About Melton Center

Profile of the Melton Center

Jewish studies at The Ohio State University comprises one of the largest and most diverse programs in the country, offering an impressive selection of courses, a multidisciplinary faculty, and a wide range of events. We provide students with a first-rate opportunity to explore the academic breadth of course work connected with Jewish studies. Our graduates have had the privilege to study with some of the very best scholars in the field.

Jewish studies at Ohio State commenced officially in 1966 with the establishment of the Samuel M. and Esther Melton Chair in Jewish History and Institutions. This was one of the first chairs in Jewish studies at an American public university, and it was followed in 1976 by the establishment of the Samuel M. Melton Center for Jewish Studies, the first such center at an American public university. Ohio State has thus been a pioneer in Jewish studies in the United States since the field became recognized as an independent academic discipline. These venerable origins sprang from the visionary mind of Mr. Samuel M. Melton of Columbus, one of the nations foremost advocates and supporters of Jewish education in the later twentieth century. Mr. Melton, a highly successful business leader who had immigrated to the United States as a young man, was always focused on the betterment of the Jewish people and of the United States through improvements in educational opportunities.

The Melton Center is the body which coordinates Jewish studies around the university. While some institutions create a department of Jewish studies which includes faculty working in many disciplines, Ohio State's Jewish studies faculty remain in their disciplinary departments and schools. At present, Melton faculty members come from History, Philosophy, Political Science, Music, English, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Germanic Languages and Literatures, Classics, Art, and Education.

The Melton board is composed of about thirty professors from these departments who meet together regularly to plan events and discuss issues of common interest. The Melton Center also coordinates course offerings in Jewish studies, oversees the Jewish Studies major and minor, provides monetary support for faculty and students, conducts competitions for student prizes, and creates programs for both campus and the larger community. The range of teaching and research in Jewish studies conducted by Melton faculty is among the broadest in the nation. Melton faculty are internationally recognized in their respective fields.

Undergraduate study may include a comprehensive, interdisciplinary major or a minor in a variety of Jewish topics. We have established endowed undergraduate scholarship programs as well as an endowed travel program to Israel.

Graduate study in Jewish studies at The Ohio State University is enhanced by two named graduate fellowships. Graduate study involves acceptance by an appropriate department with a graduate degree program. Graduate students may pursue the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in a core area of Jewish Studies.

The Center's work is greatly enhanced by a full time Judaica librarian who manages the Judaica collection (over 100,000 volumes) at the University Libraries -- one of the largest and finest of its kind in the United States. In 1992, University Libraries implemented ALEPH (Automated Library Expandable Program Hebrew University of Jerusalem), a cataloging system that accommodates not only Roman, but also Hebrew, Arabic, Slavic and Greek scripts.