Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies formed at UCLA
By Rianne Kouwenaar
Oct. 25, 2010 1:32 a.m.
Students’ knowledge of Israel should go beyond what they read in the newspapers, said Sharon Baradaran, an adjunct professor in political science at UCLA.
To teach beyond the headlines, Baradaran’s family donated $5 million to form the UCLA’s Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. The center is the first of its kind on the West Coast.
Baradaran said she started thinking about the lack of education about Israel on U.S. campuses seven years ago, and she established the Israel Studies Program at UCLA in 2005.
In addition to continuing classes offered by the Israel Studies Program, the new center will focus on enhancing the scholarly debate on Israel and reaching out to the L.A. community with high school education programs.
The center’s courses cover a wide range of subjects and disciplines besides the Israel-Palestine conflict, such as the Israeli film and music industry, said Arieh Saposnik, the center’s director. Saposnik said he hopes by next fall to establish an Israel Studies minor.
The center, which can be found in Bunche Hall, is funded by the interest from the $5 million donation, which will be doled out over five years. The center is looking for additional funding for graduate students, Saposnik said.
Baradaran, a USC alumna, said she chose to build the center at UCLA because of the diversity of students as well as the appeal to visiting scholars. One such scholar is Hagit Lavsky, a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem who taught at UCLA during the 2007-2008 school year and will be back for the winter and spring quarters this year.
Lavsky, who teaches about modern and contemporary Jewish history, is a preeminent researcher in her field, Baradaran said.
Both Saposnik and Baradaran said they feel broadly supported by the UCLA community.
When the Israel Studies Program started in 2005, Baradaran said she was afraid that her class comparing the Israeli and Korean economies would not attract even 20 students, but ultimately about 100 students signed up.
Saposnik said the center´s goal is to create serious academic discourse with room for a variety of perspectives to be considered.
Dana Sadgat, a third-year computer science and engineering student who is part of the Hillel Jewish Students Association, said both Jewish and non-Jewish students can learn a lot from these courses. Many Jewish students don’t know their own heritage, she said.
“Through a people’s history, students learn about the people themselves,” she said.
