Accomplished scholars, educators and industry leaders bring new depth, expertise and real-world experience to classrooms across the University

A new academic year at Yeshiva University is bringing an exceptional slate of faculty appointments across its undergraduate schools, including accomplished scholars, educators and industry professionals whose work spans Jewish thought and history, neuroscience, psychology, finance, statistics, artificial intelligence and marketing.

These faculty members bring not only expertise in their fields, but a passion for teaching, mentoring and opening new worlds of knowledge to students. Their appointments reflect the University’s continued investment in academic excellence and in an education that challenges students to think deeply, engage ambitiously with ideas and prepare to make a meaningful impact far beyond campus.

“This outstanding group of faculty reflects the strength and momentum of Yeshiva University,” said Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President of Yeshiva University. “They are leaders in their fields who share our commitment to academic excellence, values-based education and the success of our students. Their scholarship, mentorship and vision will help shape the future of the University and prepare the next generation to lead with wisdom, confidence and conviction.”

Rabbi Dr. Dov Lerner

Chair of the Rebecca Ivry Department of Jewish Studies and Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Stern College for Women

Among the key faculty appointments for the fall semester, Rabbi Dr. Dov Lerner will take on a major new leadership role as Chair of the Rebecca Ivry Department of Jewish Studies at Stern College for Women.

Rabbi Lerner moves into the position after seven years on the faculty of Yeshiva University’s Zahava and Moshael J. Straus Center for Torah and Western Thought, where his courses ranged across centuries and disciplines—from Maimonides, Abarbanel, the Malbim and Rabbi Jonathan Sacks to Genesis, Messianism, Dante’s Inferno, Milton’s Paradise Lost and conceptions of the afterlife.

A Yeshiva University graduate, Rabbi Lerner earned his bachelor’s degree in English literature and received semicha from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. He went on to earn a master’s degree in religion and a Ph.D. in the history of Judaism from the University of Chicago.

Rabbi Lerner’s research interests include Jewish intellectual history and modern Jewish thought, with a particular focus on the Malbim and Rabbi Sacks. He currently serves as rabbi of the Young Israel of Jamaica Estates and is working on a book on the thought of Rabbi Sacks.

Rabbi Lerner is joined by two new Jewish Studies faculty members at Yeshiva College, each with a strong record of scholarship, teaching and research.

Dr. David Sclar

Assistant Professor of Jewish History at Yeshiva College

Dr. David Sclar joins Yeshiva College as a scholar of early modern Jewish history whose work has taken him to some of the world’s leading academic institutions.

He earned his doctorate in history from the CUNY Graduate Center and comes to Yeshiva University most recently from the Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey, where he taught history and served as librarian.

Dr. Sclar has held postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard, Princeton, Oxford and the University of Toronto. He also curated The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries, the major exhibition at the Yeshiva University Museum that ran from May 2023 through March 2024.

His research and teaching explore the rich religious, social and intellectual world of early modern Jewry, including book history, the Portuguese Jewish community of Amsterdam and the kabbalist Moses Hayim Luzzatto, known as the Ramhal.

Dr. Sclar’s appointment is shared with the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies.

Dr. Shira Weiss

Assistant Professor of Jewish Philosophy at Yeshiva College

A former assistant director of the Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks-Herenstein Center for Values and Leadership at YU, Dr. Shira Weiss has deep ties across the University. She has taught Jewish Thought at Stern College for Women, where she earned her bachelor’s degree, and at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, where she earned her Ph.D. in Jewish philosophy. She also holds an Ed.D. from the Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education & Administration.

Her scholarship has earned fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Templeton Foundation, Ben-Gurion University and Oxford University.

Dr. Weiss is the author of Joseph Albo on Free Choice (Oxford, 2017) and Ethical Ambiguity in the Hebrew Bible (Cambridge, 2018), and co-author of The Protests of Job: An Interfaith Dialogue (Palgrave, 2022), in addition to articles published in academic journals and anthologies.

She, along with Dr. Sclar, will also teach at the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies.

“These three appointments in Jewish Studies are truly transformative,” said Rebecca Cypess, Dean of Undergraduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “Rabbi Dr. Lerner is poised to lead the Rebecca Ivry Department of Jewish Studies into an exciting new era. These scholars will open new windows onto Jewish religious, cultural and intellectual history and give our students fresh ways to engage with the ideas, texts and traditions that have shaped Jewish life across centuries.”

