Windmueller to Retire, Holo New Dean at L.A.’s Reform College

Steven F. Windmueller, a prominent figure in Jewish communal and academic life, will retire as the Los Angeles campus dean of the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion on July 1.

The announcement was made by Rabbi David Ellenson, president of the four-campus institution, who also named Joshua Holo, an associate professor of Jewish History, as the succeeding dean.

Windmueller, 67, who took over the deanship, initially on an interim basis, three years ago, said he will continue full time as professor and incumbent of the Alfred Gottschalk Chair in Jewish Communal Service. Windmueller joined the HUC-JIR faculty in 1995, following 10 years as director of The Jewish Federation’s Community Relations Committee.

Ellenson praised Windmueller’s contributions in advancing the Los Angeles campus’ academic, rabbinical, research and communal service programs, the relationship with USC and in creating the Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement. He has also strengthened the campus ties with its board of overseers and philanthropic supporters, Ellenson said.

Holo, an authority on the social and intellectual life of medieval Jewry in the Christian Mediterranean, is currently the director of the Louchheim School of Judaic Studies, which provides instruction to more than 600 USC undergraduates each year.

Ellenson said, “We look forward to [Holo’s] expertise, wisdom and guidance as he advances our mission in preparing men and women as leaders of vision for the Reform movement and the Jewish people worldwide.”