Members-Only Meet and Greet with Beatrice Gurwitz

Meet the Museum’s New Executive Director

Members of the Museum are invited to enjoy a warm beverage and conversation with the Museum’s new Executive Director, Beatrice (Bea) Gurwitz. Speak with Bea in the Member’s Lounge and learn about her background and vision for the Museum. Complimentary coffee, tea, and cookies are provided.

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About Dr. Gurwitz

Dr. Beatrice Gurwitz has ten years of nonprofit management experience, a rich academic background in Latin American and Jewish history, and substantial connections to Jewish and scholarly communities in the region. Prior to joining the Museum, she served as the deputy director of the National Humanities Alliance (NHA)—an organization dedicated to bolstering the humanities on college campuses, promoting public engagement with the humanities, and increasing funding for humanities organizations. In her role, Gurwitz worked to broaden the organization’s mission, cultivated and grew multiple streams of revenue, oversaw federal advocacy and engagement with legislators, and managed a wide range of programs and conferences designed to support humanities professionals and their work. She built robust partnerships with the National Endowment for the Humanities, state and jurisdictional humanities councils, private foundations, scholarly organizations, higher ed institutions, and cultural organizations around the country.

Additional career highlights include consulting with the National Endowment for the Humanities and the United States Department of State. She has also taught at the University of Maryland and the University of California, Berkeley, and in the New York City public school system.

Gurwitz’s academic work focuses on the history of Jewish communities and other ethnic groups in Latin America. She is the author of Argentine Jews in the Age of Revolt (Brill, 2016). Her writing has also appeared in Journal of Jewish Identities, Immigrants and Minorities, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. She holds a BA from Wesleyan University and a PhD in History from the University of California, Berkeley.

Gurwitz joined the Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum on September 23, 2024.