Alec (Leyzer) Burko is a lecturer in the Department of German. His research interests include the history of Yiddish studies, the history of the Yiddish language, Yiddish dialects, Old Yiddish, Hasidic Yiddish, and the Jewish underworld. Burko is an experienced language teacher, having previously taught at YIVO, the Workers’ Circle, and Indiana University Bloomington. He has a PhD from the Jewish Theological Seminary, an MA in Germanic Philology from the University of Minnesota, and a BA in Medieval and Renaissance Studies from New York University.