Mirit Bessire will be joining the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and the Jewish Studies Program this fall to teach Hebrew language on all levels, from beginner to advanced.

Ms. Bessire is an experienced teacher of Modern Hebrew language and Israeli culture. During the past decade she taught a variety of Hebrew classes at SUNY Binghamton, NY, and at Ithaca College. 

She received her B.A. in Semitic Linguistics and Comparative Literature from the University of Haifa in 2001 and her Advanced Diploma in Post-secondary Hebrew Language Acquisition from Tel Aviv University in 2003. After moving to the U.S.A. 2008, she acquired her M.S.Ed. in Education from Elmira College in 2014 and her M.S. in Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation from Syracuse University in 2017. Her research has touched on subjects from learning outcomes evaluation to the assessment of the efficacy of various technologically mediated modalities for second-language learning. 

In addition to being a follower of Israeli cinema, Ms. Bessire was the co-founder of the Israeli Film Festival at her previous institution, Ithaca College, and directed the festival there for several years.