Research and Funding

Through its support of research and teaching, the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life seeks to advance research and scholarship in Judaic Studies and provide resources to faculty and students.  Funding initiatives allow the Center to provide support for students and faculty. Please contact the center for more information: judaicstudies@uconn.edu.

American Jewish Year Book


The Center for Judaic Studies is proud to provide support to facilitate the publication of the American Jewish Year Book, a reference work published yearly since 1899 that serves as the annual record of the North American Jewish Communities. The Year Book is edited by Professor Arnold Dashefsky, the Center’s founding director, and Professor Ira M. Sheskin of the University of Miami.

For decades, the American Jewish Year Book has been the premier place for leading academics to publish long review chapters on topics of interest to the American Jewish communities. The Year Book serves  as a major resource for academic researchers, researchers at Jewish institutions and organizations, practitioners, the media, educated leaders and lay persons, and libraries, particularly University and Jewish libraries, for up-to-date information about the American and Canadian Jewish communities. 

Latest News in Center Funding

 
Adane Zawdu Awarded Predoctoral FellowshipAdane Zawdu

With the support of the Graduate School, the Center for Judaic Studies has awarded Center Graduate Assistant Adane Zawdu a predoctoral fellowship for his summer research. [...]

2018 Judaic Studies Awards

Undergraduate Student Award Winners in Hebrew and Judaic Studies

The Center for Judaic Studies is proud to announce our 2018 undergraduate award winners for Hebrew and Judaic Studies. [...]

 
Babbidge Library
Center Funds Available to Purchase UConn Library Materials

The Center is pleased to announce that the funds in a number of our specifically designated book endowments are available for the purchase of materials for the UConn library. [...]

Research Resources

Homer Babbidge Library: Judaic Studies Databases

Babbidge Library has a substantial number of English-language books devoted to historical, literary, and social scientific analysis of the Jewish experience.

Berman Jewish DataBank

The Berman Jewish DataBank provides open access to hundreds of studies on North American Jewry.  The UConn Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life provides ongoing academic support to the DataBank.

Sefaria: A Living Library of Jewish Texts

Enjoy free access to a digital library of Jewish texts in Hebrew and in translation, including the Torah, Talmud, and modern texts. 

The Friedberg Jewish Manuscript Society

This portal supplies access to six websites related to Jewish manuscripts. They are freely accessible to everyone anywhere, anytime and contain more than half-a-million high-quality digital images of all the relevant manuscripts. 

Student Funding

The Center for Judaic Studies has a number of modest travel awards available to sponsor students who wish to spend time studying and researching abroad. In addition, a variety of student awards for academic achievement in Judaic Studies and Hebrew are conferred in the Spring of each year during the annual awards ceremony hosted by the Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages and during our annual Academic Convocation on the Holocaust. Preference is given to Hebrew and Judaic Studies majors and minors.    

The Center also offers support for graduate studies in the form of assistantships (teaching and research).  Students enrolled in the graduate program in Judaic Studies are eligible for these assistantships, which cover tuition and fees and include a stipend for living expenses.  Students who apply for admission to the graduate program in Judaic Studies will automatically be considered for an assistantship.

Postdoctoral fellowship awards are also available for qualified graduate students.

For information about these funding opportunities, please contact Center assistant Pamela Weathers at pamela.weathers@uconn.edu or Center Director Avinoam Patt at avinoam.patt@uconn.edu.

Travel awards available:

  • The Winkler Award for Study in Israel
  • UConn Judaic Center Israel Travel Endowment (for Jewish Studies but not limited to Israel travel)

Scholarships awarded by the Center are provided by:

  • The Harold J. Arkava Scholarship Fund
  • The Cohen and Henes Scholarship Fund in Judaic Studies
  • The Sylvia and Leo Dashefsky Prize Endowment Fund
  • The Frances and Irving Seliger Memorial Endowment Fund