Berkeleyan

A mitzvah for Jewish Studies

04 February 2004

Peg Skorpinski photo

Cal alumna Helen Diller and members of her family joined Chancellor Berdahl, faculty, and other guests at the inaugural celebration for the Helen Diller Family Program in Jewish Studies this week. The celebration, held in the Morrison Library, was attended by more than 75 guests. Speakers included Oren Yiftachel, professor of geography at Ben Gurion University of the Negev and the 2003-04 Helen Diller Family Visiting Professor, and Richard Cohen, professor of Jewish history at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Helen Diller Family Visiting Lecturer this year.
The Dillers have established an endowment that will bring multidisciplinary Israeli scholars to campus through the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and provide graduate fellowships and research grants in Jewish Studies within the College of Letters & Science. Helen Diller is shown here with Professor John Efron, who holds the Koret Chair in Jewish History and serves as chair of Jewish Studies.