Situated in a great world Jewish city, the UCLA Center for Jewish Studies endeavors to grasp the Jewish experience in its broadest contours - indeed, as a great world civilization that has endured for millennia and interacted with other great world cultures. The Center sponsors nearly seventy courses a year in Jewish studies at UCLA, as well as some 50 lectures, symposia, and conferences on far-reaching topics in the field of Jewish studies (all of which are free and open to the general public). Our mandate is to serve the UCLA community and the broader public, exposing both to the riches of a great world culture, as well as to the values of diversity and tolerance that accompany its study.
In 1994 Provost Brian Copenhaver of the UCLA College of Letters and Science established the Center for Jewish Studies in the Humanities Division, under the administration and support of Dean Pauline Yu. Through the leadership of its founding director, Professor Arnold J. Band and its two subsequent Directors, David N. Myers and Kenneth Reinhard, the Center has defined an ambitious agenda geared to three core constituencies: faculty members at UCLA and other local universities conducting research in Jewish Studies, UCLA undergraduate and graduate students, and the broader Los Angeles community. The Center has developed into an exceptionally productive scholarly resource, annually organizing as many as fifty lectures, seminars, and conferences on diverse topics. With an impressive roster of faculty, a steady stream of distinguished visitors, and a world famous library collection, the Center has become a crossroads of research and education in Jewish Studies for Southern California.
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