Fordham University’s Jewish Studies program is working to establish a new endowed chair in the Jewish studies and literature department to honor the late Professor Anne Golomb Hoffman, Ph.D., a longtime English and Jewish studies faculty member who died in November of 2024.
Hoffman, who joined Fordham in 1979 as a professor of English and modern Hebrew literature, also worked with the Middle East Studies program during her tenure.
According to Magda Teter, Ph.D., the Shvidler Chair in Judaic Studies, Hoffman continued to be very involved in Fordham’s Judaic Studies program even after she retired, remaining part of mentorship programs and working with students. Teter said Hoffman was beloved by the Jewish Studies community and students.
A few days before Hoffman was scheduled to speak at a department event, she suffered a sudden heart attack and died. To honor the work she did while at Fordham, Hoffman’s family created the Anne Golomb Hoffman Endowed Fund, which will support the Jewish studies department. They also pledged a $1 million gift toward the creation of a new endowed chair in her name.
An endowed chair is a faculty position that is permanently supported by an endowment providing stable funding. The chair will be sustained through the Hoffman family’s contribution as well as donations from the “big, big, big village of alumni and of friends of the center,” Teter said.
Teter hopes the fundraising and official completion of the chair will be done within five years. Fundraising efforts are underway, and spreading the message that donations are needed is a lot of work, according to Teter.
“It’s a lot of personal connections with people who love Fordham,” Teter said.
She said they want future students to be able to take classes with the full-time faculty member who will be in the chair.
“One of the great privileges of teaching, and teaching as a name chair, is that you have resources and opportunity to do really original things with students,” said Jessica Lang, Ph.D., dean of Arts and Sciences.
Endowed chair positions often allow for unique research opportunities, additional funding and ways to engage students that might not be available otherwise.
“I think the university and alumni should focus on creating these kind of permanent positions for faculty,” Teter said. “So that students are taught by permanent faculty at Fordham and can be assured [of] devoted teachers and scholars who are ready to mentor and work with students.”
Teter said the chair is a step toward providing students with more opportunities in Jewish Studies.
“The chair is named in her honor,” Lang said. “It’s an opportunity for the holder of the chair to continue her legacy in all of its richness.”
In addition to the chair, the department plans to hold an annual lecture in Hoffman’s memory, with more information to be announced.
Lang said the excitement surrounding the honoring of Hoffman’s legacy makes Lang wish she had known her.
“Clearly, she was so special,” Lang said.
