Scholar Named to UCI Chair in Jewish History

Acting on the eve of the Jewish New Year, UC Irvine announced Wednesday the appointment of a Florida professor to its first-ever endowed chair in Jewish history.

“This is especially timely now, given the headlines about the agreement between Israel and the PLO,” said Scott Nelson, a university spokesman. “There has been significant interest in the subject expressed by students and faculty members; it’s a valid area of scholarly interest.”

The newly appointed professor is Daniel Schroeter, a noted scholar of Middle Eastern and North African Jewish history who holds a similar position at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Schroeter, 39, has written a book on the Jews of Morocco; published articles in academic journals; speaks Arabic, Hebrew and French, and has lived in both Israel and Morocco.

“I am very pleased about this appointment because the history of the Jews is really connected to world history,” Schroeter said in a telephone interview from his home in Florida. “Studying Jewish history is a way of looking at our own history; it’s a mirror of wider questions and issues. The Middle East is a vitally important region in many respects, and the Israeli or Jewish dimension is vitally important to an understanding of our world today.”

UCI officials say the appointment was made possible by a $260,000 endowment--called the Teller Family Chair in Jewish History--which began in 1990 with a $125,000 contribution by Robert Teller, president of Tel-Phil enterprises in Costa Mesa. Eventually, they said, the endowment was increased through contributions by UCI faculty members and prominent members of the local Jewish community.

“The Jewish community in Orange County has grown dramatically over the last quarter-century,” said Karl Hufbauer, chairman of UC Irvine’s history department. “A good fraction of our faculty, students and people in the surrounding communities are of Jewish background, and there are synagogues in many places. Clearly, this is one way in which Orange County has become more cosmopolitan and diverse and this (endowed chair) gives us an opportunity to recognize this.”

Schroeter was selected from 100 applicants after a yearlong search, according to Spencer Ohen, the university’s dean of humanities. “He is truly a superb scholar,” Ohen said of Schroeter. “Clearly, this is an area of the world that has long deserved attention in this curriculum. My bet is that his courses will enroll extremely well.”