The Justice Brandeis Semester committee expects to fill the position of JBS manager within the next three weeks to coincide with the approval process for summer 2010 JBS proposals, which were due last Thursday, according to Director of Study Abroad and JBS committee member J. Scott Van Der Meid. According to the JBS Web site, four proposals for summer 2010 have been submitted by the deadline: "Collaborative Theater and the Theatrical Essay," "Environmental Health and Justice," "Ethnographic Fieldwork" and "Web and Mobile Application Development."

"All JBS proposals will be submitted first to a subcommittee for 'preapproval,' before submission to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee and dean of arts and sciences for final approval," according to the JBS Web site. Criteria for proposals include academic coherence, excellence and feasibility, expected appeal to undergraduates, and financial viability, as stated on the Web site

"[The proposals] should be going through, so by the end of the month we should know more concretely what the product is and our hope is to have a program manager on board at a similar time," Van Der Meid said.

The Brandeis employment Web site lists the responsibilities of the JBS manager, which include "managing the logistics of the program, including developing publicity, the application process, budget monitoring, logistical arrangements for students and faculty, and the implementation of the program evaluation rubric."

Van Der Meid said that the JBS committee had conducted phone interviews with a large number of candidates two weeks ago and then invited a smaller number of applicants to interview on-campus throughout the past week. He was unwilling to comment on the number of candidates interviewed, a policy he said was in keeping with similar situations in the past.

Applicants for the position of JBS manager who interviewed on campus talked with several different groups, including a "subset of the larger JBS committee," students, faculty and staff, according to Van Der Meid. Most of the applicants for the post had previous experience with experiential learning either in their professional or academic careers, he said.

Member of the JBS committee Prof. Laura Goldin (AMST) said that faculty who had submitted proposals for JBS programs held a forum for other faculty members and certain students on Thursday, Sept. 24. The forum aimed to generate discussion about the JBS programs and to inform other faculty members who might submit proposals.

The forum was attended by faculty members and invited members of the Student Union, including Union President Andy Hogan '11, Vice President Amanda Hecker '10 and the two student members of the JBS overview committee, Sofya Bronshvayg '11 and Danielle Wolfson '11.

Hogan said that at the meeting, "We spoke about students' needs in the JBS process. . Those were student life concerns as well as definitely encouraging the faculty to follow through with the proposals because the JBS is a good solution for overcrowding." Hogan said that he does not expect there to be any more programs for summer 2010 because the deadline for proposals has already passed.

"I think [the forum] was instructive; I think people got a chance to see what [the proposed JBS programs] might look like. . I've heard some ideas around the table that I had not heard before, . and it was very exciting to hear that," said Goldin.