NEWS

UNC-Chapel Hill launches Carolina Center for Jewish Studies

By DEE REID
College of Arts and Sciences

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has established a new interdisciplinary research and teaching center to explore Jewish history, culture and religion in the United States and abroad.

"The Carolina Center for Jewish Studies will provide a scholarly understanding of Judaism and the historic Jewish experience," said Chancellor James Moeser. "We are excited about this interdisciplinary opportunity to build on the strengths of faculty members in many departments."

Judaism and Judaica have been studied at Carolina since 1947, when the department of religious studies was established. Until recently, most courses focused on the study of biblical sources and Hebrew languages. The new center brings together scholars from a range of academic departments including English, Germanic languages, history, political science, religious studies, and Slavic languages and literatures.

"Carolina was one of the first major public universities to offer courses in Judaism more than 50 years ago," said Dr. Risa Palm, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, where the new center is based. "It’s appropriate that we build on that leadership now by drawing on our faculty expertise in key areas concerning the Jewish experience throughout history."

The center has a three-fold mission: to teach undergraduate and graduate courses, create and disseminate new research, and convene public conferences and lectures featuring leading scholars of the Jewish experience in the United States, Europe, Israel and beyond. An important first step occurred in late March, when university officials approved a new undergraduate minor in Jewish studies to begin this fall.

Plans call for an undergraduate major program in the near future.

The center will provide for the study of the culture, history and religion of the Jewish peoples in interaction with the wider community in which they live, said Dr. Jonathan Hartlyn, center director and professor and chair of the department of political science. "Our program will provide rich knowledge of the Jewish experience reaching back to early Judaism. There will be attention to the modern Jewish experience in Europe and the United States, including the American South, as well as in other world regions."

Hartlyn also said that attention would be paid to a comparative analysis of Jewish political and economic life, educational and cultural expression and demographic trends, to the Zionist movement, and to the history of modern Israel in its regional context.

The center will include the following Carolina faculty:

• Dr. Yaakov Ariel (religious studies): A major scholar of modern Judaism and relations between Judaism and American fundamentalism, he is the author of "Evangelizing the Chosen People: Missions to the Jews in America, 1880-2000," which received a national award for the best book in ecumenical church history.
  
  
• Dr. Christopher Browning (history): A leading expert on the history of the Holocaust, he is the author of "Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution," which won a National Jewish Book Award.
  
  
• Dr. Erin G. Carlston (English): The author of "Thinking Fascism," her research focuses on modern thought and literature and the role of Jews in modernity. She will teach classes in American Jewish literature.
  
  
• Dr. Bart Ehrman (religious studies): An eminent scholar of early Judaism and Jewish-Christian relations, he is the author of "The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings."
  
  
• Dr. William Ferris (history): A widely recognized leader in Southern studies, music and folklore, and the former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, he is the senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South.
  
  
• Dr. Jonathan Hess (German language): His research and teaching focus on Jews and German culture, the legacy of the Enlightenment and the history of anti-Semitism. He is the author of "Germans, Jews and the Claims of Modernity."
  
  
• Dr. Beth Holmgren, (Slavic languages and literature): Her research interests include modern Russian and Polish literature and she teaches a class about the experience of Slavic immigrants in America. She is the author of "Rewriting Capitalism: Literature and the Market in Late Tsarist Russia and the Kingdom of Poland."
  
  
• Dr. Armin Lange (religious studies): Considered one of the leading experts in the world on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Hebrew Bible, he is the author of "Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 18" and at least four major monographs, including "Wisdom and Predestination in the Dead Sea Scrolls."
  
  
• Dr. Madeline Levine (Slavic languages and literature): Her research and teaching focus on Russian and Polish literature, including the literature of the Holocaust. She is the prose translator for the acclaimed writer Czeslaw Milosz and has translated three of his works so far.
  
  
• Dr. Jodi Magness (religious studies): A scholar of early Jewish history, religion, culture and archaeology, she is considered a leading expert on the archaeology of ancient Palestine, including the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. She is the author of "The Archaeology of Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls."
  

The curriculum for the new undergraduate minor consists of five courses -- including at least one at the advanced level)-- that must be taken in at least two different departments. Students in the minor will be required to take two core courses, which provide a comprehensive introduction to early Judaism and modern Judaism. They will fulfill their other requirements by selecting from a wide range of courses offered in varied academic departments in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

As part of the university’s Carolina First campaign, the center is seeking funds to support additional faculty, research, course offerings, fellowships and public programs.

The center held its first advisory board meeting in February. Members of the board include alumni, attorneys, business executives and Jewish community leaders.

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Following is a list of advisory board members and local angles:

• Harvey Colchamiro, a 1951 UNC graduate and retired business executive and former president of the Greensboro Jewish Federation. 
  
  
• Stuart E. Eizenstat, a 1964 UNC alumnus and the former deputy U.S. Treasury secretary, ambassador to the European Union and undersecretary of state. He is the author of "Imperfect Justice" about the struggles of Holocaust survivors to reclaim assets. He also is a partner in the law firm of Covington and Burling in Washington, D.C. 
  
  
• Eli N. Evans, a 1958 UNC alumnus and president of the Charles H. Revson Foundation in New York. He is the author of "The Provincials: A Personal History of Jews in the South." 
  
  
• Marcie Ferris of Chapel Hill, N.C., a doctoral candidate (May 2003) at George Washington University, researching Jewish history and culture in the South.
  
  
• Alan S. Fields, a 1960 UNC alumnus and managing director and chairman of the investment banking firm of Harbor Capital Management in Boston.
  
  
• Gary Kaminsky, a 1982 UNC alumnus and managing partner of Rock Hill Partners, LLC, in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., near Philadelphia.
  
  
• Stephen W. Nislick, a 1966 UNC alumnus and chief executive officer of Edison Properties, LLC, a real estate management and development company in Newark, N.J. K. 
  
  
• Barry Schochet, a 1969 UNC alumnus and an attorney in international business affairs and managing member of the HMS Group in Washington, D.C.
  
  
• A. Jay Schwartz, a 1969 UNC alumnus and a partner in the law firm of Smith Gambrell & Russell in Atlanta.
  
  
• Sara Crown Star, a 1982 UNC alumna of Chicago, who is an active member of the Women’s Committee for the university’s Carolina First fund-raising campaign.
  
  
• Debra Fox Tenenbaum, a 1974 Carolina alumna from Oxford, N.C. now living in Atlanta.

Ex-Officio:

• Dr. Darryl J. Gless, senior associate dean for the fine arts and humanities; professor of English, UNC-Chapel Hill.
• Dr. Jonathan Hartlyn, director of the Center for Jewish Studies; professor and chair of the political science department, UNC-Chapel Hill.
• Or Mars, executive director, North Carolina Hillel Foundation, Chapel Hill, N.C.

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College of Arts and Sciences Contact: Dee Reid (919) 843-6339, dee_reid@unc.edu