Rabbi Dr. Laura Novak Winer
Director, Master of Educational
Leadership Program, Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion

Rabbi Dr. Laura Novak Winer, RJE, is the Director of the Master of Educational Leadership program at the HUC-JIR Rhea Hirsch School of Education in Los Angeles, CA. Laura teaches courses on pedagogy, classroom and organizational culture and leading change. She is a Senior Fellow at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education and Brandeis University. Laura has worked in and with a variety of afternoon school settings and her current research focus is Israel education, particularly within the context of the supplementary school. Laura has been published in a variety of academic and online journals, is a regular contributor to Moment Magazine’s “Ask the Rabbis” column, and was the editor of several curricula, including Sacred Choices: Adolescent Relationships and Sexual Ethics (2005 and 2007). She is a past president of the Association of Reform Jewish Educators. Laura earned her B.A. degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara; a Master of Arts in Jewish Education from the Rhea Hirsch School of Education and rabbinic ordination at HUC-JIR; and a doctorate in Education from the Jewish Theological Seminary Davidson School of Graduate Education. She lives in Fresno, CA with her husband Rabbi Rick Winer.