Stacy Lubov has returned to her roots.

Once an active member in her hometown synagogue only a mile away from Northwestern’s Evanston Campus, she is now the new assistant director of the Fiedler Hillel Center at NU.

“I always hoped to work for Hillel because Hillel is one of a few places where Jews of all different backgrounds, religious observances, viewpoints, political spectrums and cultural spectrums come together as one community,” Lubov said. “There are very few places in the Jewish community where that can happen.”

David Newman, Hillel’s assistant director for two years, was on the committee to choose his replacement. He left NU this summer to join his wife, who is attending graduate school at New York University.

There were several candidates for the position, but Lubov was “ahead of the pack” in terms of experience, Newman said.

“She was our first choice, so we were very happy when she accepted,” Newman said.

Lubov studied Middle Eastern and Judaic studies at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. She recently received her master’s degree in social service administration at the University of Chicago. She was an active student in both schools’ Hillel centers. As a graduate student, she interned at the Hillel at University of Illinois at Chicago.

She also attended two years of rabbinical school at Hebrew Union College.

Lubov will be in charge of programming for Hillel, supervising staff and working closely with student groups such as Jewish Theater Ensemble and Students for Israel.

Lubov said one of her biggest goals is to unify Jewish life on campus. She hopes to bring groups and student leaders together and work around a central calendar.

“We want to bring Judaism into campus so that it’s not just located at the Hillel center, but physically out in residential halls,” Lubov said. “We want to meet students in their context.”

She said she also wants to build on interfaith and multicultural programming as well as put more resources into community service activities.

Rabbi Michael Mishkin, director of Hillel, said the newest member of his team will hit the ground running.

“Stacy is going to play an important role in helping Hillel to continue to grow, and a central role in ensuring that the Jewish community at Northwestern remains a vibrant community,” Mishkin said.

Lubov said she loves being at NU and is grateful for the abundance of resources.

“All the resources make it possible to dream big and accommodate students and grow and build a program that is substantial and well integrated,” she said.

Students who have worked with Lubov described her as energetic, intelligent and creative.

“She’s very motivated, very organized and a person I can count on to always follow through,” said Weinberg junior Zach Galin, president of Hillel Cultural Life.

Mishkin said Lubov’s dedication made her the right person for the job.

“Stacy understands Hillel and she’s passionate about Hillel,” Mishkin said. “She wants to make sure we keep and maintain and fun and exciting Jewish community on campus.”

Reach Kendra Marr at [email protected].