MEET OUR STAFF 2021-2022

Mrs. Chani Fogelman, Director

Karen Shalev

Karen Shalev is a senior at Worcester State University in the Honors program double-majoring in Visual and Performing Arts and Communication. Thanks to a new joint articulation program between WSU and Clark University, Karen also begins a Master’s of Science in Communication at Clark University this year. The granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and the daughter of Israelis, Karen co-founded the Chabad on Campus at Worcester State University, the school’s only Jewish organization, of which she currently serves as President. She is also the Student Government Association (SGA) President and a Presidential Student Ambassador. Upon graduating with her Master’s, Karen hopes to work as a public relations specialist for a nonprofit Jewish organization.

Maia Shalev

Maia Shalev recently earned her Master’s of Science in Biotechnology from Worcester State University. Her research investigated a potential chemotherapeutic drug. The granddaughter of Holocaust survivors and the daughter of Israelis, Maia co-founded and served as co-President of the Chabad on Campus at Worcester State University during her undergraduate career. As an undergrad, she served as a STEM PAL mentor for organic chemistry. During her graduate education, she worked as the graduate assistant for the Worcester State University Aisiku STEM Center, overseeing the next generation of STEM PAL mentors. Maia is currently studying for her MCAT’s in hopes of attending UMass Medical School to pursue gerontology.

Josh Grinberg

I grew up in Newton, MA and the Bay Area, CA and went to Jewish schools through high school. For college, I got a bachelors and masters degree in Computer Science with a focus in artificial intelligence at Stanford University. I loved getting involved with the Chabad on campus (Chillin 'n' Grillin each week was a highlight) and took the opportunity to learn in a yeshiva in Israel for a year in between my bachelors and masters. Now, I work for Google as a software engineer on Google Flights and Google Hotels. In my spare time, I made dvarly.com to help Jews find great dvar Torah ideas (bar mitzvah kids, might come in handy :). Also, I got to build the Chabad.org integration with "Hey Google" so that you can say things like, "Hey Google, ask Chabad when Shabbat starts in Worcester".

Chaim ( Joe) Shayani 

Chaim (Joe) Shayani is a fifth-year PhD student in Economics at MIT. In college at Stanford, Chaim enjoyed planning shabbat dinners for fellow students and attending classes at Chabad on Campus. Chaim grew up in the Chicago area and comes proudly from both a Sephardi and an Ashkenazi background: His father grew up in Iran and his mother in Baltimore. He and his wife Ariella (a psychiatry resident at UMass) moved to Worcester from Cambridge in Spring 2020. Chaim enjoys exploring questions about the Torah and spending time with his wife and their one-year-old, Yehuda.

Teachers Assitants