With more than 150 alumni establishing themselves in an array of professional and communal careers and 15 new graduates this fall, Yeshiva University’s Presidential Fellowship in University and Community Leadership is celebrating its 10th anniversary. Yitzy Frankel of Los Angeles has been selected for this year’s cohort.
The highly competitive program was established by YU President Richard M. Joel in 2004, with the goal of transforming YU into a larger leadership role on behalf of the Jewish people. Under the supervision of YU Senior Vice President Rabbi Josh Joseph, the Fellowship places accomplished top-level YU graduates in key departments and schools throughout the institution. They are tasked with developing and overseeing thoughtful and innovative projects to improve the university. Additionally, they receive invaluable mentorship from senior university staff and cultivate a broad knowledge base and skill set to engage with the larger Jewish community.
Yitzy Frankel, who majored in psychology and minored in business management and entrepreneurship as an undergraduate, will be working in the Office of the Dean at YU’s Center for the Jewish Future. “I’ve wanted to be a fellow since I first heard about the Fellowship during my first semester at YU,” he said. “Working with a mentor who is at the top level of any organization, especially one I value as much as YU, was an opportunity I could not miss.”
In addition to their departmental mentors and weekly graduate seminars with leaders from many backgrounds – including philanthropists Michael Steinhardt and Ronald Stanton, author A.J. Jacobs and human rights activist Brooke Goldstein – presidential fellows benefit from the guidance of communal lay leaders.
The Fellowship also enables participants to hone professional career skills in a challenging but familiar work environment.