Rabbi David Ellenson, Chancellor Emeritus of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), has been appointed as Interim President by the HUC-JIR Board of Governors. Rabbi Ellenson served for 12 years as HUC-JIR President (2001-13) and succeeds Rabbi Aaron Panken, Ph.D., who tragically died in a plane crash on May 5, 2018. Rabbi Panken succeeded Rabbi Ellenson as President in 2014.

Rabbi Ellenson is just concluding his tenure as Director of the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies at Brandeis University, a position he has held since 2015.