Gary P. Zola

Gary Phillip Zola is the Executive Director of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives (AJA) and the Edward M. Ackerman Family Distinguished Professor of the American Jewish Experience & Reform Jewish History at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Cincinnati. Since 1998, he has served as the second Executive Director of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives (AJA), succeeding his teacher and mentor, Jacob Rader Marcus (1896–1995). He is also editor of The Marcus Center’s award-winning semi-annual publication, The American Jewish Archives Journal.

Zola served as the organizer and chair of the congressionally-recognized Commission for Commemorating 350 Years of American Jewish History, a consortium of leading research institutions established to promote the study of American Jewish history during the 350th anniversary Jewish life in America (2004–2005). In 2006, Zola became the first American Jewish historian to receive appointment to the Academic Advisory Council of the congressionally-recognized Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.

In addition to these national activities, Zola has been actively involved in community relations in Cincinnati, Ohio. In May 2009, the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission conferred the Bishop Herbert Thompson, Jr. Outstanding Humanitarian Award on Zola in recognition of his service to the people of the greater Cincinnati metropolitan area. The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati recognized Zola’s service to Cincinnati’s Jewish community in 2004 by awarding him its Distinguished Leadership Award.

In 2011, President Barack Obama appointed Zola to serve as a member of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad. Although HUC-JIR presidents have received such distinctions over the years, Zola is the first regular member of the College-Institute’s faculty to serve on a standing commission of the United States Government in the history of the school.

Zola holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, with distinction, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (1973), and a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (1976). He earned a Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters (1981), Rabbinic Ordination (1982), a Master of Philosophy (1988) from HUC-JIR. Zola received his Ph.D. in American Jewish History from HUC-JIR in 1991.

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