JNF, Media Watch International Seeking College Professors for Israel Trip

(JNS.org) The Jewish National Fund and Media Watch International are seeking 20 professors from colleges and universities across the U.S. for the Winter Faculty Fellowship Program in Israel.

The trip to Israel is for full-time, U.S.-based professors from a recognized university or learning institution. The deadline to apply is Sept. 12.

Since the program’s inception, some 136 professors from six countries representing more than 90 American universities have traveled to Israel on the all-expenses-paid trip. Twenty-six professors recently took part in the June 2017 trip.

The college professors will be exposed to contemporary Israeli society, culture, historical sites, and the people and way of life in Israel, according to the trip’s organizers. Each professor will be paired with an Israeli counterpart in their field of study to exchange research, teaching concepts and values with the goal of bringing these methods back to their own campuses.

“Everyone we met in Israel had one thing in common: the desire to help others and live in peace. Israel is a 'normal' country, just like many others I have visited,” said past trip participant Maeli Melotto, a professor in the Department of Plant Sciences at University of California, Davis.

The program’s primary objective is to create an academic exchange and an understanding of Israeli culture through firsthand experiences of the Jewish state.