Pro­fes­sor Shaul Kel­ner is soci­ol­o­gist of Jew­ish life at Van­der­bilt Uni­ver­si­ty. He has held vis­it­ing posi­tions at Hebrew Uni­ver­si­ty and Tel Aviv Uni­ver­si­ty, and chaired the Wexn­er Foundation’s Grad­u­ate Fel­low­ship selec­tion com­mit­tee. When he stayed on cam­pus dur­ing the COVID pan­dem­ic, Van­der­bilt hon­ored him with an Inno­v­a­tive Teach­ing Award for cre­at­ing safe in-per­son expe­ri­en­tial learn­ing activ­i­ties, like the Great Yid­dish Bake-Off.