UC Santa Barbara has received a $1 million gift from Marsha and Jay Glazer to establish an endowed chair in Jewish studies and to help launch a major educational initiative in the interdisciplinary field.

The Marsha and Jay Glazer Endowed Chair will support a professorship in the field of Jewish studies while the Marsha and Jay Glazer Jewish Studies Program Endowment will provide additional support for faculty and research, students, curriculum, and programming in Jewish studies.

“We are immensely grateful to Marsha and Jay Glazer for their generous and visionary gifts to our Jewish Studies Program,” said Chancellor Henry T. Yang. “The Glazer endowments will elevate the level of research and teaching in Jewish studies and in our world-renowned Department of Religious Studies, as well as across our campus where interdisciplinary collaboration is the hallmark.”

Added David Marshall, dean of humanities and fine arts: “This inspiring gift from Marsha and Jay Glazer will help launch a new Jewish Studies Initiative, designed to build on our strengths in this important, interdisciplinary area of study and extend our teaching and scholarship. It aims to stimulate new scholarship and thinking and to create increased understanding of the history and culture of Judaism.”

Over the next five years, the university hopes to raise additional funds to expand Jewish Studies curricula and create a Center for Jewish Studies that would coordinate programming, research projects, grants and fellowships, and communication with students, faculty, staff, and the Santa Barbara community.

“Marsha and I are thrilled to make the initial gift to Jewish studies at UC Santa Barbara that provides seed money for what we hope will be a long and storied program that is stimulating for undergraduate and graduate students and will help to build better understanding in the world,” said Jay Glazer.

A Jewish studies minor was established at UCSB in 1995 and currently resides in the Department of Religious Studies.