FACULTY & STAFF

Director

Efrat Aran

Director, Mandel School for Educational Leadership

Efrat Aran is the director of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. Before joining Mandel, she was the deputy executive director and vice president of content and development of Aluma, a non-profit organization, which encourages young adults to play productive, influential roles in Israeli society, while maintaining their own, unique identities, values, and ways of life. In this capacity, she developed and led programs and processes designed to reduce educational-social gaps and to increase the social mobility of young people in Israeli society. These initiatives were conducted in partnership with the central and local government and with other organizations and foundations. Prior to that, she was the head of the social mobility program of the Rashi Foundation, where she worked on educational projects and promoted policy issues. Efrat is a graduate of Cohort 21 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. Before embarking on her educational journey at Mandel, Efrat held senior managerial positions at Intel, both in Israel and abroad, where she worked for 17 years and gained experience in strategic thinking and policy making. Efrat holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering and management from Tel Aviv University, and a master's degree in business administration from the Kellogg-Recanati Executive MBA Program at Tel Aviv University.

FACULTY

Professor Ayman Agbaria

Faculty Member

Professor Ayman Agbaria is a researcher, poet, playwright, and social activist, who serves as an associate professor in the department of leadership and policy in education at the University of Haifa. In 2016, he served as a visiting scholar at the Centre for Research and Evaluation in Muslim Education at the University College London Institute of Education, and at the Institute for Islamic Studies at the University of Vienna. Ayman holds two master’s degrees, one in international development and social change from Clark University, and the other in criminology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also holds a dual doctoral degree – in educational theory and policy and in international and comparative education – from Pennsylvania State University. Ayman completed post-doctoral studies at Cambridge University. His areas of expertise include: education among ethnic and religious minorities; policy and pedagogy for civics education; Islamic education; and teacher training. Previously, he held senior positions at the Israel Association of Community Centers, Beit Berl Academic College, and SHATIL – the New Israel Fund Initiative for Social Change. He also served as a senior consultant to the Follow-Up Committee on Arab Education, and as a member of the Ministry of Education’s committee on civics education. Ayman’s poems have been published in many anthologies in various languages and four of his plays have been produced.

Dr. Amichai Amit

Faculty Member

Dr. Amichai Amit is a faculty member of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership and the Mandel Leadership Institute. He researches and writes on ethics and is a lecturer at Tel Aviv University and Shalem College. Amichai’s research focuses on issues ranging from questions about the nature of values and moral justifications, to questions about meaning in life, to topics in applied ethics, such as environmental ethics and the ethics of technology. Amichai is a founding partner of two educational ventures: the first, "Mashma," aims to integrate the study of philosophy into the community through discussing questions relevant to everyday life and guiding small study groups. The second, "Maalot," is an educational non-profit that aims to increase the public's understanding of the climate crisis, its complexity, and its multisystemic nature. Amichai holds a master's degree in philosophy from Tel Aviv University and a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Chicago.

Dr. Tali Asher

Faculty Member

Dr. Tali Asher is a faculty member of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, where she teaches humanities, education, and teacher-training. She is also a lecturer at the Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and the Arts, where she works in the department of literature. She leads writing workshops, works to incorporate literature in the public sphere, and specializes in providing guidance to staff members of medical, therapeutic, and educational institutions. Previously, Tali served in a variety of positions in the education system. Tali holds a master's degree in Hebrew literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a doctorate in literature from Tel Aviv University. She is also a graduate of the Hartman Institute’s Maskilot fellowship program for outstanding women scholars (2019-2021). Tali’s writings have been published in various journals, as well as in various literary magazines including Ho!, Nanopoetica, Alaxon, Hamusah and Mashiv Haruah. She has also penned articles that have been published in the Hebrew books Contemplative Pedagogy in Israel and The New Hebrew Women, and in the English volume Jewish Writers of the Twentieth Century. Tali is the author of two Hebrew books: Grandma Needed (Zeltner, 2018) and Our Life. Over (Pardes, 2022). Her research on the meaning of the library in Hebrew literature from the Enlightenment to the 21st century was awarded the Dov Sadan Award in 2021, and her essay "Monologue with Dialogues" received a commendation from the Van Leer Institute in 2023. Tali is a member of the board of directors of Beit Agnon and of the Ruach Tzeira association. She hosts the podcast Who Wants a Miracle. Tali is a graduate of Cohort 21 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership.

