The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) has developed a major program in Holocaust Studies during the last 15 years. The Center for Holocaust Studies in the School of Arts and Humanities is greatly strengthened by four endowments dedicated to its support: the Ackerman Challenge Gift, the Leah and Paul Lewis Chair of Holocaust Studies, the Einspruch Holocaust Lectures, and the Arnold A. Jaffe Holocaust Collection Endowment Fund. These endowments are invested in the Long Term Fund and have a combined market value as of August 31, 2005, of $967,300. They guarantee that the lessons of the Shoah will be taught at UTD in perpetuity and allow us to further expand our mission of developing the next generation of educators and scholars.

Professor Zsuzsanna Ozsváth, a literary scholar and historian of international reputation, holds the Leah and Paul Lewis Chair in Holocaust Studies which was established in 2003. Committed to the pursuit of knowledge, she has taught for 25 years courses at UTD focusing on the Holocaust and the cultural, historical, political, and social circumstances that led to it.

Each year the Holocaust Studies Program invites some of the world's most famous scholars in the field of Holocaust Studies for the Burton C. Einspruch Holocaust Lecture series. Supported by an endowment established in 2002 and open to the public, this forum encourages both students and general audiences to gain insight into some of the ground-breaking research in the field, promoting a much needed exchange of ideas revolving around the Holocaust. The Arnold A. Jaffe Holocaust Collection, located in the Eugene McDermott Library at UTD, is a renowned book and video collection for scholars and the broader public. Intensely used, it is a part of an international bibliographic database connecting thousands of libraries - public, private, academic, and institutional. Researchers across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and elsewhere are aware of the Jaffe Collection and its holdings. The endowment supporting this collection was established in 1986.

Dr. Zsuzsanna Ozsváth

The Holocaust Studies Program offers broadly based study units of the Holocaust, bringing invaluable pedagogical, intellectual, and ethical insights to UTD students as well as to the larger community. In this way, the Center provides a greater historical and moral awareness of what happened when the Third Reich shattered the world of Europe and created earthquakes that still impact our contemporary consciousness. Studying this subject enables us to explore the nature of prejudice and to teach, by unmistakable implication, sympathy, solidarity, and compassion.