Peninnah
Schram
Professor of Speech and Drama, Emerita
Professor Peninnah Schram joined the speech and drama department of Stern College in the fall of 1969 after teaching at Iona College for 2 years. She developed the first college course in Jewish storytelling in the mid-1970s and produced three Jewish Storytelling Festivals at Stern College for Women.
Jewish oral tradiion, Jewish folktales and Storytelling
She is a recipient of a 1995 Covenant Award for Outstanding Jewish Educator and the 2003 National Storytelling Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She has received national recognition for her work in storytelling, including a National Jewish Book Award and two Anne Izard Storytellers’ Choice Awards. YU held a Folktales of Israel Festival in her honor on November 6, 2011. A book, MITZVAH STORIES: Seeds forInspiration an Learning, was published in her honor (November 2011) with 60 never-before-published stories by rabbis, educators and storytellers. Foreword was written by YU President Richard Joel.
She is the author of twelve books of Jewish folktales including THE APPLE TREE'S DISCOVERY, MITZVAH STORIES (one of the editors and in honor of Peninnah), THE HUNGRY CLOTHES AND OTHER JEWISH FOLKTALES, THE MAGIC POMEGRANATE, THE PURIM COSTUME, A TREE IN THE GARDEN, THE CHANUKAH BLESSING, and STORIES WITHIN STORIES: FROM THE JEWISH ORAL TRADITION, and one CD, THE MINSTREL AND THE STORYTELLER.