The Scholion Center was founded in 2002, on the initiative of the former president of the Hebrew University, Prof. Menachem Magidor, and with the generous support of the Mandel Foundation. Dedicated to fostering excellence in interdisciplinary scholarship, in its first decade it focused upon expanding the vistas of Jewish studies. Now, beginning its second decade, its mandate has been broadened so as to include the full spectrum of the humanities. Scholion, which hosts outstanding scholars in its research groups and as Mandel Post-Doctoral Scholars and they all focus their work in proximity to one another in the Rabin Building, aspires to create among them a model of a vibrant and creative academic community.
The center supports two main projects:
1. Three concurrent research groups, each dealing with a particular topic in the fields of Humanities and Jewish Studies. A new research group is selected once a year for a three-year term at the center, and comprises four senior members from the Hebrew University faculty, as well as four doctoral students. Scholars from outside the Hebrew University are also invited to participate. The group as a whole explores its topic, making the most of the diverse methodologies and perspectives that each member brings from his/her discipline. Each group is entitled to a generous budget, scholarships for the students and partial exemption from study duties for the senior members.
2. The Mandel Scholars program offers two post-doctoral positions per annum to young, outstanding Ph.D.s in the Humanities and Jewish Studies. The positions are offered to researchers from Israel and abroad who have recently received their doctorates after having conducted distinctive and extraordinary research. The Mandel scholars are then afforded a three-year term in the Hebrew University for research and teaching at the various departments, along with a research budget.
Steering Committee – Scholion - 2011-2012
Mr. Morton L. Mandel – Mandel Foundation
Mrs. Barbara Mandel – Chairman of the Board, Mandel Foundation
Mrs. Annette Hochstein – President Emeritus, Mandel Foundation Israel
Dr. Eli Gottlieb – Vice-President, Mandel Foundation-Israel
Professor Mordecai Nisan – Mandel Foundation-Israel
Professor Menahem Ben-Sasson – President of the Hebrew University
Professor Asher Cohen – Rector of the Hebrew University
Professor Reuven Amitai – Dean of the Faculty of Humanities
Professor Shlomo Naeh – Head of the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies
Professor Daniel R. Schwartz – Academic Head of Scholion
Academic Committee – Scholion - 2011-2012
Professor Menahem Ben-Sasson – President of the Hebrew University
Professor Asher Cohen – Rector of the Hebrew University
Professor Reuven Amitai – Dean of the Faculty of Humanities
Professor Shlomo Naeh – Head of the Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies
Professor Daniel R. Schwartz – Academic Head of Scholion
Professor Peter N. Miller – Bard College, New York
Professor Judith Olszowy-Schlanger – École pratique des hautes etudes, Sorbonne
Professor Malka Rappapport Hovav – The Department of Linguistics
Professor Edwin Seroussi – The Department of Musicology
Professor David Shulman – The Departments of Comparative Religion and East Asian Studies