Dr. Zvi Bekerman

Faculty Member

Dr. Zvi Bekerman teaches anthropology of education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s school of education and at its Melton Centre for Jewish Education. His main research interests involve the study of cultural, ethnic and national identity, including identity processes and negotiation during intercultural encounters and in formal/informal learning contexts. He is also interested in how ideas and concepts such as culture and identity intersect with such issues as social justice, inter-cultural education, peace education and civics education. Since 1999, with the support of the Ford, Spencer and Bernard Van Leer Foundations, Bekerman has been conducting a long-term ethnographic research project in the integrated bilingual Palestinian-Jewish schools in Israel. He has published many academic articles in his field of research, as well as several books, including: Teaching Contested Narratives: Identity, Memory and Reconciliation in Peace Education and BeyondThe International Handbook of Migration, Minorities and Education: Understanding Cultural and Social Differences in Processes of Learning (Springer, 2014), and The Promise of Integrated Multicultural and Bilingual Education (Oxford University Press, 2016). At the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, Bekerman teaches a course in ethnographical analysis which equips fellows with ethnographic tools for observing and interpreting what happens in schools.

Dr. Yehuda Ben-Dor

Faculty Member

Dr. Yehuda Ben-Dor has served as a lawyer for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and lectured at the Elul Center for Jewish Learning and was one of the founders of the Yesodot Center for the Study of Torah and Democracy, where he also taught. His main area of interest is that of cultural traditions and pluralism: the relation between identity and cultural tradition; the conditions for induction into cultural traditions; and the difficulties, challenges, and potential inherent in the encounter between cultural traditions. His work and teaching involve the examination of the internal relations between language, meaning and ways of life, and are based on texts from Western philosophy, Jewish thought, and literature. Yehuda heads the study of the humanities and Jewish studies at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, where he teaches philosophy and Jewish thought.

Dr. Ruth Calderon

Faculty Member

Dr. Ruth Calderon is an educator and Talmud scholar working to promote Hebrew, Israeli, and Jewish culture, to cultivate the study of Torah in the secular world, and to create a liberal, humanistic public space that is rich in culture. She served in the 19th Knesset as a Member of Knesset for the Yesh Atid party and as Deputy Speaker of the Knesset. Ruth founded Beit Midrash Elul in Jerusalem and Alma – Home for Hebrew Culture in Tel Aviv. She also served as the head of the culture and education department of the National Library of Israel. In recognition of her work, Ruth was awarded the AVI CHAI Prize for Jewish Education, the Samuel Rothberg Prize for Jewish Education, and honorary doctorates from Brandeis University, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and Hebrew College in Boston. Ruth is the author of A Bride for One Night: Talmud Tales and A Talmudic Alpha Beta, which present personal readings of Talmudic stories. Her children's books, The Princess and the Rock and A Rainy Day Story, present adaptations of Talmudic and Chassidic stories for children. Ruth holds a master's degree and doctorate in Talmud from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is a graduate of Cohort 1 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership.

Professor Jonathan Cohen

Faculty Member

Professor Jonathan Cohen is a faculty member of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, where he teaches philosophy of education. In the past, he held several positions at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, including director of the Seymour Fox School of Education, director of the department of education, academic director of the Revivim program, and his final position as director of the Melton Centre for Jewish Education. Jonathan holds a doctorate in Jewish thought and education, and his main research areas include philosophy of Jewish education and curriculum development theories. He is the author of Reason and Change: Perspectives on the Study of Jewish Philosophy and Its History, published in Hebrew by the Bialik Institute. He also edited the anthology Visions in Action: Selected Writings of Seymour Fox, published by the Mandel Foundation and Keter Books, and wrote its introduction. Jonathan is a graduate of the Mandel Jerusalem Fellows program.

