Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion has announced a $4.1 million grant from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation in Cleveland to establish the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost Chair and provide ongoing support for the Mandel Initiative for Visionary Leadership.

The first holder of the new chair, which is designated for HUC-JIR's chief academic officer, is Michael Marmur. The Mandel Initiative for Visionary Leadership, a three-year program designed to enhance the leadership capacity of future rabbis, cantors, and educators, offers students the opportunity to engage in a process of small-group learning, inquiry, and reflection on themes of Jewish life and belief.

"As our Mandel Provost, Rabbi Marmur's intellectual rigor, scholarship, collegial spirit, and creativity, as well as his passionate commitment to Reform Judaism [and] the College-Institute's sacred task, will allow us to achieve ever-greater academic and professional excellence for our faculty and students," said HUC-JIR president David Ellenson. "The Mandel Initiative deepens our rabbinical students' capacity for leadership and empowers them to develop their own visions based on increasingly informed and thoughtfully held values and commitments."