Establishment of the Institute for Israel; Palestine and the Middle East as a new division of Dropsie College was announced here today by Dr. Abraham A. Neuman, president of the College, at the institution’s fortieth annual Founder’s Day observance.
Designed to “prepare scholars and historians in Middle East studies with emphasis on the contemporary scene, the Institute will also train personnel for consular, administration or other government or commercial service in the countries of the Middle East,” Dr, Neuman said. He announced that the faculty will be augmented by specialists in Middle last affaire, among them Edwin Samuel, the principal and founder of the Middle East College of Public Administration in Jerusalem.
“It is our hope,” continued Dr. Neuman, “that the new Institute for Israel, Palestine and the Middle East will make a valuable contribution to the cultural, economic and administrative development of the entire Middle East, as well as the new state of Israel, and that it will be a force for the creation of better understanding and greater cooperation among Christians, Arabs and Jews who make their homes in the Holy Land and the surrounding countries.”
Samuel will arrive in the United States in the fell of 1948, and classes at the new Institute will be inaugurated in October. The Institute will offer the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Middle East Studies and will specialize in such courses as the political, social and economic aspects of contemporary life in the Middle East countries. Courses will also be given in Hebrew and Arabic, both ancient and modem, the anthropology, ethnology, geography and history of the Middle East countries and the problems of civil and political administration.
The only college in the U.S. offering graduate courses leading only to the degree of Sector of Philosophy, Dropsie College today conferred four degrees in course and two degrees honoris causa. The honorary degrees were conferred upon Justice Horace Stern of Philadelphia, and Prof. Alexander Marx of Sew York, professor of history and librarian at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
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