Effective July 20, 2026, Etta Heber will retire from her position as Executive Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at Berkeley.Having held her position since 2014, shortly after the founding of the CJS, Etta leaves Jewish Studies at Berkeley with its position on the campus having been radically transformed during her tenure.When she arrived, the center was at its inception, with a small number of faculty, few classes, and many basic challenges. Today, it is a thriving, nationally recognized program that continues to grow from strength-to-strength.
During her time as Executive Director, the CJS has increased dramatically in its faculty affiliates, undergraduate enrollments and participants in the JS Minor, public programs, and collaborative initiatives. In the process, it has significantly enlarged its footprint across the Berkeley campus and the surrounding community. The CJS has forged crucial and successful partnerships with many other units, particularly the Helen Diller Institute of Jewish Law and Israel Studies at Berkeley Law, and the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life. In the past year, we have become a “New Initiative Center” (NIC), one of only a handful of such centers at Berkeley, giving us far greater autonomy, clout, and infrastructure. We conducted our first-ever joint search in the spring of 2026 and will welcome six new faculty or affiliates to the Center this fall (we will be sharing more about this in the coming months). Since 2021, the Center for Jewish Studies has been the institutional home for the Antisemitism Education Initiative at Berkeley, a program that has become recognized nationally for its innovative and cutting-edge approaches to addressing antisemitism on college campuses. Over the past several years, the Center’s fundraising has also substantially increased, enabling us to continue to expand our programming in multiple directions.
In all of this work and so much more, Etta has been at the heart of our success—managing an increasing administrative workload and staff, learning endless new systems and protocols at Berkeley, working closely with faculty on numerous initiatives and programs, acting as a crucial strategic thought-partner for myself and previous faculty directors, and building relationships with so many people connected to the center, from countless undergraduate students to many of our generous donors. She has done all of this with a thoughtfulness, savvy, and steady hand that have made many challenges look easy. Most recently, in the period since 10/7/2023, Etta’s capacity to support increased programs at the CJS, to perform constant outreach, and to help us continue to build a culture of inclusion and excellence have made a crucial difference. The ongoing success and growth of the CJS at a time of unprecedented challenges for Jewish studies across the country is in no small part a reflection of Etta’s skill, dedication, and care.
In light of all this, many have a difficult time imagining what the CJS will look like without Etta. Fortunately, she has assured us that she is not going anywhere. For the next few months, in a part-time role, Etta will play a crucial role in the transition of her successor. Thereafter, she promises that she will be a regular at our programs. We will soon be sharing much more about Jessica Rosenberg, who we are very excited to announce as the Center’s new Executive Director.
We extend our deepest gratitude to Etta for her exemplary service and dedication, especially to our student community. We look forward to working with her in the coming months to ensure a smooth transition. We plan to honor Etta more formally sometime this fall for her many years of remarkable service. Please join us in acknowledging Etta for her extraordinary contributions to the Center for Jewish Studies, the wider campus, and the surrounding Jewish studies community, and in wishing her a joyful and fulfilling retirement.
July 20, 2026