In a move designed to enhance the stature of Jewish studies at Cornell, university officials have announced the creation of three new named professorships in Jewish Studies. 190 alumni and friends support drive to endow professorship honoring noted scholar and longtime Cornell professor Milton Konvitz.

The announcement brings the total number of named professorships in Jewish Studies to four and marks the completion of a campaign that raised nearly $11 million. The campaign was chaired by Robert and Fran Michaels Malina, both members of the Class of 1960.

"Thanks to the help and support of our alumni and friends, the strength of Jewish Studies at Cornell has been ensured," said Cornell President Hunter Rawlings. "We can now offer an even richer program of academic work in Jewish Studies and Near Eastern Studies to students from all backgrounds."

Cornell's first endowed position in Jewish Studies was created in 1993 with a gift from Tom and Diann Goodman Mann of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. They are both members of the Cornell University Council. Diann Mann '66 is a member-at-large of the Council's Administrative Board. Tom Mann '64 also serves on the College of Arts and Sciences Advisory Council and the Division of Biological Sciences' advisory group.

The Diann G. and Thomas A. Mann Professorship in Modern Jewish Studies is held by Vicki Caron. She is the author of Between France and Germany: The Jews of Alsace-Lorraine, 1871-1918 and the forthcoming Uneasy Asylum: France and the Jewish Refugee Crisis, 1933-1942. Her research has focused on western and central Europe and explores the modern era in France, including government policy, public opinion and French Jewish responses to those policies and opinions. Caron came to Cornell earlier this year from Brown University.

The new professorships are:

• The Milton R. Konvitz Professorship of Jewish and Near Eastern Studies. The Konvitz Professorship is notable in that it was endowed through the generosity of 190 former students, colleagues and friends of Konvitz and not from a single gift.

Konvitz, who earned a JD from New York University Law School in 1930 and a Ph.D. from Cornell in 1933, taught at Cornell as a professor in the newly created School of Industrial and Labor Relations and a professor of law from 1946 to 1975. He is credited with laying the foundation for the current Program of Jewish Studies. Known chiefly as a scholar and teacher of Constitutional law, Konvitz is also an acclaimed scholar of Judaism. Among his works are Judaism and Human Rights (1972), Judaism and the American Idea (1978) and Torah and Constitution (1998). He served on the editorial board of Encyclopedia Judaica and co-founded the journal Judaism and the magazine Midstream. Konvitz is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He and his wife, Mary, reside in Oakhurst, N.J.

"The endowed professorships are a recognition of the important place that Jewish Studies occupies in a liberal arts program of a university that fosters the humanities," Konvitz said. "The four professorships make Cornell's Program of Jewish Studies the equal of what other major universities offer."

The Konvitz professorship is to be held by Ross Brann, chair of the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Cornell. Brann, who holds a Ph.D. from New York University, is one of the leading interpreters of the interplay of Jewish and Muslim civilization in Spain and the Middle Ages. He is the author of two books, including The Compunctious Poet: Cultural Ambiguity and Hebrew Poetry in Muslim Spain (1991) and many essays; he is editor of Languages of Power in Islamic Spain (1997). Brann has taught at Cornell since 1986.

• The Bernard and Jane Schapiro Professorship in Ancient Near Eastern and Judaic Studies. Bernard Schapiro, a 1952 Cornell graduate, is a physician with a practice in Flemington, N.J. Jane Schapiro attended Simmons College and then NYU, where she received a degree in elementary education in 1952. The couple's children, Marc and Amy, graduated from Cornell in 1979 and 1981, respectively, as did their children's spouses, Patricia Lazer '78 and Christopher Cochran '79.

The Schapiro Professorship is to be held by David I. Owen, director of the Program of Jewish Studies. Owen, who earned a Ph.D. from Brandeis University, is a leading expert in Biblical history and archaeology and ancient Near Eastern studies. The author of five books and nearly a hundred papers, articles and essays, Owen has served as an editor of the Journal of the American Oriental Society.

• An as-yet unnamed professorship supported by an anonymous donor. The professorship will be named and filled in the near future.

"In announcing these endowed professorships, we not only acknowledge the steadfast support of our generous alumni, but also the outstanding faculty who have been selected to fill these professorships," said Harold Tanner '52, chairman of the Cornell Board of Trustees. "These professorships are a testament to Cornell's commitment to its Jewish Studies program."

The Manns who gave the gift to endow the first professorship in Jewish Studies at Cornell said they did so to help foster a greater understanding of many of the important issues involving Jewish studies and today's world. Said Tom Mann, "Diann and I have an increased appreciation of what it means to be a part of a multicultural society in order to build a better and more peaceful world. We believe that Judeo-Christian traditions have been, and remain, an important part of such a society."

In addition to the four professorships, the $10.9 million raised for the Jewish Studies Campaign since 1991 will go to support various programs in Jewish and Near Eastern studies and the Judaica Collection in the Cornell Library.

Earlier this month, Cornell received a $2.75 million gift to strengthen its Hillel Program for Jewish Campus Life. The gift, in the form of a bequest from Massachusetts physician Bernard Yudowitz '55 and his wife, Evelyn '56, will provide permanent support for a wide range of Hillel student programs. Cornell Hillel is involved in the full spectrum of Jewish life at Cornell. There are an estimated 3,000 Jewish students at Cornell.

"This gift has energized students and confirmed their hope that Cornell Hillel will receive strong support from Cornell alumni," said Ross Brann, professor and chair of Near Eastern Studies. "We are grateful for this generous gift from Dr. and Mrs. Yudowitz."