It only took attendance at a University seder for Californian Francis Fischer to know that she wanted Michael Landy's job.
Less than a year later, Fischer will be replacing Landy as the full-time director of the University's Hillel chapter starting July 17.
Fischer said she decided to apply for the position after volunteering to work at a seder sponsored by University Hillel during the Passover holiday. "It really moved me that we were helping students establish a healthy Jewish way of life," Fischer said. "At that point I turned to Michael [Landy] and said `I want your job."'
Chosen by a national search committee comprised of four students and four faculty members, Fischer arrives at the University with an extensive background in Jewish affairs.
She holds a masters in Jewish Communal Service from the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, as well as a masters in social work from the University of Southern California. She spent a year counseling at Jewish Family Services of Santa Monica and then went on to serve as a regional coordinator for the Jewish Federation in Los Angeles for six years.
Fischer said she hopes to continue the current increase in Hillel's student involvement. "I'd love to see us even outgrow the Hillel house," she said. "We should have so many students coming to our events that we can't hold them there."
Fischer will have the opportunity to take Duke's program to a new level, Landy said. "Right now, we haven't even touched graduate and professional students," he said. "It's a good base program, but not a great program."
Members of the selection committee said they had great faith in Fischer's abilities. "She has strong administrative skills, a lot of energy and enthusiasm, good common sense and a youthful, approachable demeanor," said Judith Ruderman, director of continuing education and the University summer program and a member of the selection committee.
Fischer may face a challenge in working with the planned Center for Jewish Life, where her role will be a primarily political one, Landy said. "The CJL can potentially slow the process of developing Hillel," he said.
But Trinity junior Tammy Duker, student president of Hillel, said that the CJL would not present any significant concern to Fischer. "She should direct her actions as if there is no CJL--it doesn't change her role now," Duker said.
Ruderman echoed these sentiments. "I don't see her role being integrally involved in the search for funds for the CJL," said Ruderman. "We don't yet have a CJL and [Fischer's] role is to continue to build the Jewish program at Duke."
Fischer will be joined in her work at Hillel by Brooke Franz, a graduate of Cornell University and the winner of the Jewish Campus Service Corps Fellowship. The grant provided by the fellowship will allow him to work with University Hillel for and the surrounding community for as long as two years.
Landy, who is leaving his post to become the assistant director of Hillel at the University of Florida, said that he has brought Duke Hillel to an acceptable level but that it has reached a plateau. "My personal creative talents were only going to take this program so much further," he said.
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