$1m Fund-raising Effort Launched for Program in Judaic Studies

A major fundraising effort has been launched to provide financial support for a new comprehensive cooperative program in Judaic Studies at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Plans for the program were announced in a statement issued jointly by Duke president Terry Sanford and UNC-CH chancellor N. Ferebee Taylor. According to the announcement, development of the program will be financed by an endowment fund being established through the efforts of Mr. and Mrs. E.J. Evans of Durham who have committed themselves to raising initially $500,000 through alumni of the two universities and other sources in North Carolina and elsewhere in the Southeast.

It is hoped, the statement continued, that the fund eventually will reach at least $1 million. The fund will be administered by Duke. “Efforts are already underway to build this fund, and the two institutions have created a Joint Planning Council for the Program in Judaic Studies to guide the development of the cooperative enterprise,” the Sanford-Taylor announcement said. The program, the university chiefs said, is designed to afford students and faculty at the two institutions and residents of the area “significant opportunities for study, research and participation in cultural activities.” Income from the fund initially will support the development of a broader and more comprehensive academic program in Judaic studies at the two universities.

The statement said it is contemplated that the program will conduct such activities as: bringing in distinguished Judaic scholars as visiting lecturers; sponsoring and conducting a small conference or colloquium involving both scholars invited from outside the two universities and qualified resident scholars to present papers for critical evaluation and publication; and enriching the library resources at the universities, especially the holdings of research materials on Judaic studies as a means to stimulate significant research.

PROFESSORSHIP WILL BE ESTABLISHED

The program also contemplates bringing in visiting professors, perhaps including distinguished scholars from Israel, to spend a semester or a full academic year offering classes on both campuses and participating in the work of the Judaic Studies Program; developing cooperative exchange programs with one or more universities in Israel involving faculty members, graduate and undergraduate students; sponsoring and conducting special summer- or semester- abroad programs built around participation in an archaeological dig in the Holy Land and an intensive learning experience in the language, history and culture of the country; and sponsoring a “modest program” of publishing scholarly monographs in Judaic Studies.

The statement said that when the fund reaches an appropriate level, a named professorship in Judaic Studies will be established within Duke’s religion department. The chair will be filled by “an outstanding and respected Judaic scholar” who will work closely with other faculty members at both universities in teaching, research and planning activities of the cooperative program. “Income from the fund may be used to help support strengthening of the faculty at the University of North Carolina as well,” the statement added. In addition, Duke intends to create a Center for Judaic Studies within its religion department as the organizational unit through which to carry out its part of the cooperative program.