Guila Benchimol, who recently defended her Master’s thesis in Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy at the University of Guelph, has been awarded a Wexner Graduate Fellowship from the Wexner Foundation. Wexner Fellows have demonstrated excellence in academic achievement and possess the potential to assume significant professional leadership roles in the North American Jewish Community. Several hundred applicants were reviewed in this year’s competition of which only 22 were selected. Fellows are selected as part of professional career areas including those going to graduate school to become rabbis, cantors, Jewish educators, Jewish studies professors, and Jewish professional leaders. Benchimol is a Wexner Graduate Fellow/Davidson Scholar in the area of Jewish Professional Leadership and will be pursuing her doctorate in Sociological Criminology at the University of Guelph in the fall under the supervision of Dr. Myrna Dawson. The only Canadian recipient in this year’s cohort, Benchimol will be conducting research on crimes committed in the Orthodox Jewish Community.
