Special Event for Graduate Studies Charis/Directors and Graduate Admission Chairs
The Graduate School cordially invites you to attend a set of workshops for Graduate Studies Chairs and Chairs of Graduate Admission Committees on "Designing for Entrepreneurial Scholars" with guest speaker and facilitator Dr.Ilana Horwitz, Assistant Professor in the Department of Jewish Studies and the Fields-Rayant Chair in Contemporary Jewish Life at Tulane University. Dr. Horwitz will offer strategies to thrive in academia with limited resources and in the face of uncertainty, while embracing an entrepreneurial mindset that entails viewing yourself as a knowledge producer, enhancing collaboration, creatively identifying resources, and effectively sharing your ideas. Read more about Dr, Horwitz below this event announcement.
There will be a virtual pre-workshop on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026, from noon to 1 p.m. via Zoom. In this pre-workshop, Dr. Horwitz will share how graduate programs can cultivate entrepreneurial mindsets that empower graduate students to thrive amid academia's uncertainties. Drawing from her book The Entrepreneurial Scholar, she shows how graduate programs that shift students from knowledge consumers to producers better prepare them for unpredictable career paths. Her framework empowers early-career scholars to create meaningful careers within and beyond traditional academic boundaries.
The main day of workshops will be on Friday, Sept. 18, 2026, with two sessions, the overall theme of which is Designing for the Entrepreneurial Scholar. Lunch will be provided. Both sessions will be in-person only.
Agenda for the Workshop
- 8 a.m. – Workshop Registration and Breakfast Opens
- 9 a.m. to noon – Admissions Redesign Workshop
- Noon to 1:15 p.m. – Lunch
- 1:30pm – 4:30pm – Program Assessment and Learning Outcomes
The first session will be on Admissions Redesign from 9 a.m. to noon During this workshop, you will work alongside Dr. Horwitz and colleagues from Ohio State to review pre-built rubrics for evaluating entrepreneurial potential across applications, materials, and a bank of questions designed to assess agency, producer mindset, and navigation of uncertainty. Dr. Horwitz will also walk attendees through how to apply the pre-built rubric to application materials and how to consider that admission criteria do not disadvantage any applicant. Attendees will leave this session with a fully developed example rubric and interview questions that can be customized to your home units and appropriate timelines.
The second session will be on Program Assessment and Learning Outcomes from 1:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. During this session, Dr. Horwitz will walk through how to map learning outcomes to the three shifts and then work in small groups to draft discipline-specific outcomes for your programs using sample assessment tools for key milestones during the student’s academic career. Dr. Horwitz will also provide suggestions and feedback for piloting and implementing new assessment practices. Attendees will leave with a complete set of example frameworks that you can take back to your home units to adapt internally for your best practices and implementation.
Please submit your interest and RSVP using the link below. We ask that you please submit your RSVP no later than Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, by 5 p.m. Attendance for both in-person sessions on Friday, Sept. 19, 2026, is limited to 100 attendees and will be first come first serve. It is expected that we will be at capacity for this event and a waiting list will be kept for any RSVPs that are after the first 100 registrants. The Graduate School will contact registrants if spaces are made available.
Additionally, the first 100 registrants will receive a copy of Dr. Horwitz’s book The Entrepreneurial Scholar, that will be available for pick at the Graduate School located on the second floor of University Hall, at 230 North Oval Mall, Columbus, OH 43210 starting on Aug. 3, 2026 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
If you have any questions, please reach out to TJ Carpenter, Executive Assistant to the Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Dean of the Graduate School, who would be happy to assist.
Cheers,
Mary Stromberger, Ph.D.
Vice Provost for Graduate Education
Dean of the Graduate School
More about Dr. Ilana Horwitz
Dr. Ilana Horwitz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Jewish Studies and the Fields-Rayant Chair in Contemporary Jewish Life at Tulane University. She is a sociologist of religion and education who examines how people’s gender, ethnicity, race, social class, and religious upbringing shape their lives. Dr. Horwitz is trained in both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Prior to Tulane, Dr. Horwitz was a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Center on Longevity, and she earned her PhD in Sociology of Education & Jewish Studies from Stanford University. She earned her Master's in International Education Development from Columbia University's Teachers College, and a Bachelor's in Business Administration from Emory University. She is a former Institute for Education Sciences fellow and Wexner/Davidson fellow. Before entering academia Dr. Horwtiz, worked for several years at technology startups and as a management consultant at Deloitte, where she helped organizations navigate strategic and operational challenges. Those experiences continue to shape her research and writing, which bridge the worlds of scholarship, innovation, and real-world impact.
Dr. Horwitz recently served on the Board of the Consortium for Applied Studies in Jewish Education (CASJE) and is an affiliate of the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University. In her first book, God, Grades, and Graduation: Religion’s Surprising Impact on Academic Success (OUP 2022), Dr. Horwitz examines the surprising ways in which a religious upbringing shapes the academic lives of teens. Dr. Horwitz’s second book, The Entrepreneurial Scholar, is forthcoming with Princeton University Press, and her third book, The Broken Ladder: Why 2/3 of Americans Don’t Complete College - And Why It’s Not Their Fault is under contract with University of California Press.
Dr. Horwitz has published in top academic journals, including the American Sociological Review, and her work has received numerous awards, including the Early Career Award from the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry and a Distinguished Book Award from the religion section of the American Sociological Association. Since 2021, she has published over a dozen op-eds in outlets like The New York Times, The Conversation, and Inside Higher Ed.
As an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, Dr. Horwitz brings both analytical rigor and personal insight to her writing, research, and teaching. Her first book, God, Grades, and Graduation: Religion’s Surprising Impact on Academic Success (Oxford University Press), received critical acclaim and widespread media attention—from The New York Times to The Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Horwtiz has given research talks and workshops on book and op-ed publishing for audiences ranging from 12-5,000. Institutions she has spoken at include Princeton University, Stanford University, Louisiana State University, and Bringham Young University.