Dr. Lia Ettinger

Faculty Member

Dr. Lia Ettinger is the Academic Supervisor at the Heschel Center for Sustainability and a Senior Fellow at the Shaharit Institute for New Politics. In addition, she teaches sustainability at Tel Aviv University. Lia has a PhD in biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her dissertation and post-doctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, and at Hebrew University focused on evolution and the philosophy of biology. Lia began to explore sustainability on her own about thirty years ago, and has been working on making that knowledge accessible and examining the connections between science, society, economics, and culture ever since. She is a graduate of Cohort 3 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership.

Yonina Florsheim

Faculty Member

Yonina Florsheim holds a master's degree in history from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She served as director of the Center for Teaching of Jewish Studies in the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University. She also taught high school history, and for twenty years trained teachers at the Kerem Institute for Teacher Training. She authored the textbook The History of the United States: Vision, Crises and Growth, which was published in 2008 by the Zalman Shazar Center. At the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, Yonina is responsible for the professional internships track.

Dr. Yaron Girsh

Faculty Member

Dr. Yaron Girsh is a sociologist and researcher, specializing in education and youth. He completed his master’s degree cum laude in the sociology of education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and completed his doctoral studies in the same institution. His doctoral dissertation examines Israeli teenagers’ conceptions of heroism. He currently teaches sociology and philosophy of education at the Hebrew University, where he has been voted Outstanding Lecturer on numerous occasions. He served as the head of the department for nonformal education at The David Yellin Academic College of Education. In recognition of his accomplishments during his studies, he was awarded the Hebrew University President's Scholarship, the Polonsky Prize, the Levi Eshkol Scholarship, and the Rector's Prize for Master's Studies.

Professor Motti Golani

Faculty Member

Professor Motti Golani is a Professor for Jewish History, and chair of the Jewish History Department at Tel Aviv University, where he also heads the Chaim Weizmann Institute for the Study of Zionism and Israel. His main research interests concern questions of morality, memory, politics, and war in the pre-state Zionist era and in the history of the State of Israel. A scholar of the British Mandate period from the perspective of Zionist-British relations, he chairs the Israeli Mandate Research Forum. Professor Golani’s books include: Zion in Zionism: Zionist Policy and the Question of Jerusalem, 1937–1949 (1992); Israel in Search of War: The Sinai Campaign, 1955–1956 (1998); Wars Don’t Just Happen: On Memory, Force, and Choice (2002); The End of the British Mandate for Palestine, 1948 (2009); The Last Commissioner: General Sir Alan Gordon Cunningham, 1945–1948 (2011); Two Sides of the Coin: Independence and Nakba 1948, Two Narratives of the 1948 War and its Outcome (2011, with Adel Manna); andPalestine Between Politics and Terror 1945–1947 (2013). He is currently co-authoring (with Professor Jehuda Reinharz) a third and final volume of the biography of Chaim Weizmann, which covers the years 1922 to 1952, and is due to be published in 2019.

Professor Moshe Halbertal

Faculty Member

Prof. Moshe Halbertal is a professor of Jewish thought and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a professor of law at New York University (NYU) and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. He is the author of two books published by Harvard University Press: Idolatry (with Avishai Margalit) and People of the Book: Canon, Meaning and Authority. He also wrote Commentary Revolutions in the Making and Between Torah and Wisdom: Rabbi Menachem Ha-Meiri and the Maimonidean Halakhists in Provence, both published in Hebrew by Magnus Press. His book By Way of Truth: Nahmanides and the Creation of Tradition was published in Hebrew by Keter Press and the Hartman Institute. His books Concealment and Revelation and On Sacrifice were published in 2012 by Princeton University, and his most recent book Maimonides Life and Thought was also published by Princeton University in 2014. Moshe received the Rothschild Foundation's Michael Bruno Memorial Award and he is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Professor Ariel Hirschfeld

Faculty Member

Professor Ariel Hirschfeld is a researcher and cultural critic. He is a professor of Hebrew literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he studied musicology and Hebrew literature. He served as the head of the faculty of Hebrew literature from 2008 to 2012. He also taught in a Jerusalem high school for 25 years. Ariel publishes essays and articles in Israel and around the world, and for many years wrote a weekly column in Haaretz. Among his books: Voi, Che Sapete – the Dialogue of Love in Mozart’s Operas (1994), Notes on a Place (2000), Toward the Last of the Gods: The Fountains of Rome (2003), Notes on Epiphany (2006), The Tuned Harp – The Language of Emotions in the Poetry of H. N. Bialik (2011), Reading S. Y. Agnon (2011).

