On May 30, 2011, the Academy will be celebrating our ninth ordination ceremony. Held at Stephen S. Wise Temple in Los Angeles, the event draws hundreds of friends, family and Academy supporters who come to honor this tremendous milestone in the lives of the ordinees/graduates. Three rabbinic students will be ordained this year. They are Meredith Cahn, Cecilia Herzfeld-Stern, and Janet Madden, PhD. Two students, Marcus Feldman and Lonee Frailich, are receiving their cantorial ordination. Muriel Dance, PhD, Claire Gorfinkel, and Robert Weiser will be graduating from the Chaplaincy School. The ceremony will begin promptly at 2 pm and we urge everyone to attend this very moving and memorable occasion. If you would like to make a donation to the Academy in honor of one of our 2011 Ordinees/Graduates, please click here .  

 On February 20^th, approximately 100 people attended the lecture, "Science and Religion: Complementary Descriptions of Reality". Part of the AJRCA Faculty Lecture Series, the program featured Jacob Zighelboim, MD, former Professor of Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology, Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and Professor of Philosophical Thought at AJRCA; and Philip Clayton, PhD, Ingraham Professor of Theology, Claremont School of Theology, and Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Claremont Graduate University.  

In March, representatives from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) held a series of meetings with Academy representatives at the AJRCA campus. The visit by WASC officials was part of the ongoing process to achieve accreditation. According to AJRCA President, Rabbi Mel Gottlieb, in the exit interview the WASC visiting team "expressed a highly complimentary assessment of our institution. They extolled our 'spirit,' our leadership, our unified vision that was expressed by each of our constituencies, our major progress that was achieved since their last visit in our detailed attention to faculty and student assessment and learning outcomes, our empowered outstanding committed faculty and enthusiastic student body, our hard-working competent administrative staff, our forthright and dedicated Board leadership, and our commitment to further growth and contribution to the Jewish community of the 21st century. They commented that we have moved from a fledgling state to one of maturity, accomplishment, and have become an academy that has the potential to make a major creative contribution to the contemporary world. For this we are very grateful." Rabbi Gottlieb also expressed his appreciation to Dr. Tamar Frankiel, "for her outstanding, enthusiastic, detailed, organized, leadership role as WASC liaison and Dean of Academic Affairs."
 

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