Professor Frances Malino to Deliver 2018 Distinguished Faculty Lecture
Frances Malino, Sophia Moses Robison Professor of Jewish Studies and History and director of the Jewish Studies program at Wellesley, will deliver the 2018 Distinguished Faculty Lecture today, April 4, at 12:30 pm in the Jewett Auditorium, following a 12 pm lunch open to all in the Jewett Foyer.
In her lecture, “Jewish Voices: Muslim Lands,” Malino will reflect on the history of Wellesley’s Jewish Studies program as well as her recent research uncovering thousands of letters from Jewish women living in the early 20th century. She will examine the lives of these women as they traveled to school in France and returned to teach in North Africa and the Middle East; her lecture will include a multimedia presentation and tour of important sites in these regions.
Malino teaches a wide range of courses in Jewish history and the history of anti-Semitism, reaching as far back in time as the medieval era. “Professor Malino is a highly respected and beloved faculty member whose nearly three-decade career at Wellesley has been marked by important, widely recognized scholarship in the field of Jewish and European history as well as a legacy of leadership and service to the College,” said President Paula A. Johnson. “Generations of students have benefited from her ability to bring into focus the global experience of the Jewish people and their history and culture, all within a critical historical context.”
Malino’s address is the last in a series of three lectures at Wellesley this spring focusing on different aspects of Jewish studies; the series commemorates the 30th anniversary of Malino’s appointment as inaugural chair of the Jewish Studies program. In that role, President Johnson said, “Professor Malino shaped, expanded, and built a community around what has been from its start a thriving area of study at Wellesley.” Program alumnae will also be welcomed and honored at the event.
The earlier lectures in the series took place in February and March. Robin Judd ’90, associate professor of history at the Ohio State University and one of Malino’s first mentees at Wellesley, gave a talk titled “Now You Are My Home: European Jewish Brides in the U.S., Canada, and Britain,” and Ann Goldstein, renowned translator and an editor at the New Yorker, presented “On Translating Elena Ferrante and Primo Levi.”
The Distinguished Faculty Lecture, sponsored by the President’s Office, was established in 1999 to allow accomplished and respected faculty members to give a public lecture reflecting on the meaning and value of a liberal arts education.
Photo: Aben Danan Synagogue interior located at Fez, Morocco.
With reporting from Lucy Norton ’21.
