Tag: Steve Jacobs


Third Time’s the Charm

Prof. Steve Jacobs, above, in April of 2017 at the annual Arts & Science reception at the University Club, for newly promoted faculty — celebrating his promotion that year to Full Professor. Since starting full-time at UA in 2001 (my “start date” is easy to remember: 1/1/01), past A&S Dean Robert Olin and current Dean Joseph Messina have accorded me three one-semester sabbatical research leaves to pursue avenues of research in my areas of academic specialization: the Holocaust of World […]

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Épater les Bourgeoise…?

I do no speak or read French. Many years ago, however, in undergraduate school, I had a professor of English literature who was inordinately fond of the French phrase épater les bourgeoise—as he would translate it on a regular basis, “to shock the ordinary human being out of his [or her] lethargy.”  That is, there are those works, persons, events to which ordinary human beings, most of us, can only react in shock, sometimes in dismay; other times in paralysis.  […]

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Summer Plans: Prof. Jacobs

We asked the faculty what they were up to this summer; after all, just because the Spring semester is done doesn’t mean they’re all off gardening. And so this is what we learned… Prof. Jacobs is working on a variety of projects this summer. The first on his list is completing a manuscript entitled: Life Must Go On! Sol Lurie, the Kovno Ghetto, and the Murder of Lithuanian Jewry. He’ll also be drafting an article (“The Nexus Between Religion and Human […]

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Dr. Jacobs’s Outstanding Award Winning Work

Congratulations to Dr. Steven Jacobs! His co-edited volume, Modern Genocide: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection has won two major publishing awards. First, it was named a 2015 Outstanding Academic Title by Choice, a national review of academic publications. What makes a book “outstanding?” According to Choice: The list is quite selective: it contains approximately ten percent of some 7,000 works reviewed in Choice each year. Choice editors base their selections on the reviewer’s evaluation of the work, the editor’s knowledge of the field, and the reviewer’s record. […]

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A Good Book with Prof. Jacobs

The latest episode in our A Good Book series has just been uploaded to Vimeo! This video features Prof. Steve Jacobs and his discussion of a particular Torah scroll that was recovered from Nazi collections and has now been brought to Tuscaloosa’s Temple Emanu-El. You can read more about the story in this Tuscaloosa News article. A Good Book with Prof. Jacobs from UA Religious Studies. […]

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Second Sabbatical: First Thoughts

For those other than academic colleagues—primarily our students and our non-academic supporters—a sabbatical is a special benefit every seven years, upon application and approval, awarded to those of us who teach, for “time off” to purse sustained research and sustained writing without the additional responsibilities of teaching, grading, committee meetings and the like.   In my case, spring, 2015, is my second opportunity to take full advantage of this award to pursue two special projects, the first on my mind for […]

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Backstory: Prof. Steve Jacobs

“Backstory” is a series that asks the REL Faculty to tell us a little bit about themselves, to explore how they became interested in the academic study of religion and their own specialty, elaborating on their current work both within and outside the University. From where do you hail? I was born in Baltimore, MD., grew up in Silver Spring, MD, just outside of Washington, DC, and lived ~ 7 minutes from the University of Maryland, which is why I […]

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