Dr. Yehuda Maimaran

Faculty Member

Prior to his work at Mandel, Dr. Yehuda Maimaran was CEO of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, where he worked within Israel’s formal education system to promote educational excellence for all students, regardless of their socioeconomic status or geographical location, and to advance Jewish-Zionist education that emphasizes mutual responsibility and social engagement. In the public and communal arena, Yehuda has worked to create a shared Jewish-social language and to develop and cultivate leadership groups. In 2014, he was awarded the Peleg Prize for promoting understanding, acceptance, and cooperation between different sectors of the Jewish world. Yehuda founded the Morasha program to promote Jewish education and community engagement, which encompassed more than 100 schools in both the state and state-religious education streams. He also established Memizrach Shemesh, a center for Jewish social activism and leadership that educates according to the social values of the Sephardi and Mizrahi heritage. He also served as principal of the Moreshet elementary and middle school in Mevaseret Zion. Yehuda holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and philosophy, a master’s degree in clinical psychology, and a doctorate in Jewish education, all from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In his work at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, Yehuda heads the area of education, is responsible for the series of workshops offered to fellows, and leads the admissions process. He is a graduate of Cohort 3 of the School.

Dr. Dafna Meitar

Faculty Member

Dr. Dafna Meitar is a pediatric oncologist and an expert in palliative medicine. She provides holistic care for patients and families dealing with complex illnesses and life-threatening situations, and is one of the founders of the field of spiritual counseling for patients in Israel. Dafna teaches medical and educational staffs about issues related to individuals and families coping with serious illness, as well as issues concerning end-of-life care for patients. Her children's book, Salt on My Lips, discusses the painful subject of siblings of sick children. Since 2000, Dafna has led the activities of Tel Aviv University's medical education department. Her work has focused on interpersonal skills and communication; development of professional and personal identity; professionalism; self-awareness and reflection; inter-cultural skills; and relations between the medical profession and the community. In recent years, Dafna has conducted research on medical education in Israel and abroad with Dr. Daniel Marom of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, with the aim of advancing and improving medical education and practice in Israel.

Dr. Ayal Shaul

Faculty Member

Dr. Ayal Shaul is an educator, personal executive consultant, and group facilitator. Before joining the faculty of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, Ayal was the head of the Keshet Center for Professional and Continuing Education at Beit Berl College. He also served as head of development and learning at the Avney Rosha Institute, where he founded the Institute’s professional development programs for school supervisors. Previously, Ayal was the Ministry of Education’s general supervisor of high school education in Tel Aviv-Yafo, responsible for implementing the Ministry’s policies as well as those of the city's educational administration. He is also a former principal of the ORT Yad Singalovsky education center in Tel Aviv and of the Givat Gonen high school in Jerusalem. Ayal holds a bachelor’s degree from a multidisciplinary program for outstanding students of psychology, anthropology, and education, and a master’s degree in sociology and anthropology, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a doctorate from the Sorbonne Business School in Paris. Ayal is a graduate of Cohort 14 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, where he is the dean of fellows, heads the area of leadership, and is responsible for the individual tutoring system.

Dr. Neta Sher-Hadar

Faculty Member and Director of The Center for Policy in Education

Dr. Neta Sher-Hadar is a lecturer in administration and public policy and is in charge of policy studies at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. She is also responsible for the School’s elective studies, evaluation processes, and digital learning. Her areas of teaching and research include policy implementation, policy failures, policy analysis, public administration reforms, and public auditing, and her research has been published in journals in these fields. Neta’s work at the School also includes research on the engagement between theory and practice in public policy. Neta is the co-editor of Collaborative Governance: Theory and Lessons from Israel (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) with Dr. Lihi Lahat and Professor Itzhak Galnoor. From 2015-2018 she was the academic co-director of a research study on collaborative governance at the Yaakov Chazan Center for Social Justice and Democracy at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. Today she is also a faculty member in the department of public policy and administration at Sapir Academic College.

