Lokey gift expected to spur growth of PSU Judaic studies
By Amy Kaufman
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"An extraordinarily generous and transformative gift" of $1.5 million by Lorry I. Lokey, one of the nation's top ten philanthropists, will spur the growth of the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies at Portland State University, announced Academic Director Michael Weingrad at an annual review of the program's successes May 30 at PSU.
The gift will fund the Lorry I. Lokey Chair in Judaic Studies, said Aaron Pearlman, the program's community outreach director.
Lokey, the founder and chairman of Business Wire, a media relations company, grew up in Portland and received his journalism degree from Stanford University.
Quoted in a Stanford press release, he said, "I credit my elementary school, Alameda School in Portland, as the starting point for my success."
According to the Oregonian's April 29 story on the Bay Area philanthropist, Lokey has donated about $59 million to the University of Oregon since 2004.
Interviewed on June 8, Portland philanthropist Harold Schnitzer said of Lokey, "I'm happy he has chosen to make this grant, that a Portland boy from a Jewish family, even though he has made his fortune outside Oregon, has returned part of his wealth to our institutions of higher learning."
Lokey funded the Lokey International Academy of Jewish Studies at the Leo Baeck Education Center in Haifa. He donated $25 million to Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in 2006.
At the May 30 presentation, Weingrad credited Rabbi Alan Berg of San Francisco for his role in approaching Lokey.
"He has acted as a friend, bringing together a generous donor and a program he believes worthy of supporting," said Weingrad.
Berg, who was junior rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in the early 1980s and served as Havurah Shalom's first rabbi, will teach in the Harold Schnitzer Family Program this summer.
"Our strategic plan calls for the expansion of the core faculty to four professors of Judaic Studies," said Weingrad, who is professor of Hebrew and Jewish literature. The other subject areas will be "modern European history, including the Holocaust; Jewish history and culture in antiquity or the Middle Ages; and Israel Studies," he said, adding, "We also hope to obtain a permanent, tenure-track position in Hebrew language."
Pearlman said "a high percentage of non-Jews" enroll in the Judaic Studies program. Ayal Yariv, who teaches the program's intensive Hebrew course, said he has great respect for Muslim and Christian students who come to study Hebrew.
"We are fulfilling what Harold Schnitzer desired when he and Arlene and Jordan gave the initial gift," Pearlman said.
Acknowledging Pearlman's statement, Schnitzer said, "That was one of the reasons I established the program at the university. It was not to be exclusively for Jews; on the contrary, I wanted it open to the whole community. If we're going to get along, people have to have an opportunity to investigate and learn on what they consider honest terms through the intellectual approach. We encourage non-Jewish students to partake and learn a little bit more about Jewish history, Jewish philosophy and Jewish origins, as well as Jewish contributions to civilization."
Referring to PSU's recent creation of a minor in Judaic Studies, Schnitzer said eventually he would like to see non-Jewish students earn bachelor's and master's degrees in Judaic Studies through the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies at PSU, as they do in the program of the same name at UofO.
Weingrad announced that Rabbi Emanuel Rose, emeritus of Congregation Beth Israel, "has joined PSU's faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences and has a series of wonderful courses sharing his wisdom and experience with us."
Pearlman said, "We have plans to fund a professorship in Israel studies in honor of Rabbi Joshua Stampfer," emeritus of Congregation Neveh Shalom.
Pearlman also announced that the Sara Glasgow Cogan Scholarship, inaugurated in April, has been awarded to two students, who will serve internships with Jewish organizations. One will work at Cedar Sinai Park and the other at the Oregon Jewish Museum.
The program's summer 2007 courses include "Judaism in the Time of Jesus" with Steve Carver, "The Meaning of Zionism" with Zvi Raanan, "Writing the Holy Land" with Michael Weingrad, "Jews and American Music" with Rabbi Alan Berg, "Jewish Mysticism" with Rabbi Ariel Stone and "Intensive Modern Hebrew" with Ayal Yariv.
For details on summer courses, visit www.summer.pdx.edu or call 503-72LEARN. For a fall schedule, visit www.judaic.pdx.edu/courses/fall07.php.