Thursday, January 28, 2010 was a significant day in SPME history where SPME Executive Director Sam Edelman convened a meeting of faculty from Philadelphia universities just prior to a reception for nearly 300 Philadelphia area faculty sponsored by the Philadelphia JCRC at the Jewish Federation Building.

A steering committee of Marsha Crawford and Ed Newman from Temple University and Judith Franklin of Drexel University are looking to have an organization and planning meeting with a program for a Delaware Valley chapter of SPME in late February on a date to be announced. Interested individuals willing to participate in the newly forming group should contact Marsha Crawford, directly at mcrawfor@temple.edu .

SPME Past President, Ed Beck spoke at the presentation, along with Noam Katz, Israeli Minister for Public Diplomacy from the Embassy in Washington and Daniel Kurtner, Consul General to Philadelphia. JCRC Chair Mark Zucker and Francine Lipstein, Israel Advocacy Chair for the JCRC also gave comments. Following the presentation many faculty indicated interest in forming the chapter. If you have interest contact Marsha Crawford.