Judaic Studies program given $1.5 million

A recent $1.5 million donation to Portland State’s Judaic Studies program could enable the program to increase tenure-track faculty and offer a major by 2010, according to program director Michael Weingrad.

The donation, made as an endowment by philanthropist and Portland native Lorry Lokey, was presented to PSU’s Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies in late August.

The program should be equipped to offer a major to Portland State students by 2010, after money from the donation has been used to hire additional faculty, Weingrad said.

The Judaic Studies program is currently offered as a minor consisting of eight to 12 courses per year. Weingrad is the only full-time professor in the program.

Interest earned off of the endowment will be used to establish another faculty position in the program. Becky Hein, chief financial officer of the Portland State Foundation, where all donations to PSU are routed, said the endowment will earn approximately $60,000 in interest annually and will allow an additional full-time professor to be hired onto the program.

“This is a huge step forward much more quickly than anticipated,” Weingrad said. “One of the exciting things is the pace of growth that this allows. I was already confident that 10 years out we would have a formidable Judaic Studies program, but this cuts years off.”

Weingrad is now working with the American Jewish Studies Association to find a full-time professor of European Jewish history, he said.

The department will also be able to hire a third full-time professor to teach premodern Judaism in 2010 with money generated by the endowment, Weingrad said. The search for a full-time professor to offer Israeli Studies courses will begin in 2011, he said.

Aaron Pearlman, the Judaic Studies community outreach coordinator, said the endowment is a maturing step for Portland State.

“This is an important step forward for the university as a whole to receive a gift like this because that indicates to other donors that PSU and our students are worthwhile of these kinds of investments,” Pearlman said.

Pearlman said he believes programs such as Judaic Studies will bring more students to Portland State. He said diverse programs are what help make the university top notch.

“As the student body grows and changes we need to provide diversity in programs that other top notch universities are providing,” Pearlman said.

Pearlman said Portland has grown from being the only metropolitan area on the West Coast without a Judaic Studies program at a university, to offering one of the region’s most prominent programs.

Rebekah Chitsaz, coordinator of the Jewish Student Union, said she recently decided to enroll in the minor program because the courses are useful in light of world events and are informative to students.

“This donation will draw more attention to Judaic Studies and will draw students’ interest,” Chitsaz said.

The Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies was founded in 2002, when Schnitzer donated $1 million to the program.

Lokey is the founder of Business Wire, a San Francisco-based public relations company. He is also the largest academic donor to the University of Oregon, having donated $59 million to the school. This year, Lokey received the University of Oregon Pioneer Award for his generosity.