Dalit Stauber

Faculty Member

Dalit Stauber is an educator with a distinguished career in leadership roles within the Ministry of Education. She served as director general of the Ministry twice, first from 2011 to 2013 and later from 2021 to 2023. She has served as director of the Ministry of Education’s Tel Aviv district, as the acting director of Israel's educational television, and as the superintendent of secondary education in the Tel Aviv district. Dalit also held a variety of management, training, and teaching positions in both formal and non-formal educational settings. She played a key role in significant initiatives, such as transferring the responsibility for daycare centers from the Ministry of Labor to the Ministry of Education and leading the implementation of the recommendations regarding education in the Trachtenberg Commission report. Dalit also introduced data-based work processes and completed the implementation of the Ofek Chadash ("New Horizon") and the "Oz LeTmurah" ("Courage to Change") reforms. During her tenure, strategic planning was designed to bring Israel's education system in line with the 21st century, and processes were set up for the positioning and validation of collaborations with the third sector. Dalit has won many prestigious awards, including recognition from the "Ometz" movement for her special contribution to community and society; the General Director's award for outstanding service at the Ministry of Education; the Noah Mozes award for outstanding employee; and a certificate of appreciation for her role as an outstanding city team leader in the Tel Aviv district. Following her retirement from the Ministry of Education, Dalit headed the "Stauber Committee" for the advancement of women in the civil service. She has served as a member of numerous corporate boards, as the chair of the Ort Braude Academic College in Carmiel, as a board member of Israel's public broadcasting corporation, and as a board member of Yad Vashem. At present, Dalit is a member of the board of directors of Bank Massad, United, and several hi-tech companies. She serves as an international strategic advisor and as a lecturer in the master's program in organizational consulting at Ono Academic College. At the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, Dalit is a faculty member.

Dr. Miriam Szamet

Faculty Member

Dr. Miriam Szamet is a historian of education and Israeli society. Her research focuses on issues related to the formation of Hebrew language instruction and Israeli education during the 19th and 20th centuries; the development of pedagogy as part of modernity; how trends in global pedagogical discourse found expression in the local context; the relations between academia and practice in Israeli education; and education as a case study of major developments and challenges in Israeli society. Her forthcoming book, to be published by the Magnes Press, analyzes educational discourse in the pre-state Yishuv, the influences on this discourse, and the transfer of educational and pedagogical knowledge to the Yishuv during those years. Miriam completed her master’s degree and doctorate at the Institute of Contemporary Judaism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is a graduate of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. Since the completion of her studies, she served as a visiting researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Jewish History and Culture – Simon Dubnow (2017); as a research fellow at the Free University of Berlin (2018); and as a researcher in a joint research project of the Braunschweig University and the Hebrew University, funded by the German Research Foundation (2018–2021). Previously, Miriam served as the deputy director of the Josef Meyerhoff Youth Center for Advanced Studies at the Hebrew University, and was a senior coordinator at the International School for Holocaust Studies at Yad Vashem.

Professor Ami Volansky

Faculty Member

Prof. Ami Volansky was a senior faculty member at Tel Aviv University, School of Education until his retirement in 2015. His research focuses on education policy including school reforms, school effectiveness, school-based management and higher-education policy. His recent books are Academia in a Changing Environment: Higher Education Policy in Israel 1952–2004 (2005); The Pendulum Syndrome: Centralisation and Decentralisation of Education in England and Wales (2003); and School-Based Management: An International Perspective (2003), co-edited with Isaac Friedman. He has published dozens of articles and monographs in his fields of expertise. Prof. Volansky is former Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Education and former Deputy Director General for Policy Planning, and had served as the advisor on higher education policy of four Ministers of Education.

