Service

Service has been a consistent part of my academic and community life, taking forms that range from university governance and scholarly editing to film programming and nonprofit leadership. Much of this work has involved building and sustaining institutions — academic, cultural, and community-based — that create opportunities for scholarship, dialogue, and public engagement.

English Department

Within the Department of English at UVic, I have served as Acting Academic Writing Requirement Adviser (2026–27), Curriculum Committee Chair (2025–26), and EDI Committee Chair (2022–24), among other roles. I have also served on the Appointments, Postcolonialism Area, Visiting Speakers, Graduate, Undergraduate, Library, and Research, Tenure and Promotion committees, and regularly evaluate graduate students’ French and Spanish translation examinations.

Jewish Academic Hub

In 2025–26, I spearheaded the creation of the Jewish Academic Hub (JAH), housed within the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria, and serve as its Faculty Chair. The JAH was established to support research, teaching, public programming, and dialogue related to Jewish life and experience at UVic. It provides an institutional home for scholarly engagement with questions affecting Jewish students, faculty, and staff, and approaches concerns about antisemitism through education, research, and pluralistic inquiry. The Working Group to Address Antisemitism (WGAA), which I have chaired since 2025, operates within the JAH as a consultative and educational initiative.

University Service

I served as the Faculty of Graduate Studies representative to the Senate Committee on Academic Standards (2011–13), where major issues included revising UVic's Policy on Academic Integrity, establishing a new no-fault withdrawal designation, and overseeing the transition to percentage grading. I have also served on the Technology and Information Infrastructure Committee and contributed to the development of UVic's Media Studies interdisciplinary program.

Scholarly Service

I was a section editor for Postcolonial Text, an open-access peer-reviewed journal, from 2012 to 2016, with responsibility for submissions relating to the Caribbean and the Middle East. I have written peer reviews for Comparative Literature, Modern Intellectual History, Green Letters, Animation, Postcolonial Text, and The Arbutus Review, as well as a review of a book manuscript for Palgrave Macmillan. I chaired a Presidential Task Force of the Caribbean Studies Association in 2011–12, for which I received the Association's Presidential Award for Outstanding Leadership and Service.

Congregation Emanu-El

I served as First Vice-President of Congregation Emanu-El — Victoria's historic downtown Conservative Jewish synagogue — for four years (2022–26), following three years of earlier service on the Board of Directors. During my tenure as vice-president I co-chaired both the rabbinical search committee and the Engagement Director search committee, each of which concluded successfully. I also chaired the Communications Committee and continue to serve as the congregation's online services manager.

Film Festivals and Cultural Programming

My engagement with cinema extends beyond the classroom and the archive. I have served as a juror for the Vancouver Jewish Film Festival since 2015, screening and evaluating new international films on Jewish themes each year. From 2017 to 2019 I directed the Victoria International Jewish Film Festival, after two years as its programmer; in that role I reviewed more than a hundred films annually and oversaw the Festival's programming and selection. I served as the Middle East and North Africa programmer for the Victoria Film Festival from 2018 to 2022, selecting international films for one of Canada's larger film festivals. I was also a juror for the Human Rights DocFest in 2009.

Community Engagement

I co-founded and help organize Kesher, a Victoria-based initiative that shares information, organises events and demonstrations, and promotes dialogue in support of peaceful and mutually just alternatives to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Earlier in my career, I was an organiser and leader of Jewish Voice for Peace (1996–2000), helping to build the organisation during its formative years, when its guiding principle was "Two Peoples, One Future." I have had no leadership role in the organization for more than two decades, and my own views remain grounded in a commitment to the national and human rights of both Israelis and Palestinians.