From the fall 2007 issue of UConn Momentum
Two founding supporters of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, Simon ’96H and Doris M. ’50 Konover, have endowed the center’s first faculty chair. Funding also is provided by the Doris and Simon Konover Family Foundation.
“The University of Connecticut is very fortunate to have Doris and Simon Konover among its special friends, and personally I’m very grateful for their continuing support,” says University President Michael J. Hogan. “The Konover chair will further strengthen our center’s highly regarded programs and leadership in Judaic studies.”
The Doris and Simon Konover Chair of Judaic Studies, funded by a $1.5-million gift, will support teaching and research by an eminent scholar of Jewish life, history and religion. The chair will enable the center, which is part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), to attract a scholar with an international reputation to develop new courses and provide research leadership.
“This gift is also consistent with the University’s objective of expanding the study of human rights,” explains Arnold Dashefsky, Ph.D., professor of sociology and director of the center. “The pursuit of Judaic studies allows students to explore in depth the ethical traditions of Jewish civilization and its commitment to social justice and the repair of the world.”
The center is dedicated to research, education, public service and outreach. It is home to the Mandell L. Berman Institute North American Jewish Data Bank, the central repository of social scientific studies of North American Jewry. The center offers an undergraduate major in Judaic studies and one of only four master’s degree programs at public institutions in the U.S.
“Doris and Simon Konover provided the first crucial endowment for the Center for Judaic Studies at its founding 25 years ago,” says Ross MacKinnon, dean of CLAS. “The chair they will establish recognizes the high level of scholarship that the center can sustain and the high level of international recognition to which it aspires.”
Much of the Konovers’ philanthropy has focused on Jewish life and the research and preservation of Jewish history and materials. Mr. Konover, a Holocaust survivor, was born in 1922 near Warsaw, Poland. During World War II, he was interned in labor camp in Poland, conscripted into the Russian army, and then imprisoned in Siberia. More than 50 members of his family were killed in the Holocaust. In 1949, Mr. Konover immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Connecticut, where he established Konover & Associates, a real estate development firm.
In addition to the center, the Konovers, who are members of the Founders Society, have made significant contributions to the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, the Morris N. Trachten Kosher Dining Facility, the UConn Health Center and the Division of Athletics.
To support the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life, please contact Frank Gifford at 860.486.6798.
