Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies Reception

February 22, 2006

President Lee C. Bollinger hosted a reception to celebrate the creation of the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies as well as the establishment of the Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi Chair in Israel and Jewish Studies and the Krueger Family Visiting Professorships.

"The Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies will carry forward Columbia University's long tradition of excellence in the study and teaching of Jewish civilization and society," said President Bollinger. "As a major research institution, Columbia must enhance its offerings in contemporary studies given the critical importance of twenty-first-century Israel and Jewish thought in the world today. The institute will strengthen Columbia's capacity to foster scholarship at the highest level, while providing a forum for intellectual exchange on important global issues."

"The new Institute reflects the vitality of Israel and Jewish studies at Columbia," said Michael F. Stanislawksi, the institute's associate director and the Nathan J. Miller Professor of Jewish History, Literature and Institutions. "It will continue to advance scholarship and enliven and enrich discourse not only on Columbia's campus, but in the City of New York and globally."

Columbia Trustees Mark Kingdon ('71CC), Philip Milstein ('71CC), Richard Witten ('75CC), and Chair Emeritus David Stern ('66LAW) pledged more than 3 million dollars to the 5-million-dollar endowment of the Yerushalmi chair. "I am profoundly honored to have the professorship in my name and thank the Trustees for their great gift and foresight," said Yerushalmi. "I am convinced that the new position will enrich Middle Eastern studies at the University and other fields as well."

The Krueger Family Visiting Professorship will support visiting professors from Israel. The visiting professor will be housed in the institute and teach in an area of her or his specialty not currently covered by Columbia's faculty. The professorship reflects the generous support of Columbia College and Columbia Law School alumnus Harvey Krueger, Vice-Chairman of Lehman Brothers, and his wife, Constance Alexander Krueger, a Barnard College Trustee and alumna.