Judaic Studies will be focus of UO day of presentations

EUGENE, Ore. -- (May 14, 2010) -- The University of Oregon's Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies will celebrate its 10th anniversary on Sunday, May 23, with a full day of free panels and presentations.

The day's headline event — the Singer Family Lecture for 2010 — will be a 7:30 p.m. illustrated talk by Kenneth Holum, professor at the University of Maryland, on "Caesarea Maritima: King Herod's Royal City." Since 1989, Holum has directed the Combined Caesarea Expeditions — an international archaeological project exploring Caesarea Maritima, a Roman city on the Mediterranean coast of Israel.

His lecture will be in the University of Oregon's Robinson Theatre at Villard Hall, 11th Avenue and Kincaid Street.

The day's first event, at 10 a.m., is a panel discussion on Judaic Studies at the UO with faculty members Judith Baskin, Daniel Falk, Deborah Green and Richard Stein. It will be in 115 Lawrence Hall, 1190 Franklin Blvd.

The second session, "Jews Of The Pacific Northwest: Historical Perspectives," will begin at 11 a.m., and will include three presentations: "Western Landscapes, Western Jews," with Ava F. Kahn of the California Studies Center; "Jewish Space in a Pacific Place," with Ellen Eisenberg of Willamette University; and "Judaism & Jews on a Public Campus: Oregon in the 1920s," with UO's William Toll.

An illustrated lecture by Lisa Rubenstein Calevi, "Shylock's Venice: The Cultural, Historic And Artistic Traditions Of The First Jewish Ghetto," will begin at 1:45 p.m., also in 115 Lawrence Hall.

Professor Marsha Rozenblit of the University of Maryland will discuss "Jews And Other Germans: Dilemmas Of Identity In Austria-Hungary Before World War I," in a session beginning at 3:15 p.m. Rozenblit is the current president of the Association for Jewish Studies.

The day's presentations are made possible by the support of Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth Singer and Roberta Singer, and the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Care Foundation. All events are free and open to the public.

The Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies was founded in 1999 through a gift of $1.5 million from the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Care Foundation. The interdisciplinary program offers a bachelor of arts degree and a minor in Judaic Studies.

About the University of Oregon

The University of Oregon is a world-class teaching and research institution and Oregon's flagship public university. The UO is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), an organization made up of the 63 leading public and private research institutions in the United States and Canada. The University of Oregon is one of only two AAU members in the Pacific Northwest.

Media Contact: Joe Mosley, media relations associate, 541-346-3606, jmosley@uoregon.edu

Source: Judith Baskin, associate dean of humanities, College of Arts and Sciences, UO Judaic Studies Program, 541-346-3902, jbaskin@cas.uoregon.edu

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