Sociologist Glassner Named Lewis & Clark Provost
Jewish sociologist Barry Glassner has been named president of Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Ore.
The executive vice provost at the University of Southern California, Glassner served as the founding director of the USC Casden Institute for the Study of the Jewish Role in American Life for seven years. The center drew many members of the Jewish community to USC, long considered mainly a WASP institution.
Glassner is the author or co-author of nine books, including the best-seller “The Culture of Fear” and “The Gospel of Food.” Both books sought to debunk the unwarranted fears that haunt many Americans. He also co-edited two volumes of “The Jewish Role in American Life.”
Glassner joined the USC faculty in 1991, served as chairman of the sociology department, then as founding director of the Casden Institute, and since 2005 as USC executive vice provost.
Lewis & Clark is a liberal arts college of about 3,500 undergraduate and graduate students, and it took a 12-member search committee more than a year and review of 250 applications before choosing Glassner by unanimous vote.
"Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief"
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
