Jessica I. Elfenbein
Jessica I. Elfenbein [on leave]
professor
Division of Legal, Ethical and Historical Studies
Additional Roles:
associate provost, University of Baltimore
Contact Information:
Phone: 410.837.5340
E-mail: jelfenbein@ubalt.edu
M.A., Ph.D., University of Delaware
M.A., George Washington University
A.B., Barnard College, Columbia University
Jessica Elfenbein's C.V. (.pdf)
A belief that history has the power to be a productive tool of community building moved me to become an historian and has informed and enriched my teaching, research and service. I have been at the University of Baltimore in a series of increasingly responsible faculty and administrative positions since beginning my academic career in 1995. My work is entrepreneurial, interdisciplinary and collaborative. I am keenly interested in higher education leadership.
I am very lucky to have spent 2009-10 as an American Council on Education Fellow, which, through a host campus placement, professional development retreats, and dozens of campus visits with presidents and chancellors nationally and internationally, helped me to learn a great deal about the state of the art in higher education administration. My fellowship research focused on community-university partnerships, general education, learning outcomes and the role of boards and volunteer leadership.
Many people have been generous to me in the course of my career. As an academic administrator, I work to give back by easing the load of other faculty members. In my position as associate provost, I strive to provide a value add to UB’s faculty in their teaching, research and service. By expanding meaningful professional development opportunities and coordinating funding opportunities from the Office of the Provost, I hope to make the University’s many resources readily available to strengthen faculty and student experiences and to enhance work-life balance.
I am especially interested in the role of the University as an anchor institution in Baltimore city. Action research, community engagement and service learning are important pedagogies for our faculty and students. Currently, I am leading the Central Baltimore Higher Education Collaborative that features the Maryland Institute College of Art, The Johns Hopkins University, UB and Goucher College and focuses on the area of the city from Hopkins' Homewood campus on the north to UB on the south and from Greenmount Cemetery on the east to the train tracks on the west. It includes all of Old Goucher. The goal of this work is to use the creative energies of our faculty, students and staff in partnership with community stakeholders to address issues of interest and concern and to serve as community stewards. My goal is to work with our campus community first to envision and then to re-make the University of Baltimore as a model 21st-century urban university.
My research interests are at the intersection of religious, urban and philanthropic history. I have published several books and articles. I am now at work on a new study of philanthropic foundations in Baltimore and the ways their work has been affected by region. My work has been recognized by groups like the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, the American Academy of Religion, the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action, the Louisville Institute, Aspen Institute’s Nonprofit Sector Research Fund and the Baltimore City Historical Society.
Recently I led Baltimore ’68: Riots and Rebirth, a series of events that sought to explore the causes and effects of the social unrest after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination and the efforts at civic healing that followed and still continue. The project included a fabulous website, public convenings, scholarly presentations, arts and more. With my UB colleagues Betsy Nix and Tom Hollowak, I am editing an anthology composed of new scholarship generated by Baltimore '68, to be published by Temple University Press in 2011.