FAIRFIELD, Conn. (May 24, 2006) – The Carl and Dorothy Bennett Center for Judaic Studies at Fairfield University, which offers popular courses, intriguing public lectures and a host of other activities for students and the greater community, has received a $50,000 grant from the Adolph and Ruth Schnurmacher Foundation to continue and expand its work.
“The Foundation has been a longtime supporter of the Bennett Center since its founding in 1997. Support from the foundation has been crucial in helping the Center grow to meet the needs of the University and the community,” said Ellen Umansky, Ph.D., the Carl and Dorothy Bennett Professor of Judaic Studies.
Judaic Studies had a banner year in 2005-06, celebrating many special accomplishments and new initiatives, including:
•A $100,000 endowment gift funding periodic courses and public lectures featuring Jewish art and artists.
•A new course, “Jewish Literature – From Tevye to Seinfeld: Laughter, Tears and Justice in 20th Century American Jewish Literature,” which offers students insight into the works of everyone from Allan Ginsburg, Saul Bellow and Philip Roth to Woody Allen, the Three Stooges and the Marx Brothers.
•A student being selected to go on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee trip to Israel during winter break.
•A grant from the University’s Humanities Institute of the College of Arts and Science, which funded public screenings of the award-winning documentary “Paper Clips,” and a lecture by the Tennessee middle school principal involved in this groundbreaking project at the annual Holocaust Remembrance Service at Fairfield University.
Continued support from the Schnurmacher Foundation will be used to expand the Center’s staff and support speakers’ fees and operating expenses. In addition to offering classes, the Center has welcomed the public to lectures by top scholars on topics as diverse as euthanasia, Leonard Bernstein’s legacy, bioethics, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the lives of rabbis’ wives in America. The Center also works with the Jewish undergraduate student group, KADIMA, to organize several campus events, including a Jewish New Year celebration, a Sukkot observance, a Passover Seder and the Holocaust Remembrance Service.
Fairfield University is a comprehensive Jesuit university that prepares undergraduate, graduate and continuing education students for leadership and service in a constantly changing world. In its 2006 editions, U.S. News and World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” ranks Fairfield fourth among universities with master’s programs in the North and The Princeton Review lists Fairfield among “The Best 361 Colleges.” Approximately 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students from 34 states, 45 countries, and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are enrolled in the University’s six schools. The University was founded in 1942 in the scenic shoreline community of Fairfield, Connecticut.
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