Dr. Gili Zivan

Faculty Member

Dr. Gili (Mivtzari) Zivan has been involved in teaching Bible, Talmud, Midrash and Jewish thought for many years. She served as the director of the Yaacov Herzog Center for Jewish Studies from 2001–2008, during which time she co-founded the Tzahali Academy, a pre-military preparatory program for religious women, and the Ofek program for Jewish identity for Russian-speaking students. Gili currently lectures, facilitates workshops and conducts Beit Midrash programs for the Herzog Center and in other settings throughout Israel. She has published numerous articles on faith in an age of doubt; religion and pluralism; faith and bereavement; religious Zionism, and more. Gili’s book Religion without Illusion, an adaptation of her doctoral dissertation, was published in 2005. She is a social activist in the field of Jewish-Arab coexistence and an advocate for the inclusion of women in Jewish lifecycle events, Torah study, and leadership. A former member of the Board of Kolech – the Religious Women's Forum, Gili has published a variety of articles on Judaism and gender. As part of her work as a faculty member of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, she teaches and tutors fellows.

Professor Anat Zohar

Faculty Member

Professor Anat Zohar is a professor at the school of education of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 2006-2009 she served as the chairperson of the Pedagogical Secretariat at the Ministry of Education. In this capacity she led a process of educational change in the Israeli education system whose main emphasis was on the integration of thinking and understanding in the various school subjects (the “Pedagogical Horizon” program). Her areas of academic expertise include: science teaching, learning and instruction, the development of students’ thinking, metacognition, teachers’ professional development in the context of teaching thinking, gender and science learning, gender and education for the gifted, bridging the gap between educational policy and changes in learning and instruction, and how to integrate educational projects in the field of developing students’ thinking for the entire system. To Professor Anat Zohar's website

Visiting Faculty, Tutors & Consultants

Dr. Yuval Evri

Visiting Faculty Member

Dr. Yuval Evri is a sociologist and culture researcher who focuses on the political-intellectual history of the Land of Israel/Palestine at the turn of the 20th century. He studied political science and cultural studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and completed his doctorate at Tel Aviv University in the department of sociology and anthropology. Yuval was a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Berlin (2013-2014), a guest researcher at Cambridge University (2010-2012), a research fellow at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute (2005-2010), and a post-doctoral fellow at the Cherrick Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2015-2016). Yuval is a graduate of the 14th cohort of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership and during that time worked on setting up an affirmative action program at the Hebrew University for students from the periphery. For many years he was involved in various communal-educational ventures. Yuval is currently a post-doctoral fellow at SOAS – University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies). At the Mandel School for Educational Leadership he teaches courses on Israeli society.

Tzachi Golan

Visiting Faculty Member

Tzachi Golan is an educator and consultant for managers and organizations, who has a rich background in working with at-risk populations in different sectors of Israeli society. He has extensive management experience in the areas of education, welfare and society in the public sector and a proven track record in leading professional and organizational change in diverse public sector organizations. Notably, he worked for the Jerusalem municipality for over a decade, first heading the educational development unit of its board of education and then directing its division for at-risk youth and young adults. Tzachi holds a bachelor's degree and a master’s degree in Jewish history and contemporary Judaism, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is also a graduate of a training program that takes a psychoanalytic-systemic approach to organizational consulting and development. In his work as a visiting faculty member at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, Tzachi teaches and tutors in the areas of education and management, with an emphasis on at-risk youth and local government. He is a graduate of Cohort 17 of the School.

Professor Lee Shulman

Visiting Faculty Member

Professor Lee Shulman is president emeritus of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and was the first Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education and Professor (by courtesy) of Psychology at Stanford University. He was previously Professor of Educational Psychology and Medical Education at Michigan State University, serving as a member of that faculty from 1963 to 1982. He was the founding co-director of the Institute for Research on Teaching (IRT) at Michigan State University from 1976. Professor Shulman is a past president of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). He is a member of the National Academy of Education, having served as both vice president and president of that organization. In 2002 he was elected a Fellow of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Professor Shulman's research and writings have dealt with the study of teaching and teacher education; the assessment of teaching; medical education; the psychology of instruction in science, mathematics, and medicine; and the quality of teaching in higher education.

