A NEW JUDAIC STUDIES INSTITUTE is being founded at the University of Michigan:

U. of Mich. receives $20 million for Judaic studies institute (Detroit Free Press)

February 23, 2005, 9:36 AM

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- The University of Michigan on Wednesday announced a $20 million gift to establish a Judaic studies institute.

[...]

The institute -- to be called the Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies -- will reside within Michigan's existing Frankel Center for Judaic Studies.

The new institute will bring 14 of the world's leading scholars from a variety of disciplines to Ann Arbor for an academic year to collaborate in advancing scholarly research on the history, culture, literature, and religion of the Jews from antiquity to the present.

[...]

This is welcome and exciting news.

(Via Paul Nikkel at Deinde.)