Venue and Housing

Program Venue and Size:

Twenty-five college and university faculty members will be selected to participate in the program. Each participant will receive a $3600 stipend to help defray expenses. The program will be conducted at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies (OCHJS). Located on its own campus in Yarnton, four miles from the center of Oxford, OCHJS is a recognized independent post-graduate center of the University of Oxford. (For OCHJS web site, see http://ochjs.ac.uk) Its campus offers a modern library with more than 100,000 volumes, common rooms, and housing. Since the academic year at OCHJS will already have ended, institute participants will share the OCHJS campus only with its permanent and visiting fellows.

Housing:

Ricardo House, the graduate student residence at OCHJS, has been reserved for participants. It contains sixteen private rooms arranged in four suites. Each suite consists of four comfortable private bedrooms around a shared kitchen and bath. These rooms are fairly large (about 15’X20’), fully furnished with bed, wardrobe, chest of drawers, desk and desk chair, an easy chair, and bathroom sink. For photos of Ricardo House rooms, click here. The rooms also have a telephone. Internal calls are free; local calls outside OCHJS cost 6 pence/minute (this is standard; even private homes pay a per minute telephone charge).

Each cluster of 4 bedrooms in Ricardo House shares a kitchen equipped with a microwave, full-sized electric range with oven, and a refrigerator with freezer. They also share a bath, equipped with toilet, tub and hand-held shower.
On each floor there is a large common room with a dining table and chairs, easy chairs, and a television with DVD player (although cable TV is not available in Yarnton). Sheets and towels will be exchanged weekly, and maid service will be provided each week All pots, pans, utensils, plates, etc. are provided for cooking. Rooms will be made available to participants at a reduced rate of £1100 for the entire five-week period.  This includes some provision for transportation to and from Oxford, either on the Centre's shuttle bus or using public transportation. For the dollar conversion, you may consult http://www.xe.com/ucc. Laundry facilities are available on site.

In addition to Ricardo House, OCHJS has available two or three-bedroom historic cottages with private bedrooms that participants may share. There may also be a small number of furnished flats available for couples or small families. In sum, we should be able to accommodate all institute participants on site. We strongly encourage all participants to reside at OCHJS in order to create an intellectual community. We have made arrangements to pay for housing at OCHJS simply by deducting the cost from your stipend. This will save individual participants both the bother and the considerable expense of purchasing a money order in pounds (£).

Successful applicants must notify Irven M. Resnick no later than 1 May, 2008 that they would like to reside at OCHJS (which we strongly recommend). This gives you approximately one month to explore other options, should you choose to do so.

Check-in will be on 8 July between 9:00 A.M and 12:30 P.M. and 2:00 and 5:00 P.M. at the OCHJS reception office in the manor house. If you would like to arrive in Oxford or Yarnton before 8 July, please contact the institute directors. If you would like to spend a night (or more) in London before or after our program, you may inquire about housing for academics at Goodenough Club (at the London Goodenough Trust). Consult the trust’s web site at http://www.lgt.org.uk, or write the club directly at [email protected].

Participants, whenever possible, are strongly encouraged to remain on the OCHJS campus. Although the program directors can offer some assistance in locating off-campus housing, participants who plan to bring family members may wish to make their own arrangements. Please consult the classified ads in the university’s Oxford Gazette athttp://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette (Click on “Weekly Issues,” select a week, and then click on “Advertisements: Houses—or flats—to Let”). You’ll also find some links for short term rentals at http://www.oxfordcity.co.uk/oxford/home_accommodation_apartments_self_catering.html. Please be advised, however, that summer rentals in Oxford can be very expensive. If you require family housing, or would prefer to live away from the OCHJS campus, you may also wish to consult one of the many rental agents in the Oxford area. For a list with web site addresses, click here. You may also want to check classified ads in Oxford newspapers; you can access property listings and obtain other information by exploringhttp://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk. Finally, you will find a number of listings of flats or houses to rent at http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk.

Just as housing in Oxford can be very expensive so too restaurants will be more expensive than in the U.S. Grocery items, however, are more attractively priced. A typical weekly grocery bill should be about what you would pay in the US. Cooking your meals in your OCHJS kitchen will be your most affordable option.

Libraries:

Institute participants will have the status of visiting faculty members, enabling them to obtain privileges at Oxford's Bodleian library and related university libraries. Library hours during the summer months, when the university is not in session, are generally shortened. The Leopold Muller Memorial Library  at OCHJS is open Monday-Friday from 10:00 A.M. until 5:00 P.M., although institute participants will be able to check out books to their rooms to assist their research. During the summer months, the university Bodleian library is open Monday-Friday from 9:00 A.M. until 7:00 P.M., and from 9:00 A.M. until 1:00 P.M. on Saturdays, with the exception of the August Bank Holiday Weekend. Individual college libraries are closed or maintain irregular hours outside the academic term. Participants who wish to examine materials in college libraries are advised to make an appointment with the college librarian. Successful candidates who wish access to Oxford University libraries should complete the application at http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/2066/admissions_form.pdf and return this application form to co-director Irven M. Resnick by 1 June 2008. Include two passport sized photos with the application. The application fee will be paid by the program. As a group, we'll visit Bodleian offices to obtain readers' cards on 9 July 2008.

 

Computer Facilities:

It is recommended that institute participants bring laptop computers. Individual rooms do not have ethernet wall jacks, but OCHJS provides a wireless network with internet access. Participants should be able to access the internet or web-based e-mail from anywhere on campus, apart from weather related disruptions. Participants without a laptop will have access to computers in the library at OCHJS.  However, participants should understand that computer facilities on-site likely do not equal those at their home institutions.

Most US laptops (except the most ancient!) can be plugged in at a wall outlet in the UK, requiring only a 3 prong plug adaptor that can be purchased in the US at most office supply stores, or in the UK at most book stores and other outlets (cost in the UK: about £3-4). To be sure that you can plug in your laptop without a voltage converter, look on the back of the power supply/AC adapter. If it indicates that the laptop will operate on voltage ranging from 110-240v—voltage in the UK is 230v—you’ll be fine. Similarly, many of our personal appliances, e.g. hairdryers and CD players, are dual voltage appliances. Check the voltage requirements to be sure that you can plug in with just a plug adapter. See below for an illustration of the UK 3 prong plug (and adapter, on the right).