Israel Scholar Development Fund News

Fall 2004

AICE To Fund Israel Scholars

The nonprofit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) has created the Israel Scholar Development Fund (ISDF) to address the serious shortage of faculty teaching courses related to Israel at American universities.

We believe that Israel has a pool of talent that could benefit American students. In addition to scholars in universities, many Israelis have long, distinguished careers in public service who would make terrific teachers for short-term assignments. Some U.S. scholars may also be willing and able to spend stints as visitors.

The ideal candidates from our perspective will have impeccable scholarly credentials. They should be excellent classroom teachers who are fluent in English. They should also be willing to be active on the campus and the community. We would like to see scholars who will, for instance, give public lectures and engage in policy debates in the media. Faculty will be expected to teach two courses per semester, one of which should be related to modern Israel.

The Fund will support visiting scholars at universities where we believe they can have the most impact. Preference will be given to institutions that are prepared to contribute matching funds. The ideal situation will be one in which AICE contributes one-third, the university contributes one-third, and the last third is a demonstration of community support for the project and the university through a local donor or institution. AICE will also assist in securing local support.

By helping universities establish a visiting Israel scholar program, we hope to generate momentum for the creation of Israel studies centers and the endowment of visiting and permanent Israel scholar positions. AICE also expects these professors to train graduate students so a cadre of new Israel scholars will begin to populate universities.

In addition, the ISDF will be offering awards to encourage students to pursue academic careers in fields related to the study of Israel. Awards will be available to undergraduates who have already been accepted to a graduate program, graduate students who have received master’s degrees in Middle East related fields who wish to pursue a doctorate, and doctoral students who are writing dissertations related to Israel.

AICE is seeking funding to allow the ISDF to offer more awards for graduate students and to establish additional visiting scholar positions at major universities.

Grants Awarded to UCLA, AU

On November 10, 2004, AICE's board announced that it would offer the first ISDF grants to American University in Washington, D.C., and the University of California at Los Angeles to hire visiting Israel scholars for the 2005-2006 academic year.

AICE chose AU and UCLA as the first recipients of ISDF grants because students at both campuses are likely to become decision makers in the future. In addition, both campuses have significant Jewish student populations. AU has a Center for Israel Studies, but has been better known for anti-Israel sentiment among faculty. UCLA has fewer problems from anti-Israel faculty, but there is a tremendous unmet demand for courses related to Israel, and each course has an exponential impact.

We believe the ISDF grants will also help AU and UCLA in their efforts to build their programs. AU is raising money for an endowment and hopes to establish a permanent chair. UCLA is working on the creation of an Israel Studies Center and a permanent endowed chair.

Both campuses will still need to raise matching funds, so we hope you will consider donating either directly to the colleges or to AICE for the ISDF.

 

Other Opportunities to Fund Israel Scholars

  • Columbia University is seeking $2-$4 million for an endowed chair of Israel studies.

  • UCLA wishes to establish an Israel studies program. The overall project budget is $5 million, but donors may also fund individual elements of the project — an endowed permanent chair, a visiting scholars program, campus and community education, policy forums and conferences, a curriculum on Israel for school teachers, and a joint video-conference course between UCLA and Tel Aviv University.

  • American University's Center for Israeli Studies has established the Seymour and Lillian Abensohn Endowment that was started with an initial donation by the Abensohns upon the death of Seymour Abensohn. It seeks donations to the Center for Israel Studies to endow a visiting Israel scholar program, to establish a distinguished professorship in Israel studies, and for an endowed chair in Israel studies.

  • Michigan State University's Jewish Studies program has received a pledge commitment to endow a chair in Israel studies; however, the full funding will not be available until 2008-09. If the university can raise approximately $100,000, it will be able to accelerate the establishment of and recruitment for the chair.

  • The University of Maryland's Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Center for Jewish Studies is interested in bringing a visiting Israel scholar to campus for one to two years and is willing to enter into a cost-sharing arrangement.

  • The University of Miami is interested in a Senior Visiting Scholar at the Sue and Leonard Miller Center for Contemporary Judaic Studies/Middle East Studies Institute with a specialty in Israel's national security issues (including Israel's foreign policy, Israeli-Arab relations, Israeli-American relations, etc.). The cost is $30,000-$40,000 and the Center has some matching funds.

Please forward this newsletter to other funders interested in education and Israel. AICE can also help you work with the universities to insure that any donations are used for the purpose intended. For further information, please contact Dr. Mitchell Bard.

AICE
2810 Blaine Drive
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
Tel. 301-565-3918
Fax. 301-587-9056
email. mgbard@aol.com
Web: Jewish Virtual Library