EVANSTON, Ill. – The Fiedler Hillel Center at Northwestern University has recently been awarded top honors as an international leader for Jewish education and for exemplary leadership in its executive director, Adam Simon.

Hillel received a highly prestigious Covenant Foundation Grant, awarded annually to the most innovative, influential and groundbreaking educational initiatives in the Jewish world.

Hillel received a three-year, $150,000 grant to fund a strategic planning process and provide resources to develop digital, online tools for Jewish engagement.

"Hillel makes extraordinary efforts to bring Jewish life to students, wherever they are," Simon said. "Students' primary means of engaging the world today is online, and this grant will enable us to develop the capacity to continue to bring Jewish life into the spaces in which they are most comfortable and frequent most often."

In addition to the grant, Northwestern's Hillel program gained recognition for Simon through Hillel's international headquarters. Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life honored Simon with the Richard M. Joel Exemplar Award at its Professional Staff Conference held in Washington, D.C.

Named for past Hillel president Richard M. Joel (1989-2003), the Exemplar Awards are given to those Hillel professionals who exhibit superb leadership skills in the field. Nominated by their colleagues, Exemplar winners demonstrate proven success in their work to advance Hillel's mission -- enriching the lives of Jewish undergraduate and graduate students so that they may enrich the lives of others.

For more information about Hillel, contact Cydney Topaz at hillel@northwestern.edu or (847) 491-5717.