Dr. Levi Adelman

Assistant Professor of Psychology at Stern College for Women

Dr. Levi Adelman brings to Stern College a compelling combination of academic scholarship and high-level experience applying behavioral science to public policy.

Before joining Yeshiva University, he spent four years as a senior social and behavioral advisor for the U.S. Agency for International Development. He earned his Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and held a four-year postdoctoral research position with the European Research Center on Migration and Ethnic Relations at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Dr. Adelman was also awarded a fellowship from the American Association for the Advancement of Science to apply behavioral science to government policy work.

His research examines how people respond to diversity in society across religious beliefs, social values, race, ethnicity and gender. His published work includes research on peace and conflict, responses to criticism of social groups and the ways societies navigate differing values and behaviors.

Dr. Balbinder Singh Gill

Clinical Assistant Professor of Finance at the Sy Syms School of Business

At the Sy Syms School of Business, Dr. Balbinder Singh Gill brings students a powerful combination of rigorous financial scholarship, award-winning mentorship and an emphasis on practical application.

Before coming to Yeshiva University, Dr. Gill served as assistant professor of finance at Stevens Institute of Technology, where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses and received the university’s 2024 Provost Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising and Mentoring.

He earned his Ph.D. in finance from Temple University’s Fox School of Business after completing his earlier education in Belgium.

His research interests span corporate finance, sustainable finance, blockchain economics and fintech, with a particular focus on questions at the intersection of financial markets, corporations, technology and public policy. His published work encompasses corporate finance, household finance and related areas of financial economics.

In the classroom, Dr. Gill pairs rigorous financial theory with practical applications, helping students build the analytical skills, judgment and confidence to make sound financial decisions.

Dr. Nam Chul Kim

Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Stern College for Women

Dr. Nam Chul Kim joins Stern College as an accomplished scientist, educator and mentor whose work in neurodegeneration has attracted support from some of the nation’s leading medical and scientific organizations.

He previously served as assistant professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy.

Dr. Kim earned his bachelor’s degree in genetic engineering from SungKyunKwan University, his master’s degree in life science from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea and his Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

He also brings valuable industry experience to the classroom, having worked as a research scientist at the Yuhan Research Institute in Korea.

His academic research is deeply rooted in neurodegeneration and has received support from the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the Wallin Neuroscience Discovery Fund and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Dr. Jung Yeon Lee

Instructor of Statistics in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Stern College for Women and Yeshiva College

Dr. Jung Yeon Lee brings expertise in some of today’s most rapidly evolving quantitative fields, from statistical learning and predictive analytics to machine learning and artificial intelligence.

She joins Yeshiva University from the Frank G. Zarb School of Business at Hofstra University, where she taught statistics and business analytics, and has served as principal investigator on an NIH-funded research project at New York University.

Dr. Lee earned her Ph.D. in applied mathematics and statistics from Stony Brook University. Her research interests include applied statistics, statistical learning, machine learning, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence in education.

As an educator, she is passionate about helping students gain confidence in quantitative reasoning and see how statistical ideas move beyond the textbook to illuminate real-world problems.

Jonathan M. Truong

Clinical Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Sy Syms School of Business

Jonathan M. Truong brings more than two decades of experience across technology, education, marketing, community-building and entertainment to the Sy Syms classroom—giving students a direct connection to the fast-moving industries and technologies reshaping modern business.

Professor Truong joins Sy Syms after serving as head of community and partnerships at Codecademy. Previously, he was regional director of marketing and community for Yelp’s West South-Central region.

He earned his Bachelor of Science from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.

Professor Truong continues to work with startups to scale user communities and implement AI, bringing that current, real-world perspective into his courses in Buyer Behavior and Social Media Marketing.

“Great teaching begins with faculty who challenge students to think deeply, ask difficult questions and discover new possibilities,” said University Provost Selma Botman. “This remarkable group represents an extraordinary range of knowledge and accomplishment, and just as importantly, they are deeply committed to teaching. Their presence will energize our classrooms and broaden what our students are able to explore, question and achieve.”