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Michigan Jewish
Institute looks forward
to new, larger home.

"."

Danielle Taubman

Joseph Lakier

Shelli Liebman Dorfman

Senior Writer

W

hen 18-year-old Danielle
Taubman of Farmington Hills
begins classes at University of
Michigan in Ann Arbor next Tuesday, she
will be ahead of the game, starting with
two history credits gained through a class
she took at the Michigan Jewish Institute
(MJI) while still in high school.
Among the nearly 2,000 students who
have taken courses at the Oak Park- based
MJI — some earning associate and bach-
elor degrees — are those like Danielle
who took classes that can earn both high
school and college credit.
For the past 13 years, both degree
students and guest students have passed
through the rented hallways of buildings
providing temporary housing for MJI.
The Aug. 20 unanimous approval of MJI's
amended building site plan by the West
Bloomfield Township board will change
all that. The amendment was for a facility

Building
For The
Future

Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov

larger and in a different area of the site
than one originally approved in 2002.
"We can finally start construction of our
own building that will house classrooms,
offices, a resource center and more said
Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov, president of the
school.
MJI's home will be built on the
Chabad Campus of West Bloomfield
between the Friendship Circle's Meer
Family Friendship Center and the Jack
and Miriam Shenkman Shul-Chabad
Lubavitch building.
Landry Newman Architecture in
Birmingham has already prepared a draw-
ing of the building's exterior and an inside
layout. According to Paul Levine, MJI's
director of marketing and student devel-
opment,"Engineering details and design
are under development. Construction con-
tracts have not yet been awarded."

What Is MJI?

The school, founded in 1994, was origi-
nally funded by the Lubavitch Foundation

of Michigan in Oak Park.
The independently operated, private
institution is a chartered and accredited
senior college recognized by the state
of Michigan and U.S. Department of
Education, with national Accrediting
Council for Independent Colleges and
Schools accreditation and approval
of the Council for Higher Education
Accreditation.
"For a number of years, we were focused
only on computer information systems
and business courses',' Shemtov said. "Now
we offer degrees in computer fields and in
Judaic studies."
MJI's business and computer degree
options now include the associate of
applied science degree in business and
information systems; and bachelor of
applied science degrees in computer infor-
mation systems.
This past school year, a bachelor of
applied science degree in Judaic studies
with concentrations in Judaic education
and in organizational leadership were
added to the curriculum.
Over all, 95 candidates have received
bachelor degrees from MJI. The college
also offers a two-year program toward a
certificate in talmudic law and jurispru-
dence. `And we are just finishing the first
year of a pilot program of online courses','
Shemtov said.
New courses have been prepared to add
to the 19 online courses that have already
been offered to degree candidates.
MJI classes are offered in the evenings
and on Sundays, with a yearlong post-
secondary study abroad program earn-
ing undergraduate degree credits from
schools with MJI articulation agreements.

Students with MJI degrees have gone
on to professional careers and to graduate
studies. "From its inception, MJI graduates
who did not choose immediate employ-
ment have gone on to earn postgraduate
degrees in areas ranging from education,
law, social work, technology and medi-
cine," Levine said.
MJI graduate Joseph Lakier of Oak
Park is currently attending Wayne State
University Law School in Detroit with a
full scholarship as a dean's scholar and
Lombard Fellow.
"After high school, I spent a year study-
ing in Israel and then enrolled at MJI," said
Lakier, 21. "The college had just started
its cooperative computer program so I
applied."
Earning a scholarship, he attended
MJI, graduating with a bachelor's degree
in computer information systems. "MJI
customized the program for me, allow-
ing me to take a few courses at Oakland
Community College and to accelerate
some of my classes so I could graduate
sooner:' Lakier said. "The smaller classes
allowed a student-to-faculty ratio that was
sometimes one-to-one

Teaching Teens

For the past seven years, MJI's Community
Guest and High School Dual Enrollment
Course program has offered classes to
individuals not enrolled in MJI's degree
programs.
High school students may receive both
high school and college credit for any of
MJI's classes, including computer courses.
However, various levels of Modern
Hebrew Language classes, Encountering

Building on page 14

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August 30 • 2007

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