With the 2025 spring semester nearly over, we are delighted to highlight the talented and dedicated community members who help shape AJRCA.
Today we are thrilled to spotlight former Dean of Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts at Loyola Marymount University, and this year’s AJRCA Visionary Award recipient, Dr. Robbin Crabtree.
On the surface one might question the decision of AJRCA to honor Dr. Robbin Crabtree, former Dean of Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts at Loyola Marymount University, at its 2025 Covenant of Friendship Soiree. LMU is a Jesuit led Catholic University, and AJRCA is a seminary training Jewish professional leaders. What is the connection?
Dr. Crabtree’s background and values make the decision to honor her clear to all who know her. Robbin D. Crabtree is a successful administrator, accomplished researcher, and award-winning teacher with proven effectiveness in higher education leadership. She is a collaborative yet decisive leader who piloted organizational growth, innovation, and change with strong communication, problem-solving, and consensus-building skills throughout her entire career.
These skills made her the ideal person to partner with Marlene Canter, Chair of the AJRCA Board, to bring AJRCA onto the LMU campus and inaugurate an ever-expanding collaboration between the two institutions. As a Jewish woman in a Jesuit institution for higher education, Dr. Crabtree deeply understands the concepts of spiritual care, social justice, and open dialogue among all people. These values are a part of her DNA, and have inspired her collaboration with AJRCA. As Dr. Crabtree said, “Bringing a Jewish institution onto a Catholic campus for collaboration is an idea for its time.”
Dr. Crabtree is indeed the right person at the right time.
Finding the room for AJRCA on LMU’s more than 140 acre campus proved to be a challenge of space, but not of spirit. With some creativity and will, two of Robbin’s brilliant qualities, AJRCA moved onto the third floor of LMU’s University Hall in Fall of 2021. She then supported a committed project to form an enduring partnership. With the inaugural Festival of Friendship in Fall of 2023, Robbin was a champion for the collaboration between LMU and AJRCA faculty and administrative leadership to create a day-long celebration of music, art, and common purpose. With over 300 participants, the festival was groundbreaking and confirmed that the partnership between our two institutions will endure. Today, AJRCA and LMU continue to create certificate programs, offer courses in Hebrew language for the students of LMU, and provide ways to share faculty for courses in Jewish and Theological Studies.
Please join us on May 18th, 2025 to celebrate Robbin and Rabbi Laura Owens at our soiree “A Covenant of Friendship.” To purchase tickets and make a tribute please visit, A Covenant of Friendship – AJRCA today!