Thanks to the support of many generous individual and organizational donors, the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies maintains a number of fellowship funds for graduate level Judaica studies at the University of Michigan. Some of these funds are available for ongoing graduate studies, and others for summer research activites. For more information about these funds and application deadlines, please contact: delauter@umich.edu or kkron@umich.edu.
Graduate students in Judaica must acquire training in an academic discipline as well as attain mastery of an area of specialization within Judaic Studies. Thus, students who wish to pursue graduate work do so in the various departments affiliated with the Center. At present, students may pursue Ph.D.'s in the following areas: Jewish history (Department of History), Bible, Hebrew literature and Jewish thought (Department of Near Eastern Studies), Yiddish and American Jewish literature (Department of English Language and Literature), and Israeli and Jewish politics (Department of Political Science).
The Sol Drachler Program in Jewish Communal Leadership is located in the School of Social Work. It offers the Professional Leadership Program, a social work course designed to prepare students at the graduate level for careers in Jewish communal service. Knowledge from the social sciences and professional know-how are integrated with study of the historic and contemporary Jewish experience. In addition to a professional degree, students earn a certificate in Judaic Studies and Jewish Communal Service.
Project STaR was established through a grant from the Max M. Fisher Jewish Community Foundation to link the resources of the academy with those of the American Jewish community. A grant from the Jewish Federation of Detroit made it possible to launch the Professional Leadership Program. In 2000, the University of Michigan and the Jewish community of Metropolitan Detroit raised a very generous endowment to provide permanent funding for Project STaR. In recognition of this endowment, the name of the program was changed to honor one of Detroit's outstanding Jewish communal professionals, Sol Drachler, former executive director of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. The generosity of the community and the university will enable the program to continue the work and mission of Project STaR, and reflects the program's permanent status within the School of Social Work. The Drachler Program will build on the successes of Project STaR and continue its well-deserved reputation as a preeminent training program for future generations of Jewish communal professionals and leaders.
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