The Norman and Bernice Harris Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska—Lincoln is pleased to announce that Dr. Ari Kohen has been named the inaugural Kripke Chair of Judaic Studies, beginning in the 2025—2026 academic year.
Kohen, who holds BAs in International Relations and Political Theory from Michigan State University and an MA and PhD from Duke University, came to UNL in 2007. He is Professor of Political Science and has held the Schlesinger Professorship of Social Justice for the past 18 years. He served for eight years as Director of the Forsythe Family Program on Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs and is beginning his sixth year as Director of the Harris Center for Judaic Studies. Dr. Kohen is the author of two books—In Defense of Human Rights and Untangling Heroism—and two dozen articles and book chapters on human rights, restorative justice, Holocaust education, and heroic behavior. He is also the co-editor of Unlikely Heroes and Antisemitism on the Rise, the first two volumes published in the Contemporary Holocaust Studies book series that Kohen co-edits for the University of Nebraska Press.
The Kripke Chair was endowed by Rabbi Myer and Dorothy Kripke (z”l), central figures in the Omaha Jewish community for many decades and major philanthropists for Jewish causes in Nebraska and across the country. Rabbi Kripke served as the rabbi of Beth El Synagogue in Omaha for nearly 30 years and Dorothy was well-known as the author of a series of beloved Jewish books. In addition to the Kripke Chair of Judaic Studies at UNL, donations by the Kripkes founded the Kripke Center at Creighton University, the renovation of the Kripke Tower at the Jewish Theological Seminary, the Kripke Scholarship Fund at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, and the Kripke National Jewish Book Award for Education and Jewish Identity.
Kohen said, “It’s an incredible honor to be named the inaugural Kripke Chair of Judaic Studies, especially because of the important role that the Kripkes played in the Nebraska Jewish community, at Beth El Synagogue, and in the wider Jewish world. I hope that my scholarship and my work to expand Jewish life on UNL’s campus and bring more Jewish educational opportunities to the broader community reflect the Kripkes’ goals in establishing this prestigious professorship.”
A community event later this year to celebrate the inaugural Kripke Chair is in the planning stages.
This was also shared on The Jewish Press.
