Established in 1973, the Bud Shorstein Center for Jewish Studies promotes academic study of Jewish culture, history, and politics for all students at the University of Florida. Students can take individual classes or certificate programs consisting of eighteen credit hours in a given area. The Center also offers a major and a minor program. The Center’s curriculum encourages critical thinking, textual analysis, research, oral argumentation, and writing. The Center also has a number of scholarship opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as study abroad opportunities.
Our courses of study provide excellent preparation not only for students interested in Jewish communal institutions. It also provides fine preparation for graduate study in a variety of disciplines, and for professional tracks such as journalism and law.
Our faculty comes from history, political science, anthropology, sociology, film, literature, religion, and law. They are all active researchers and writers, and they produce everything from books to journal articles to documentary films to essays on issues of contemporary importance.
The Center sponsors internationally-known academic speakers as well as symposia and academic conferences. All events are free and open to the public, and events are often available on our You Tube Channel. Topics of discussion include the Hebrew Bible, Medieval Jewry, Modern Jewish history and literature, Holocaust studies, Israel studies, and American Jewish politics. The Center also co-sponsors the annual Gainesville Jewish Film Festival which was established in 2011.