Hillary Zaken

Hillary Zaken joined Elon University in 2017. She worked for Jewish Life until 2022, when she moved into multifaith work for the Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life. She currently serves as the Director of Multifaith Programming and Engagement. Zaken lives her life in full color and hopes to inspire others to do the same; she has a passion for empowering others to affirm and celebrate their own identities.

Zaken holds her BA in Religion and Jewish Studies from Bard College, and a Masters in Jewish Professional Studies from the Spertus Institute for Jewish Leadership and Learning.

Zaken moved to Jerusalem, Israel in 1998, where she studied at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, completing coursework towards a MA in Bible Studies. Zaken lived in Jerusalem for fourteen years, where she worked primarily as a journalist with the English-speaking media covering the Second Intifada, the disengagement from Gaza, and features about life in Israel. In 2012, Zaken moved back to the United States, working in fundraising within Greensboro nonprofit community and as Director of Communications for the American Hebrew Academy before joining Elon University.

At Elon, Zaken currently serves on the Jewish Studies Advisory Board, the Student Life Assessment committee, and the Dialogues Workgroup. Outside of work, Zaken serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for Reconsidered Goods, a creative reuse nonprofit, on the Editorial Board for Shalom Greensboro (the Greensboro Jewish Federation’s magazine), on the Communications Team of Guilford for All, and was a fellow with the Avodah Institute for Social Change in 2021-22.