Jay M. Harris is an American scholar and

Harry Austryn Wolfson Harry Austryn Wolfson (November 2, 1887 – September 19, 1974) was an American scholar, philosopher, and historian at Harvard University, and the first chairman of a Judaic Studies Center in the United States. He is known for his seminal work on ...

Professor of Jewish Studies at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He is known for his works on

Jewish history Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their Jewish peoplehood, nation, Judaism, religion, and Jewish culture, culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions and cultures. Jews originated from the Israelites and H ...

Biography

Harris received his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He also obtained a master's degree from the

Jewish Theological Seminary of America The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism as well as a hub for academic scholarship in Jewish studies ...

. Harris taught at Columbia, the Jewish Theological Seminary,

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, before joining the Harvard faculty in 1989. He was named Harris K. Weston Associate Professor of the Humanities in 1991 and the Harry Austryn Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies in 1994. Harris served as co-master of

Cabot House Cabot House is one of twelve undergraduate residential Houses at Harvard University. Cabot House derives from the merger in 1970 of Radcliffe College's South and East House, which took the name South House (also known as "SoHo"), until the name ...

. From 2000 to 2004, Harris was also editor of the ''

AJS Review ''AJS Review'', published on behalf of the Association for Jewish Studies, publishes scholarly articles and book reviews covering the field of Jewish Studies. From biblical and rabbinic textual and historical studies to modern history, social ...

.'' In 2008, Harris was named dean of undergraduate education at

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

before stepping down in 2017.

References

Living people Harvard University faculty Date of birth missing (living people) Jewish scholars Year of birth missing (living people) Columbia College (New York) alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Jewish Theological Seminary of America alumni Princeton University faculty Columbia University faculty University of Pennsylvania faculty American university and college faculty deans {{US-academic-bio-stub