Editor's Note: This article was updated for the August 25 print edition of The Justice.

On June 3, Prof. Ilan Troen ’63 (NEJS) began his term as the president of the Association for Israel Studies, an international scholarly community dedicated to the study of Israel.

Troen is the fourth president of the association and the first from Brandeis.

According to its website, the association is an “international scholarly society devoted to the academic and professional study of Israel.

The Association’s membership is composed of scholars from all disciplines in the social sciences and many in the humanities.”

The association now has approximately 600 members, according to Troen.

“The fascination with Israel is really wide, so the first thing the association does is to facilitate conversations and exchanges of ideas and scholarship between the very diverse group of people who are engaged in the study of Israel,” Troen said in a phone interview with the Justice. “There’s a wide spectrum of people who are interested in Israel, and their association with Israel drives these great forums for their interests.”

Troen said that the Association engages international scholars through annual conferences and a journal, the Israel Studies Review, which is available in libraries worldwide.

Troen stated in the interview that one of the larger goals for his presidency is to “continually expand membership,” which he noted has historically been largely American and Israeli but in recent years has spread across Europe, Asia and Latin America.

“Israel studies is a subject of worldwide interest, and the goal is to reach out to those people abroad, wherever they happen to be, and to make the institution one of their academic homes,” Troen said. “So the issues are large, the interest is large and the population of people engaged in it is expanding by enormous leaps.”

Troen added that he plans to bring scholarly contacts he connects with through his work as president to Brandeis to lecture and engage in discussions.

“I expect that being president will only enhance that kind of travel and my involvement [abroad], but I will lead my classes, I will be prompt and I will return the papers on time,” he said.

“I also have a good number of doctoral students, and I will service them,” he added.

“I think that these kinds of contacts will only enhance what I do as a teacher in the classroom.”

Troen also stated that “Israel studies as a field of study in the university began at Brandeis University” with the first courses on Israel taught by the late Prof. Benjamin Halpern (NEJS), whose students included President Emeritus, Jehuda Reinharz Ph.D. ’72.

“This University has traditionally had programs that—whether they were called Israel studies or not—actually dealt with that area, and the early scholars in America who actually studied Israel were very often Brandeis graduates,” Troen added in a later email to the Justice.

“There are also chairs in Hebrew Literature and a strong tradition of teaching Zionism, contemporary Jewish History and Middle Eastern Studies which are essential to a proper understanding of Israeli history,”

“In addition, the Schusterman Center for Israel Studies is the first such center dedicated to the comprehensive teaching and research of Israel. It is also the largest and leading such center.”

Troen went on to note that he and his vice president, Dr. Donna Robinson Divine ’63, also a Brandeis graduate, both “discovered” the field of Israel studies as undergraduates at the University.

“That [type of experience] is really true for many people. It’s been true for years, and I think it’s evermore true now,” he added.

“So it’s not incidental that a member of the Brandeis faculty was asked to be the president of this organization. This is a place that people have looked to and continue to look to, from the period of Ben Halpern and Jehuda Reinharz to the present.”

Troen is the University’s Karl, Harry and Helen Stoll Professor of Israel Studies. According to a June 17 BrandeisNOW article, Troen was formerly the director of the Ben-Gurion Research Institute and Archives and was the dean of the faculty of humanities and social sciences at Ben-Gurion University.

He has also served as the director of the Schusterman Center since its foundation in 2007 and is the founding director of the Brandeis Summer Institute for Israel Studies, which was established in 2004.

Though he will be on sabbatical in the fall semester, Troen will be teaching two courses in the winter: a survey course on Israeli history—NEJS 145—and “Conflict and Consensus in Israeli history and society”—NEJS 185.