THE OXFORD CENTRE FOR HEBREW AND JEWISH STUDIES gets a new president in the fall:

American to lead Oxford Centre
02/05/2008 (Jewish Chronicle, UK)
By Simon Rocker
An academic who has written books on Kabbalah and Jewish belief is to be the first American head of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies.

David Ariel, 58, the acting president of Baltimore Hebrew University, will succeed Peter Oppenheimer in October. He retires after eight years as president of the centre.

[...]

And this is especially exciting:

A key objective will be to increase funding for Oxford’s fellowships, as well as endowing new posts in areas such as Sephardic studies, Kabbalah and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Congratulations to David Ariel and to the Oxford Centre.