UCSB gets $1 million endowment for Jewish Studies chair

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

The number of endowed professorships at UC Santa Barbara increased to 68 yesterday, when the school announced it had received a $1 million gift that will establish an endowed chair in Jewish Studies.
The gift was given by Marsha and Jay Glazer and will also be used to fund the Marsha and Jay Glazer Jewish Studies Program Endowment.


“We are immensely grateful to Marsha and Jay Glazer for their generous and visionary gifts to our Jewish Studies Program,” said UCAB Chancellor Henry T. Yang. “The Glazer endowments will elevate the level of research and teaching in Jewish Studies and our world-renowned Department of Religious Studies, as well as across our campus where interdisciplinary collaboration is the hallmark.”
David Marshall, dean of humanities and fine arts at UCSB, said the gift will allow for the hiring of a senior professor in the area of Jewish Studies and will also ensure that ongoing support for faculty, students and research in that area is available.
A statement released by the school says a minor at UCSB was established in 1995, which is part of the Department of Religious Studies. It includes 25 faculty members who teach a variety of subjects that include among others, German Judaism, American Jewish novelists, the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Western and Eastern European countries, Jews in Israel and in the Diaspora.
Marshall noted that the endowment will not create a new department, but increases the resources distributed to the satellite programs that teach Jewish Studies curriculum.
“This inspiring gift from [the Glazers] will help us launch a new Jewish Studies Initiative, designed to build on our strengths in this important, interdisciplinary area of study and extend our teaching and scholarship,” Marshall said.
It isn’t the first time the Glazers have given to UCSB.
In 2005, Marsha Glazer loaned 24 rarely seen pieces of artwork by Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, David Hockney, Jackson Pollock and Wayne Thiebaud to the University Art Museum for an exhibition titled “Out of Site: Selections from the Marsha S. Glazer Collection.”
“Marsha and I are thrilled to make the initial gift to Jewish Studies at UC Santa Barbara that provides seed money for what we hope will be a long and storied program that is stimulating for undergraduate and graduate students and will help to build better understanding in the world,” said Jay Glazer.