Sperling Family Gives $10 Million to Advance Jewish Studies at Duke

This is a summary of a story on MADE FOR THIS.

Duke University's Center for Jewish Studies will be renamed the Sperling Center for Jewish Studies following a $10 million gift from Laurene and Scott Sperling. The gift will endow two professorships in Jewish studies, a faculty support fund in the Sperling Center, a fund for graduate education and postdoctoral support, and a lecture fund.

The center is housed within Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, and its roots can be traced to the 1940s. Today, it offers or facilitates courses, undergraduate certificate opportunities, graduate and postdoctoral programs, and partnerships across campus and throughout the region.

Trustee emerita Laurene Sperling said the gift reflects her belief in the broader value of Jewish studies and its role in advancing understanding among people and cultures.

“Fundamentally, many parts of Jewish studies are about human flourishing and human understanding,” Sperling said. “It’s my hope that, over the longer term, a real foundation of the center can be that it helps scholars look at ways these studies can inform that flourishing.”

The investment will help the center expand dialogue and scholarship on topics including Jewish life, diaspora, antisemitism, and historical and contemporary conflicts.

“This is a generational opportunity to deepen and modernize Jewish studies at Duke,” said Gary Bennett, dean of Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. “It’s my hope that the Sperling Center can become a galvanizing force that connects students across the social, cultural, and intellectual life of the college.”

Read more about the gift on MADE FOR THIS.