Albany, NY
Dr. David M. Gordis is President Emeritus of Hebrew College, founding Director of The National Center on Jewish Policy Studies and founder of the Interreligious Center on Public Life. Over the 15 years of his leadership, Hebrew College became one of the premier Jewish institutions of higher education in the country in both academic and community education programming. Prior to assuming the presidency of Hebrew College, Dr. Gordis was vice-president of the University of Judaism in Los Angeles and Executive Vice President of the American Jewish Committee. He was born in New York City and holds bachelor and master degrees from Columbia University, as well as Master of Hebrew Literature and Doctor of Philosophy in Talmud degrees from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, where he was ordained in 1964.
Dr. Gordis has held a wide range of leadership positions, both in the Jewish and interreligious arenas. He currently serves as a Visiting Senior Scholar at the University at Albany of SUNY, and has been a member of the Middle East study group of the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. and the Academy for Judaic, Christian and Islamic Studies. Dr. Gordis has written and lectured extensively on the pressing issues of contemporary Jewish life, the American Jewish community, Jewish education and interreligious pluralism. He lives in the Albany, NY area with his wife, Dr. Felice Gordis, who is Emeritus Professor and past Chair of the Social Sciences Department at Lasell College. They have two married daughters and four granddaughters.