award, for work to further the mission of the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda, a village for survivors of the Rwandan genocide. As part of this honor, the village's music building was named the "Jeffrey A. Summit Music Center." 2015 Inaugural recipient of the Edgar M. Bronfman Award for Lifetime Accomplishment in Hillel Professional Leadership and serving the movement "with distinction and honor" from International Hillel. 2014 The Dr. Benjamin J. Shevach Memorial Award for distinguished achievement in Jewish educational leadership, Hebrew College's highest academic award. 2007 International Hillel, Exemplar of Excellence Award. 2004 Musher Publication Prize for "The Lord's Song in a Strange Land" by the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. 2000 Society for Ethnomusicology's Jaap Kunst Prize for the outstanding paper published by a graduate student in the Journal of Ethnomusicology. 1993 James T. Koetting Memorial Prize for the outstanding graduate student paper presented at the annual meeting of the Northeast Chapter of the Society of Ethnomusicology. 1991 B'nai B'rith's Jacob Burns Prize for the Promotion of Ethics on Campus. 1991 Past-president of the National Hillel Professional Association. Research grants from Tufts University, The National Foundation for Jewish Culture, Department of Homeland Security (Academic Affairs), The Littauer Foundation, The Shillman Foundation, Joseph S. and Diane H. Sternberg Charitable Trust, The Amy P. Goldman Foundation, The Granoff Family Foundation |