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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State University art professor Shelley Jordon will join notable Americans including Jonathan Safran Foer and Joshua Sirefman as fellows at the pilot program for the American Academy in Jerusalem this summer.

Mishkenot Sha'ananim, a cultural center, and the Foundation for Jewish Culture have collaborated on the creation of an institute at Mishkenot, modeled after the successful American Academies in Rome and Berlin. Groups of distinguished artists and scholars will be in residence at Mishkenot during June for this pilot program.

Jordon, a professor in the Department of Art at OSU, is one of only five artists and scholars nationally selected for this program by the Foundation for Jewish Culture. She will be in Jerusalem June 11 through July 11.

A native of Brooklyn and resident of Portland, Jordon has been teaching at OSU since 1986. Her work has received much acclaim over the decades, including a 2010 Oregon Arts Commission Individual Fellowship Award and a Fulbright-Hayes Group travel research grant to Yemen and Tunisia. While she originally was known for her still life paintings, in recent years Jordon has turned to animated paintings and animated installation work.

Jordon had already received an OSU Library Research Award and an Oregon Arts Commission Individual Fellowship Award to travel to Berlin at the beginning of June to begin research for a new project tentatively called "Anita's Journey." The hand-painted animation will explore the experiences of her mother-in-law, Anita Greenstein, in hiding from the Nazis in Berlin during World War II.

The pilot residency in Jerusalem will give Jordon the opportunity to continue her research for "Anita's Journey," as well as other art projects.

"This is an amazing opportunity as an artist and an American to experience first-hand the rich history and culture of Jerusalem," Jordon said.

Jordon was nominated for the pilot residency program by the Oregon Jewish Museum, where her first acclaimed animation painting, "Family History," was shown. "Family History" won the Judge's Award at the 36th annual Northwest Film Festival from Los Angeles Times film critic Ken Turan and has been screened at film festivals around the world.

Other artists and scholars in residence will include Foer, author of "Everything is Illuminated," which was declared a "work of genius" by the New York Times; author Nicole Krauss, known for "The History of Love"; choreographer Reggie Wilson; and New York urban planner Sirefman, known for his work on revitalization plans for downtown Brooklyn, lower Manhattan and Coney Island.