Fundraising pushes BHU in new direction

In June, university officials announced that seven-year President Rela Mintz Geffen was stepping down, just weeks after major donor The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore announced it was significantly cutting funding.

A nationwide search for a new president — with fundraising experience — is under way, with candidates set to begin interviewing in August. University officials say they are hopeful that a new focus on raising money will lead to more students and programs.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for someone who wants to bring our university to the next stage,” said Erika Pardes Schon, chairwoman of Baltimore Hebrew’s board of trustees.

The next stage includes growing Baltimore Hebrew’s majority-graduate enrollment of about 120 students.

Exact targets haven’t been set yet, but Schon said the university could be poised to grow by about 50 percent over the next five years.

Baltimore Hebrew is also looking to expand its distance-learning program. A few courses are already offered online, but this fall, it will start offering an online graduate certificate program in Jewish education, equivalent to about half a master’s degree.

University spokeswoman Adina Lav said the program could fill a niche market for distance learning in Jewish studies.

“Let’s say you have a student in Nebraska and [he] is teaching at a Jewish school in Nebraska. [He] is not going to be able to bring the whole family here,” she said.

But as university officials eye a bigger future, they say Baltimore Hebrew University will remain an intimate educational experience.

“Our smallness is one of our attractions,” acting President Barry M. Gittlen said. “Students feel they can come and talk with professors, and it’s not the kind of — I hate to use this word — machine that some universities turn into.”

mmcilroy@baltimoreexaminer.com