Historian Martin Kramer to head Israel's first liberal-arts college

Middle Eastern historian Martin Kramer, author of various works on the Middle East and Islam -- including The Islamism Debate (1997), The Jewish Discovery of Islam (1999), and Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle Eastern Studies in America (2001) -- has been officially named president-designate of Shalom College in Jerusalem, Israel's first degree-granting liberal arts college.

The college will teach a core curriculum based on key texts in Western and Jewish history.

Shalem College will begin its first semester in October.

From Mr. Kramer's blog:

All the credit for this remarkable achievement goes to my colleagues—I myself have remained “on deck” for these past four years (this year, as a visiting professor in America), while they have done the painstaking work of gaining accreditation, raising funds, finding a campus (a beautiful building in Kiryat Moriah, pictured), recruiting faculty, and much more. The leader of this monumental effort has been Dr. Daniel Polisar, the most indefatigable man I have ever known. With wisdom and grit, and a steady sense of purpose, he has forged ahead through crises and tribulations to this day—his day.