Queens U. Gets $1M for Jewish Studies
New fund supports efforts to learn about Jewish identity and religion.
A $1 million endowed fund has been established for the Sklut Professorship in Jewish Studies at Queens University of Charlotte through a gift from Lori and Eric Sklut.
Rabbi Judy Schindler, an associate professor of Jewish studies at Queens, will be the inaugural holder of the professorship.
“We are honored and grateful to be the beneficiary of Lori and Eric’s investment in our work,” Queens President Pamela Davies said. “This gift will help faculty, whose teaching of Jewish history and culture enriches our Jewish studies program. We are a campus committed to interfaith understanding.”
Queens established its Jewish studies program in 2013 to examine Jewish identity, culture and beliefs through courses covering history, political science, international affairs, religion, theology, ethics, philosophy, sociology, pop culture and more. Queens also has hired a director of Jewish life, established a student Hillel group, and opened the Stan Greenspon Center for Peace and Social Justice.
“We admire Queens’ efforts of inclusion and cultural diversity, attracting students and faculty from different backgrounds, ethnicities and national origins,” Lori and Eric Sklut said in a statement. “We are excited to be in a position to endow this professorship for the university. Our trust in the leadership of Queens and their enthusiasm to embrace Jewish studies is immeasurable.”
The Queens professorship is not the first endowed by the couple.
In 2007, the Skluts, with Lori’s parents, Leon and Sandra Levine of the Leon Levine Foundation, established the Levine-Sklut Distinguished Professorship in Jewish Studies for the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2012, they established the Lori and Eric Sklut Emerging Scholar in Jewish Studies at Elon University.
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