After an 18-month search, the board of directors at the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy has tapped Philadelphia-area native Steven M. Brown as the next head of school.

 

Brown, 60, currently serves as dean of the William Davidson Graduate School of Jewish Education and director of the Melton Research Center for Jewish Education at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, where he has worked since 1996. He also has been the first dean of distance learning (technically, where most work is done online) at JTS, where he is also an assistant professor of Jewish education, and specializes in curriculum development and instruction. Brown will leave JTS as of June 2008.

 

"The school needs an experienced, seasoned head," Brown said when asked about his appointment. Though many people at age 60 begin looking toward retirement, Brown said that "age is just a number," adding that he is "healthy and young at heart."

 

This article appeared in the November 29, 2007 edition of the Jewish Exponent.