An Exemplar of Lifelong Learning, Annette R. Segil Endows Vital Faculty Position at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion

"I've always been intellectually curious and an active learner," said Annette R. Segil, an executive leadership and organization consultant who recently made a gift to establish the Annette R. Segil Professor of Education and Jewish Learning at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

Segil's multifaceted career across the applied behavioral and social sciences has spanned social work, psychology, adult education, leadership management and organizational development from her birthplace in South Africa to London, New York, Buenos Aires, and Los Angeles, where she has lived since 1983. In all of those places, she has also served in a volunteer capacity as a mentor and an educator in the Jewish and non-Jewish community - while continuing her own learning.

"For me, learning is at the center of Judaism, no matter your level of observance," Segil said. "Isn't that what the Talmud and the Mishnah are about?" At the same time, she added that her approach to adult education has gone beyond the mastery of content to emphasize emotional intelligence. "The passing of tests and exams is no indication of how well a person is able to apply, convey, and use that acquired knowledge," she said. "Critical thinking, together with social and individual awareness, and the management of the social learning environment are what really differentiates the good from the great."

Segil, who describes herself as a "true believer in active learning that includes two-way communication and collaboration," obtained degrees and certificates in the applied behavioral sciences in South Africa, the U.K., and the U.S. She also became a fluent Spanish speaker and "a pretty good tango dancer" during what was initially intended to be a short stint in Argentina that turned into nearly a decade, as she deepened her connections and participation in Jewish organizations in Buenos Aires.

Annette Segil made the endowment of the Professor of Education and Jewish Learning in honor of her late parents, who she said "instilled in me my love for learning and yiddishkeit." Dr. Arnold and Miriam Segil were deeply involved with numerous Jewish and non-Jewish institutions in South Africa. Her father was the gabbai of the combined shul in Boksburg, the town where she grew up. Her mother held leadership positions with the Women's International Zionist Organization and the National Council of Jewish Women. Both parents were active members of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies.

"I was exposed to derech eretz - for me, in everyday language, it's how to be a mensch: the civility of life, how you deal with yourself and others, tzedakah and chesed, and of course Zionism," Segil said, recalling that "many meetings of Jewish and secular Jewish organizations were held in our home."

She studied social work at Witwatersrand University in South Africa - where later, as an associate professor in the graduate school, she launched a social welfare management program for a multicultural group of agency directors that was unique under apartheid. Segil soon became known as a trailblazer and change agent as she moved through a number of increasingly demanding careers that took her to the heights of human capital management in both corporate and social service organizations. "I was never proactively ambitious. I was always turned on by my intellectual curiosity and the challenge of synthesizing what I had learned and practiced into new forms and systems."

Segil has retired from the international leadership and organization and management consulting firm she opened in 1985. But she has remained active with HUC-JIR as a teacher, panelist, and mentor. She was a board member at the Zelikow School of Jewish Nonprofit Management, "where I introduced the curriculum and taught programs in the soft social skills, so important to me, of mentorship and then in public presentations," Segil said at the announcement of the gift.

Segil said she endowed the faculty position because she recognized the opportunity to advance her values of "managing the educational environment so that adult learners are motivated to be engaged and retain and apply what they've learned."

"The fact that this legacy gift contains both the words 'education' and 'learning' in its name beautifully illustrates Annette Segil's approach to knowledge," said HUC-JIR President Andrew Rehfeld, Ph.D. "It's a reflection of her commitment to lifelong learning that she is building on her own remarkable trajectory, with a bridge to the future of Jewish education and the transmission of Jewish values."

As Segil put it, the endowment is the perfect way to give back and help put others on the kind of path that has been so rewarding for her.

"This professorship for me is a deeply felt melding of my love of yiddishkeit, academics and the management of learning. I realize how deeply blessed I am."

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