metro Good Place from page 8 MSU's Most Famous Jewish Athlete A be Eliowitz played football at MSU from 1931-32. He was a co-captain and All-American on the 1932 team. He received the first MVP (Governor of Michigan) award ever given by Michigan State, and the Spartans finished with a record of 5-3-1. He was also on the MSU baseball team. "My dad was a remarkable athlete," says Linda Gorback, a Temple Israel member from West Bloomfield. "He pri- marily played fullback and halfback, but he was also the punter and played quar- terback on occasion, too." Eliowitz went on to a remarkable five- season career in the Canadian Football League, where he played with the Ottawa Rough Riders and Montreal Alouettes. He was an All Star five times as a run- ning back and as a flying wing. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1969. After playing in Canada, he was a ties were on a downward spiral, although we had a vibrant chapter," Rudick says. "Students were not so involved with Hillel then, which was run by a rabbi:" Rudick, finance director for Hanson's Windows and Siding, still is active with the MSU AEPi chapter, which has about 80 members who have the opportunity to go to educational seminars and national conven- tions. "The fraternity's goal is to develop Jewish leaders and lifelong friendships:' The number of out-of-state students at MSU died off through the 1970s-'80s as it became more economical to study closer to home. It wasn't until the early 1990s that Jewish enrollment again began to increase. More Jewish Students It's been an evolution, Serling says, citing many factors that combined to increase the number of Jewish students enrolling at MSU. A main reason, he says, is the rising academic standards. GPAs are up dramati- cally at MSU over the last 10-15 years. The average freshman is coming in with a GPA of 3.4 or 3.5. "That increase has ratcheted up respectability in the eyes of Jewish fami- lies," Serling says. Second, he says, as the University of Michigan takes more and more out-of- state students, it's increasingly difficult for local students to get in. "That combina- tion means more Jewish kids want to go to MSU." Perhaps most important, however, in this resurgence of Jewish students is a solid Jewish Studies Program, the most Israel study-abroad programs in the country and a new Hillel House that features hundreds of student-driven Jewish programs every 10 September 5 • 2013 Mit Abe Eliowitz physical education teacher in the Detroit school system and continued to coach football, winning city league champion- ships at Denby and Cooley high schools. He was inducted into the Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1991. ❑ year. Leib has been on the JSP advisory board since its founding, working with Serling toward promoting MSU as a place to go for Jewish students. "At the time, our perception was the number of Jewish kids going to MSU had diminished," he says. "They were going to U-M, Wayne. There weren't the same num- bers as when we had been there:' Thankfully, then-president Peter McPherson was a firm believer that the more Jews on campus improved the univer- sity on many levels. "We had support in creating a Jewish Studies Program focused more on contem- porary Jewish life and our study-abroad programs," Leib says. MSU has given financial support in many ways, including funding three core positions in Hebrew language, American Jewish history and Jewish religious stud- ies. McPherson and Simon helped lead the fundraising effort for the beautiful new MSU Hillel House, now in its 13th year. Today there are approximately 3,000 Jewish students at MSU. Much of the growth is the result of the great partnership between MSU and the Jewish community in Michigan. More than $6 million has been raised by the Jewish community for the Jewish Studies program alone. Jewish Studies Program Back in the mid-1990s, Steve Weiland was approached to further develop the fledgling JSP at the university. "Because of the orga- nizational experience I had; Weiland says, "not because of my Hebrew" He and Ken Waltzer, current JSP director, developed a plan together. "The reality was that in the early-1990s, there were no Hebrew classes, no lectures, no events related to Jewish life. There was very little related to Israel; Waltzer says. So he and Weiland decided on four basic sub- jects essential to the pro- gram: Hebrew, American Ken Waltzer Jewish history, religious studies and Israel. "The key step was bringing Hebrew into the curriculum in the mid-'90s with help from Federation, which funded a part-time instructor; says Weiland, who ran the program until 2005, and currently teaches higher education at MSU. "Also key was support from the university administra- tion:' With that support, they were able to hire four people who worked half-time in Jewish Studies and half in their main departments. "We were having speakers, concerts, movies, lectures, anything we could think of to bring people together; Weiland adds. "The Jewish Studies Program became the congregation of many Jewish faculty mem- bers on campus:' Waltzer says that over the last 20 years, they've been able to develop a full Jewish Studies Program "with a menu for stu- dents to choose from as a minor. This year, anthropology professor Chen Bram is our Israeli fellow, and he'll be teaching about Jewish/Muslim relations:' he says. "There are a lot of opportunities for students to study in Israel, a lot of scholarships. We have a very active yiddishkeit, a lot related to modern Israel — lectures, film, etc:' Study In Israel MSU is the national leader in study abroad programs, including study abroad in Israel. Weiland sums it up: "Because of Michael's support and Ken's ingenuity, we've become national leaders in providing study in Israel opportunities for our students. Through the ups and downs, Ken has stuck with it:' The most hands-on, in-depth study of Israel offered by the JSP is the MSU Jewish Studies Summer Program at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, which offers students the chance to earn college credit while living and studying in Jerusalem. The program is designed for students interested in learning firsthand about the history, poli- tics, society, religions and culture of Israel. There's also a spring semester program for students to continue making progress in their academic programs while study- ing Israeli culture and history. In addition, there is a Junior Year Abroad program and a Green Israel program, which studies environmental challenges, such as water scarcity, in the Jewish state. Professor Yael Aronoff, the chair in Israeli Studies, just got back from taking 20 students on the summer program. It was her third time taking students to Israel. While there, students take two classes (eight credits) at Hebrew University: Politics and Society, and History of Modern Israel. During Yael Aronoff the politics course, stu- dents had to simulate an Israeli election and form a coalition government. "It was a fantastic experience Aronoff says. "We also went to think tanks and NGOS, the Shimon Peres Center for Peace, academic conferences, including panels on the Pillar of Defense and discussions on counter-terrorism:' While in Israel, students went north to study security-related issues, such as the Iron Dome, rockets and bomb shelters. They also went to Kibbutz Ein Hashloshah and to Sderot, both on the border with Gaza. Sderot has been hit most heavily by Palestinian rockets. This time, Aronoff had a few U-M stu- dents on the trip. "U-M is not running a study-abroad program because they are Fraternity brothers Bob Britton, Michael Serling and Ron Barron, still friends after 50 years.