Dan Avnon

A graduate of UC Berkeley (1990; advisor – Professor Hanna Pitkin), Dan Avnon's first academic appointment was at Stanford University's program in Cultures, Ideas and Values. After joining The Hebrew University's department of Political Science, Dan established in 2001 HU's Gilo Center for Citizenship, Democracy & Civic Education, which he headed until 2007. He also served between 2010-11 as director of HU's Federmann School of Public Policy & Government. Dan's Canadian links have been enhanced by numerous stays at the University of Toronto - as a Roz and Ralph Halbert Fellow, as a Shoshana Shier Distinguished Visiting Professor of Jewish Studies, and as a Massey College Visiting Fellow.

Professor Avnon's publications include Plurality and Citizenship in Israel (co-editor, 2010), Civic Language in Israel (editor, Hebrew, 2006), Liberalism and its Practice (co-editor, 1999) and Martin Buber: The Hidden Dialogue (1996).

Dan Avnon's current research interests are in the fields of Israeli and Jewish political theory and in democratic theory and education. He is currently completing an edited collection of essays about civic education in Israel and is working on a book-length manuscript about the Hebrew political mind.

In addition to his academic activities, Dan Avnon has been active in Israel's public spheres. He was part of the academic team that in the 1990's established the Israeli Democracy Institute, was an advisor to the Israeli parliament's constitution and education committees, (primarily on issues related to constitutional reform and to civic education), and has served the boards of various NGO's that promote joint Jewish-Arab education.