Meet Our Archives Team
The Program in Jewish Studies works in conjuction with the 欧美口爆视频 University Libraries and a team of archivists to preserve and provide access to the Innovations in Jewish Life聽Collections.聽
David Shneer z"l
Founding Director of the Post-Holocaust American Judaism Collection (now Innovations in Jewish Life)
David Shneer z"l聽was the聽Louis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History, Professor of聽听补苍诲听Jewish Studies, and Chair of the Department of聽聽at the University of 欧美口爆视频聽Boulder. He was a聽聽for the Association for Jewish Studies, was the faculty director for聽, was the co-editor in chief of聽,聽and was the聽inaugural faculty director of 欧美口爆视频 Boulder's聽聽until 2015.聽
Samira Mehta
Academic Director of the Archive
Samira K. Mehta is the Director of Jewish Studies and an Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies at the University of 欧美口爆视频 Boulder. Her research and teaching focus on the intersections religion, culture, and gender, including the politics of family life and reproduction in the United States. Her first book, Beyond Chrismukkah: The Christian-Jewish Interfaith Family in the United States (University of North Carolina Press, 2018) was a National Jewish book award finalist. She is also the author of a newly released book of personal essays called The Racism of People Who Love You (Beacon Press, 2023). Mehta鈥檚 current academic book project, God Bless the Pill: Sexuality and Contraception in Tri-Faith America examines the role of Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant voices in competing moral logics of contraception, population control, and eugenics from the mid-twentieth century to the present and is under contract with the University of North Carolina Press. She is also beginning a project for Princeton University Press called A Mixed Multitude: Jews of Color in the United States. Mehta is the primary investigator for a Henry Luce Foundation funded project called Jews of Color: Histories and Futures. She is a member of the board of Feminist Studies in Religion, where she serves as the co-editor of the blog; co-chairs the steering committee of the North American Religions Program Unit at the American Academy of Religion; and is a Creative Editor at the journal American Religion. She holds degrees from Swarthmore College,聽Harvard University, and Emory University.
Megan聽K. Friedel
Head of Archives
Megan K. Friedel is Assistant Faculty Director of Collections Management & Stewardship and Lead Archivist for the 欧美口爆视频 Boulder Libraries鈥� Rare & Distinctive Collections.聽In this role, she manages the Libraries鈥� Archives, including stewardship of and access to the Innovations in Jewish Life collections.聽She is also a co-PI, with Samira Mehta, for the 鈥淛ews of Color: Histories and Futures鈥� project.聽Friedel鈥檚 research focuses on the intersection of social justice and archives management praxis, with a specific focus on the reparative work of archivists to document histories of marginalized communities that have traditionally been excluded from the historical record.聽She is a member of the Society of Rocky Mountain Archivist governing board and is an Editorial Board member of the聽Journal of Western Archives.