Jim Joseph funds education doctoral program at Stanford

Stanford University is about to become the second secular university in the country with a doctoral program in education and Jewish studies.

A $12 million grant from the S.F.-based Jim Joseph Foundation will allow the Stanford University School of Education to hire a professor of education and Jewish studies and to enroll students in the new program.

It is the largest gift in the history of Stanford’s School of Education.

“We felt that establishing this professorship and concentration would make a major statement about how important Jewish education is,” said Al Levitt, president of the Jim Joseph Foundation.

New York University is the only other secular research institution with such a program, which the Jim Joseph Foundation supports with $4.96 million for fellowships.

The grant to Stanford “is a very, very prominent symbol that … recognizes religion as a powerful educating force across all of the continents of the world,” said Sam Wineburg, a professor of education and history at Stanford.

More than two years of planning preceded the May 10 announcement of the grant. A national search for a professor began this week. Wineburg is leading the search committee and is looking for “a top scholar who works at the intersection of education and Jewish studies.”

To develop the curriculum, the school of education will partner with Taube Center for Jewish Studies at Stanford, which offers undergraduate and graduate programs in Jewish disciplines. “The goal is to make the university a more integrated whole,” Wineburg said.

Vered Shemtov, co-director of the Taube Center for Jewish Studies and a professor of Hebrew language and literature, is thrilled about working with the education faculty to help support the development of the new initiative.

“We really feel we’re embarking on a new era of research and understanding in the relationship between religion, education and society,” Shemtov said.

Stanford previously offered a doctoral concentration in Jewish education from 1992 to 2002. It shut down when funding from the Wexner Foundation ended.

The new program eventually will be able to fund seven doctoral students, starting with two students in each of the grant’s first three years. The money also will provide fellowships for the students.

Stanford professors expect that the graduates will go on to teach at universities or work at Jewish communal institutions that provide leadership in the field.

The grant also will fund seminars and conferences on topics related to Jewish education and questions of religion, education and civic life.

Wineburg hopes the concentration in education and Jewish studies is only the first of several to look at the nexus of religion (perhaps Islam or Buddhism) and education.

“We hope this will be a catalyst for other religious traditions to see the intimate connection between religion, civilization and the education process,” he said.