Spring Break
Center's funds mainly to be used for grads
by Miranda Neubauer
Senior Writer
News | 10/9/07
Posted online at 9:31 PM EST on 10/8/07
/ Last updated at 4:10 AM EST on 10/8/07
Prof. Ilan Troen (NEJS), the founding director of the new Center for Israel Studies, said the Center's funding will go primarily toward training graduate students.
This summer, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation established the Center with a $15 million grant.
"What [the endowment] does is bring resources for students, for faculty, for the University community for the systematic and intensive study of Israel," Troen said. He said these resources would include money for scholarships, travel, research opportunities and faculty use.
One graduate student receiving money from the center this year is Rachel Fish, a thirdyear doctoralcandidate in the evolution of binationalism. She is currently on a nine-month research trip to Israel.
In an e-mail to the Justice, she wrote that her fellowship funding now comes from the Schusterman Center. She explained that the funds allowed her to be a teaching fellow in the NEJS department and paid for her travel expenses. She wrote that while researching places to pursue her Ph.D. in the field of Israel, she found that "there were very few places where a student could study Israel in an interdisciplinary manner." But with the hiring of Troen, the University had made that opportunity possible. Compared to other institutions, she also added that professors at Brandeis didn't "promote a political agenda and use the classroom as a bully pulpit."
The University has already received inquiries about graduate training opportunities from students at the University of Chicago, UCLA, New York University and from students in Jerusalem.
"We'll look for the best graduate students that we can find," Troen said.
This year, the Center is funding the work of graduate students concentrating in the fields of sociology, political science and near eastern and judaic studies, Troen said.
"We hope [this initiative] will expand out to other departments in the University," he said.
This summer, the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation established the Center with a $15 million grant.
"What [the endowment] does is bring resources for students, for faculty, for the University community for the systematic and intensive study of Israel," Troen said. He said these resources would include money for scholarships, travel, research opportunities and faculty use.
One graduate student receiving money from the center this year is Rachel Fish, a thirdyear doctoralcandidate in the evolution of binationalism. She is currently on a nine-month research trip to Israel.
In an e-mail to the Justice, she wrote that her fellowship funding now comes from the Schusterman Center. She explained that the funds allowed her to be a teaching fellow in the NEJS department and paid for her travel expenses. She wrote that while researching places to pursue her Ph.D. in the field of Israel, she found that "there were very few places where a student could study Israel in an interdisciplinary manner." But with the hiring of Troen, the University had made that opportunity possible. Compared to other institutions, she also added that professors at Brandeis didn't "promote a political agenda and use the classroom as a bully pulpit."
The University has already received inquiries about graduate training opportunities from students at the University of Chicago, UCLA, New York University and from students in Jerusalem.
"We'll look for the best graduate students that we can find," Troen said.
This year, the Center is funding the work of graduate students concentrating in the fields of sociology, political science and near eastern and judaic studies, Troen said.
"We hope [this initiative] will expand out to other departments in the University," he said.
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