CALL FOR PAPERS

2026 WESTERN JEWISH STUDIES ASSOCIATION

CONFERENCE

UNIVERSITY OF DENVER

DENVER, CO | MARCH 22-23, 2026

Submit proposals by November 14, 2025.

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• Baron Award for best graduate student paper 

The Center for Judaic Studies and the Rocky Mountain Jewish Historical Society at the University of Denver will host the 2026 conference of the Western Jewish Studies Association.

The WJSA is a nonprofit organization founded in 1995 to organize a Jewish Studies conference every Spring at alternating sites in the western United States and Canada. The conference serves as a regional forum for Jewish Studies scholars to present their research, discuss pedagogical issues, explore issues facing academic Jewish Studies programs, and network with colleagues in their disciplines. We invite paper and panel proposals in all areas of Jewish Studies regardless of discipline, geographical focus, or period. The WJSA always devotes some panels to the experiences of Jews in the American West, pedagogical approaches in Jewish Studies, and contemporary Jewish issues.

2026 will mark the 150th anniversary of Colorado statehood (1876) and the 250th anniversary of the United States Declaration of Independence (1776), and we welcome paper or panel proposals that explore those milestones from the vantage point of Jewish history.

Panels devoted to major anniversaries of events in Jewish history or birthdays and Yahrzeits of important Jewish individuals in 2026 are welcome, such as:

50th anniversary of the raid on Entebbe (1976)

100th birthday of Mel Brooks (1926)

120th anniversary of the exoneration of Alfred Dreyfus (1906)

200 years since the last known Auto da Fe from the Spanish Inquisition (1826)

850 years since Maimonides completed the Mishneh Torah (1176)

Papers should be in English. 

Faculty, graduate students, and independent scholars of Jewish Studies are invited to submit proposals for papers, panels, and roundtable discussion. Paper proposals should be no longer than one double-spaced typed page and should be submitted with a short CV that contains contact information.

Organizers of panels and roundtable discussions should submit a cover sheet with the title of the session, the titles and abstracts for each paper, bios and contact information of presenters. Individuals willing to chair a panel should indicate their areas of expertise and send a short CV. A few hotel cost stipends are available for American graduate students and possibly there may be more substantial travel stipends for a few Israeli scholars presenting at the conference.

Proposals should be emailed to: joshua.furman@DU.edu.

The conference will be entirely in-person.

The WJSA bestows the $200 Baron Award for the best graduate student paper presentation.

There is no WJSA membership requirement for participation in the conference, but membership is encouraged since WJSA dues help fund the graduate student stipend. To become a WJSA member, visit http://www.wjsa.net/dues.html.

Deadline for submission of proposals is November 14, 2025.

WESTERN JEWISH STUDIES ASSOCIATION