Professor Sam Wineburg

Visiting Faculty Member

Professor Sam Wineburg is the Margaret Jacks Professor of Education and Professor of History (by courtesy) at Stanford University. He is the head of Stanford's doctoral program in history education and is one of the world's leading experts on how history is taught and learned. In 2007 Professor Wineburg was awarded the American Historical Association’s William Gilbert Prize, and in 2008 he received the James Harvey Robinson Prize, for his work on the teaching of history and on teaching innovation. In 2014-2015, Professor Wineburg chaired a visiting committee appointed by Israel's Council for Higher Education to evaluate the performance of the eight faculties and departments of education at Israel's universities.

Staff

Moran Dadon

Administrative Assistant

Moran Dadon is an administrative assistant at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. Previously, she coordinated the finances and budgeting of the Mandel Graduate Unit. Before beginning her work for the Mandel Foundation, Moran was the personal assistant to the chief marketing director of Arpal. Prior to that, she managed the nationwide Ziva D`or design studio. Moran holds a bachelor's degree in business management with a specialization in human resources, and a master's degree in business with a specialization in marketing, both from the Center for Academic Studies in Or Yehuda.

Yana Nacht

Graduate Community Facilitator, Mandel School for Educational Leadership

Yana Nacht has experience in managing social programs and leading multi-system and cross-sectoral change processes, and is extensively involved in public activities. Before joining the Mandel School for Educational Leadership as facilitator of its graduate community, Yana was director of the Mahalach Foundation, which helps non-profit organizations develop self-generating income. In this capacity, she oversaw the establishment of a graduate forum, and supported dozens of directors of nonprofits through processes of organizational change. Prior to that, Yana held several managerial positions in the social and educational arenas, including director of a youth education program at the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles and director of the Center for Entrepreneurship in Education of the Bat Yam municipality. Yana holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and Middle Eastern history and a master’s degree in educational administration and leadership, both from Tel Aviv University, and has a teaching diploma from the Kibbutzim College of Education.

Micah Sapir

Research and Development Assistant

Micah Sapir is a research and development assistant at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. He holds a master's degree in sociology of education from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a bachelor's degree in gender and sexuality studies and education studies from Yale University. Prior to joining Mandel, Micah was a research intern at the Israel Democracy Institute, and worked as a research assistant and teaching assistant at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he also served as the coordinator of external relations at the NCJW Research Institute for Innovation in Education. Micah is the conductor of the Jerusalem chapter of HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir, and he performs as a singer and pianist.

Ester Dana Shauli

Admissions Officer

Before joining the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, Ester Dana Dahan served as assistant to the deputy CFO of Israel’s Council for Higher Education and worked as a production assistant for Channel 2 news and for the Knesset Channel. She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications and sociology (cum laude) from the Open University and a master’s degree in entrepreneurship and innovation (academic track) from the College of Management Academic Studies in Rishon Lezion. Ester also studies at the Netiv Bina religious seminary.

Netanel Shpigel

Techno-Pedagogy Officer

Netanel Shpigel is responsible for techno-pedagogy at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. Before joining the staff of the Mandel Foundation–Israel, he was the coordinator of techno-pedagogy at the National Library of Israel’s department of education and culture. Prior to that, he was involved in establishing a center for innovation and entrepreneurship at Herzog College. Netanel has extensive knowledge of pedagogy and learning processes, as well as considerable experience and understanding of the fields of design and user experience. He also specializes in integrating pedagogical content into appropriate digital templates, while addressing the user experience. Netanel holds a bachelor's degree in education from Herzog Academic College and a master's degree in Biblical studies from Bar-Ilan University. He is a graduate of user experience (UI/UX) studies at Netcraft College and a graphic design course at Shenkar College. Netanel is also a graduate of SUT – Starting Up Together, a multi-cultural program of the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation.

Gilli Stern

Digital Learning Coordinator

Gilli Stern is a graduate of the Sauvé Scholars fellowship program in Montreal, a joint venture of McGill University and the Canadian government. A copywriter and advertising professional, he owns a website development company in Jerusalem. Over the years, Gilli has also worked as a screenwriter, a news producer for Channel 10, and a producer of “Din VeCheshbon,” an award-winning investigative TV show. Gilli is a licensed tour guide, having completed the Israeli Ministry of Tourism course at the University of Haifa. He manages the digital learning system of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership.