Aaron Panken
He has taught at the College since 1995, and served as Dean from 1998-2006. An alumnus of the Wexner Graduate Fellowship, he earned his doctorate in Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University, where his research focused on legal change in Talmudic and Midrashic Literature. He currently serves on faculty for the Wexner Foundation, as a member of the the International Council of the New Israel Fund, a member of the Rabbinical Placement Commission, the RJ Advisory Board and the URJ Press Editorial Board. He has served as a member of the CCAR Ethics Committee, the Joint Commission on Sustaining Rabbinical Education, the birthright Israel Education Committee and in a variety of other leadership roles within the Reform movement and greater Jewish community. A native of New York City who graduated from Johns Hopkins University’s Electrical Engineering program, Rabbi Panken is also an instrument rated commercial pilot (land, sea and glider) and sailor, and lives with his wife and two children in the New York area.