Touro College South,
led by Vice President Rabbi Alan G. Ciner, has established undergraduate women’s and men’s divisions to serve the growing Jewish population of South Florida. Dr. Henry Abramson is serving as dean of academic affairs and student services.

The school is offering courses leading to baccalaureate degrees in psychology, business management and administration, and Judaic studies. The faculty members are highly qualified academics who have published extensively and won numerous awards for their teaching and research. Newly appointed chairs include Dr. Avidan Milevsky (Psychology), Dr. Ron Morritt (Business), and Dr. Abramson
(Judaic Studies).

"Previously, students seeking a quality secular education along with advanced Jewish studies from such cities as Miami, Palm Beach and Boca Raton traveled to New York to study at one of Touro's New York schools," Rabbi Ciner explained. "With our new campus, students who prefer to stay closer to home now have that option."

Ciner added that the College expects to attract Jewish students from Latin America, Miami's growing population of French Jews as well as those from throughout the United States. For the fall semester almost 70 students are enrolled. The incoming class includes students from Chile, Argentina and Baltimore, with students hailing from a variety of Jewish backgrounds.

Additionally, through a newly established Center of Jewish Learning, the College will be reaching out to the community at large so that the academic excellence of Touro can be felt there as well, Rabbi Ciner said. For example, Rabbi Ciner served as a Scholar-in-Residence at the Young Israel of Miami Beach on a weekend in September. Dean Abramson also lectured during the weekend.

Rabbi Ciner has had a distinguished career in the pulpit rabbinate. He has been an ongoing guest lecturer in philosophy and religion at The Ohio State University as well as a speaker throughout the U.S., highlighting the theme, "Judaism's Response to a World of Modernity." Rabbi Ciner has served on many boards and commissions including an Ethics Commission established by Mayor Dana Rinehardt of Columbus, Ohio.

Dr. Abramson is an award-winning researcher who published his first book on Eastern European Jewish History with Harvard University Press and has a volume forthcoming on Talmud from Feldheim Publishers. He has held appointments at Harvard, Cornell, Oxford Universities and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and left a tenured position at Florida Atlantic University to join Rabbi Ciner in building Touro College South.

Graduate School of Social Work

“The School is serving a diverse student population, with special outreach to underserved populations,” said Dean Huberman. “We are training social workers who will be equipped to respond to the needs of the traditional Orthodox community and are also training students who will serve the Hispanic, Africa-American and immigrant populations of the New York area.”

During his career, which has spanned 30 years, Dr. Huberman has coordinated staff development, participated in graduate school education and conducted groundbreaking research on human service delivery in the United States. He received his Ph.D. from the Heller Graduate School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare at Brandeis University, and has produced over 50 key publications. His research has focused on program evaluation, management, growing old in America, creating learning communities of excellence, dealing with the human after-effects of the September 11, 2001 attacks, and being a social work executive director. Dr. Huberman has taught at Boston University and the University of California at Los Angeles, and also served as executive director of a major non-profit organization in California.

Graduate School of Technology
A new Graduate School of Technology has been established under the leadership of Dean Issac Herskowitz. Courses began mid-October. The School is offering a new master of science degree in Information Systems, and also will jointly administer the master of science degree in Instructional Technology, offered by the School of Education and Psychology, Graduate Division, since 2003.

The new MS in Information Systems, a 33-credit graduate degree, will focus on preparing students for careers in IT leadership and management of information systems. Courses leading to the degree are being offered in both Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The School initially is offering two concentrations - one in database systems and the other in data communications - both currently areas of high demand in the nation.

"The School, along with the new MS in Information Systems, will be meeting a demand for highly qualified and talented professionals to work in U.S. industry," said Dean Herskowitz. "We are perfectly poised to meet this need, with our strong tradition of excellence in undergraduate computer science and information systems programs.”

Dean Herskowitz joined Touro in 1991 as director and founder of Touro’s Academic Computing Department. Since then, he has served as chief academic computing officer, chairman and founder of the Instructional Technology Department at the Graduate School of Education, and chairman of the Computer Science Department, where he has managed over fifty instructors in 20 locations. Prior to joining Touro he was a project leader and programmer/analyst at IBM Credit Corporation in New York City, and a systems engineer at the marketing division, where he provided technical, installation, marketing and customer support for NASA, the United States Postal Service, the New York Board of Education, museums and various city agencies. He also advised executives at Fortune 500 companies on how to implement technologies within their organizations. Dean Herskowitz obtained his doctorate in instructional technology at Columbia University.

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine
Up in Harlem, Dean Martin Diamond is readying the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (TOUROCOM) for its initial class. When opened, it will become Touro’s third medical school. However the Harlem school is unique because of its location (on 125th Street, across from the famed Apollo Theater and close to the office of former president Bill Clinton) and its mission to train local talent so they can stay and practice medicine in Harlem. According to Dean Diamond, the College plans to make a special effort to recruit local students who will commit to remaining in the community. The College is developing a master of science program that will help identify highly qualified students with the potential to succeed in the medical school.

The College’s facilities will provide approximately 75,000 square feet of space on three floors, with state-of-the-art ampitheatres and medical training facilities. A glass library with 80 computers and printers that can print portions of 13,000 books and 1,000 journals will be available.

“Forty years ago there were only five osteopathic medical schools in the U.S. and that number has, in the interim, more than quadrupled. This school is unique due to its location, and more importantly, due to its mission,” said Dean Diamond.

Dean Diamond came to Touro from the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine of the New York Institute of Technology, where he was associate dean for advocacy and professional relations, as well as associate dean for academic affairs and for pre-clinical education. He previously served as associate dean for clinical education as well as post graduate medical education for the Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in California. Dr. Diamond completed the Osteopathic Heritage Health Policy Fellowship in 2001, and is a Fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians. He has received numerous awards throughout his career, and served his country in the Korean war.

Touro College of Pharmacy
Also in Harlem, under the leadership of newly appointed Dean Stuart Feldman, Ph.D., Touro is planning to open the Touro College of Pharmacy in the Fall 2008. The College, which will be located in the 125th Street Harlem facility shared with TOUROCOM, is developing a four-year professional program that will lead to the Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) degree. According to Dean Feldman, the college will be actively engaged in the community, focused on serving underserved populations, and is committed to recruiting and enrolling a diverse student body. The curriculum will include courses in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences, social and clinical sciences, and public health. A bachelor’s degree will be recommended for applicants, and pre-pharmacy core courses in chemistry, biology and math will be required. The College is aiming for an inaugural class of 60 students, with plans to accept 80 students its second year of operation and 100 students each year thereafter.

Dr. Feldman was appointed founding dean in April 2006. Prior to his appointment, he was professor and director of public health outreach at the College of Public Health (where he holds the title Professor Emeritus) and director of the interdisciplinary toxicology program at the University of Georgia. In these positions, he was actively involved in developing and promoting new initiatives in the biomedical sciences and all areas of human health. A high priority was connecting the University’s research enterprise with communities to develop collaborative extramurally funded community—based research programs.

He also served as professor of pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences at the College of Pharmacy, and from 1991 to 1999 was dean of the College. Previously, he held administrative and academic posts at the University of Houston College of Pharmacy and Temple University School of Pharmacy. He is the author or co-author of over 100 journal articles, textbook chapters and other invited papers, and a fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Feldman received his bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and a master of science from Columbia University, and his Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo.