Mandel Center for the Humanities

Mission and History

The Mandel Center for the Humanities seeks to explore the pressing and far-reaching questions of the past, present and future using the interpretive capacities of the humanities, the social sciences and the creative arts. Serving as a hub to connect different parts of the Brandeis community and to link Brandeis with communities beyond, the Center hosts innovative programming, supports faculty and students in cutting-edge, globally oriented and public-facing research, and advances humanistic understanding across the boundaries of nation, discipline, and medium.

Our History

The programs at the MCH were launched by a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and are sustained by generous annual funding from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation. The Mandel Foundation was established by Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel of Cleveland, Ohio. Its primary mission is to help provide outstanding leadership for the nonprofit world. The Foundation supports leadership education programs in its own institutions and at selected universities and organizations.

In an effort to protect and fortify the study of the humanities in higher education, the Mandel Foundation committed $22.5 million in 2007 to build a humanities center at Brandeis University. Described as having come "at a critical time," when the humanities are under increasing duress in a culture dominated by the hard sciences and the valuation of empirical data, the Mandel Foundation's gift reflects the belief that society must support the liberal arts tradition, and that for education to be truly complete, it must be broadly constructed on a solid humanities foundation.

Through the years, the Mandel family has generously supported Brandeis through the establishment of the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, the Mandel Chair in Jewish Education, the Barbara and Morton Mandel Endowed Graduate Fellowship in the Humanities, and the Barbara and Morton Mandel Endowed Graduate Fellowship in English and American Literature.

“The hallmark of our philanthropy is our commitment to invest in people with the values, ability and passion to change the world.”

Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel