JTA — The Jewish Theological Seminary has named Rabbi Mike Uram as its next chancellor, elevating a Jewish educator best known for his time as executive director of the University of Pennsylvania Hillel to lead Conservative Judaism’s flagship university and rabbinical school.

Uram, 49, will succeed Shuly Rubin Schwartz, who is stepping down at the end of the 2025-26 academic year and will become chancellor emerita.

Ordained at JTS in 2005, Uram currently serves as the first chief Jewish learning officer at the Jewish Federations of North America. He previously spent more than 16 years at the Penn Hillel, where he rose from campus rabbi to executive director and built a national reputation for his ideas on encouraging young Jews to take part in Jewish life. He left Hillel in 2020 to lead Pardes North America, a branch of the egalitarian yeshiva in Jerusalem whose alumni often go on to enroll in rabbinical schools.

In a statement to the JTS community, Alan Levine, who chairs its board of trustees, described Uram as “the right person to help JTS meet this important moment.”

“He brings to our institution a rabbinic voice, a connection to a new generation of current and emerging Jewish leaders, and deep experience serving the broader Jewish community that we need to engage as part of the vital center,” wrote Levine.

His selection marks a notable departure for JTS, which historically has been led by scholars or academics. Uram, who does not have a PhD, did not grow up in the Conservative movement and has not served in a long-term congregational pulpit, called it a “bold move to hire someone who is outside of the molds.”

But in an interview with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency this week, Uram described his novel background as his strength. He pointed to his experiences in higher education, fundraising at both Hillel and JFNA, and in settings where he gained an understanding of “the dynamics of the larger Jewish ecosystem outside of Jewish denominations.”

He also spoke of his signature initiative at Penn, the “Jewish Renaissance Project,” which aimed to reach students who might not otherwise walk into a Hillel building.“In the process of building that, we more than tripled Penn Hillel’s budget through new fundraising, and we more than doubled the number of students that we were engaging each year,” said Uram. Uram drew on his experience at Penn in his 2016 book, “Next Generation Judaism: How College Students and Hillel Can Help Reinvent Jewish Organizations.”

He has similar ambitions for JTS, both........

© The Times of Israel