Congratulations to Levi Gettleman, a senior, from Oklahoma City (by way of Seattle and Phoenix), majoring in Jewish Studies, Folklore, and Religious Studies, who is the recipient of the 2021 Carolyn Lipson-Walker Outstanding Senior Scholarship for Jewish Studies students at Indiana University. The annual prize recognizes a Jewish Studies undergraduate with a record of academic excellence and commitment to Jewish Studies initiatives.
Levi was the Collins Living Learning Center Freshman Award Recipient, has served as a peer instructor at Collins, and is a member of the Collins board of Educational Programming having served as both Programmer and Co-Chair.
He is also the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 president of the undergraduate Jewish Studies Student Association as well as the Jewish Studies Administrative Intern.
During this and the last academic year, he has virtually taught Hebrew school for his Oklahoma City synagogue and served as Social Media Director and Digital Stage Manager for Jewish Theatre of Oklahoma.
Levi plans to graduate in May 2023. He is eagerly awaiting beginning rabbinical studies at Hebrew Union College in Fall 2023. His Jewish Studies honors thesis “Mapping and Enacting Holiness in Jewish Antiquity” is being written under the guidance of Professor Laura Carlsen Hasler and Professor Judah Cohen.
This scholarship was initiated to honor Dr. Carolyn Lipson-Walker, Assistant Director of the Jewish Studies Program, for being instrumental in the growth and success of the Robert A. and Sandra S. Borns Jewish Studies Program, and to recognize her service as a friend, advisor, mentor, and teacher to hundreds of Jewish Studies students over 29 years. Carolyn was the inaugural recipient of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Advisor of the Year Prize (2000) and received the IU Professional Staff Merit Award in 2017. She received her Ph.D. in Folklore and American Studies at IU supported by a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship.
The College of Arts