Professors: Dr. Sam Edelman

Dr. Samuel M. Edelman is a professor of Jewish and Holocaust Studies as well as Rhetoric and Communication Studies. He is the founder of the program in Modern Jewish and Israel Studies at the California State University Chico in Northern California and its current director. Dr. Edelman is also the coordinator of the California State University Statewide Modern Jewish Studies BA Degree. He recently was Scholar-in-Residence at Haifa University in Jewish Education. Dr. Edelman has just been appointed Director of the California State Center of Excellence in Holocaust, Genocide, Human Rights and Tolerance Education and chief liaison to the State Taskforce on Holocaust, Genocide, Human Rights and Tolerance Education.

Dr. Edelman is the editor of Within a Widening Gyre published by Hampden Press. This work focuses on expanding our perspective of rhetoric beyond the Greco-Roman tradition. Dr. Edelman is also the editor of the forthcoming Encyclopedia of Jewish-American Literature.

Dr. Edelman has been chair of the CSU, Chico Academic Senate and is currently a Statewide Academic Senator representing CSU, Chico. He has served on the Fiscal and Governmental Affairs Committee of the ASCSU, the Academic Affairs Committee and is currently Vie Chair of the teacher Education Committee. He has been at CSU, Chico now for 24 years.

His Ph.D. is in Communication Studies and Jewish Studies from the University of Arizona and his BA and MA are from the Pennsylvania State University. He has been in academics for 33 years. Dr. Edelman has been a consultant in public speaking, intercultural communication and organizational communication to numerous companies and governmental organizations in the United States, Israel and South Africa. He has done training for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the Israeli Foreign Ministry and the Jewish Agency. He lectures on the topics of Jewish rhetoric, the Arab Israeli Peace negotiations, the Holocaust as well as on the use of modern technology for distance learning.

Dr. Edelman has been teaching and lecturing on the Shoah for 24 years. His major focus is on Cultural Resistance. He has produced five documentaries on the Shoah for public radio and is the winner of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting award for humanities documentaries. He is also written extensively and teaches on Jewish rhetoric, Israeli Public Address, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

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