Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion/Cincinnati
Announces Opening Exercises for 2002-2003 Academic Year

Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion will formally usher in the 2002-2003 academic year with Opening Exercises on Monday, September 23, 2002 at 11:10 am. The community is invited to join Rabbi David Ellenson, president, HUC-JIR; Burton Lehman, chair, Board of Governors, HUC-JIR; Frederic Lane, vice-chair of the Board of Governors, and HUC-JIR students, faculty, and administrators at morning services in the S. H. & Helen R. Scheuer Chapel on the Clifton campus, 3101 Clifton Avenue.

The Cincinnati campus of HUC-JIR welcomes thirteen second-year Rabbinical students, and nine new Graduate students. In addition, Cincinnati welcomes twenty-two students who deferred their first year of study in Jerusalem, electing to begin the program this fall in Cincinnati, and completing the required Year-in-Israel during one of the remaining four years of study leading to ordination. These students join over 125 others already pursuing Rabbinical and Graduate degrees in Cincinnati and over 300 others enrolled at HUC-JIR campuses in Los Angeles, New York, and Jerusalem.

Prior to the beginning of classes on September 23, new graduate students and second-year rabbinical students participated in an orientation program that introduced them to the extensive resources of the Cincinnati campus including: the Jacob Radar Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, Klau Library, Archaeology Center, The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education, Skirball Museum, and the HUC-UC Center for the Study of Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems. In addition, students met with faculty and administrators and rabbinical students participated in High Holiday preparation workshops.

The Rabbinical Program at HUC-JIR is the only Reform Rabbinical School in the country offering a five-year program of full-time graduate study leading to Master of Arts in Hebrew Letters degree and ordination. The School of Graduate Studies welcomes students of all faiths and nationalities to its M.A., M.Phil., D.H.L., and Ph.D. degree programs in Judaic and Cognate studies. The School is internationally recognized for its high caliber faculty, alumni, and research facilities.