Jewish Studies at the Central European University III. [antikvár]

The Jewish Studies Project at CEU was launched in 1996 with the aim of revitalizing the study of Jewish history, culture and society in a region where these topics were long considered taboo. The idea for a Jewish Studies Program emerged primarily from two members of our Board of Trustees: Leon Botstein, President of Bard College, and Bronislaw Geremek, a distinguished medievalist, co-founder of the Solidarity movement in Poland and former Minister of Foreign Affairs. The guiding idea has been to create a center for teaching and research that would reflect the long and rich contribution of the Jews to the region served by the Central European University. The educational purpose of establishing the project has been to provide an opportunity for students who have scant or no access to Jewish Studies courses in their home countries to study Jewish history, society and culture in a critical and scholarly manner. Thanks to institutional support from the university (which has been endowed by George Soros) and generous grants from various foundations (Hanadiv Charitable Foundation, Dutch Jewish Humanitarian Fund, Rich Foundation) and organizations (American Jewish Committee, the Czech, Hungárián and Polish Jewish Communities), we have been able to build the Jewish Studies Project from the ground up. Our first and second Jewish Studies Yearbooks, published in 2000 and 2002, gave a detailed account about our activities in the first six years of the project. In the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 academic years, we continued our teaching and research activities, and we expanded our network to include many organizations, institutions and individuals that share similar goals and academic interests. 1. TEACHING PROJECT: THE JEWISH STUDIES SPECIALIZATION Since the 2001-2002 academic year, the Jewish Studies Project has been offering a specialization in Jewish Studies for MA and PhD students. A formai recognition of a completed Jewish Studies specialization is offered to MA students in History and Nationalism Studies who earn 12 classroom credits in Jewish Studies classes and write a dissertation on a related topic. These students can choose from core courses in Jewish Studies taught by the permanent CEU faculty as well as a wide rangé of courses taught by visiting professors from Israel, North America and Western Europe. These course offerings are highly diverse, but all of them share a common focus on the ramified Jewish experience in Central and Eastern Europe. This régiónál focus - along with its rather secular agenda - sets the Jewish Studies Project at CEU apart from the many other Jewish Studies programs across the globe.