The Center has received awards and grants from several local, regional, national and international organizations.
Awards
The Muslim Community of Tidewater
recognized the Center for its “efforts to promote religious freedom for people of all faiths” and its “service to the cause of inter-religious understanding and harmony” (2004).
Joseph H. “Buddy” Strelitz Community Service Award
Given by the Jewish Community Center of South Hampton Roads to honor the NEXUS interfaith dialogue program, which the Center co-sponsors (2002).
Distinguished Merit Citation
Given by the National Conference for Community and Justice, Virginia Region, Tidewater Chapter, “in recognition and appreciation for continuing humanitarian contributions to the greater Tidewater community” (2001).
Human Rights Award
Given by the Virginia Beach Human Rights Commission, for the Center’s “support of human rights and intergroup understanding” (2001).
Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence
Given by the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars. The Fulbright program is designed to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of the United States and the peoples of the world through education and cultural exchange. The Center’s Fulbright scholar was from the University of Haifa, Israel (2000).
25th Anniversary Virginia Foundation Award for Religion and the Humanities
Given by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy, for the Center’s accomplishments and contributions in bridging the gap between the academic and scholarly world and the public life of Virginians (1999).
Grants
The Center is grateful for the contribution the following grants have made to the Center’s work.
Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy Grants
Grants from the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Public Policy partially funded the following programs:
- Religious Freedom and Political Conflict in America; spring 1998.
- The Bill of Rights, The Courts, and The Law; fall 1999.
- Religious/Freedom, Southern Style; spring 2001.
- For God and Country: Exploring the Relationship between Religion and Nationalism; spring 2002.
- Creationism, Evolution, and Intelligent Design: Religion and Science in the Public Schools; spring 2007.
Virginia Arts Commission Grants
The Virginia Arts Commission helped fund the following performances by Claudia Stevens sponsored by the Center:
- Madame F; spring 2001.
- Dreadfully Sorry, Guys; spring 2004.
- A Table Before Me; spring 2006.
The Association of American Colleges and Universities
The Center’s Spring 2004 Symposium Is Democracy a Dinosaur? was funded in part by a grant from the Center for Liberal Education and Civic Engagement (CLEC), a project of the Association of American Colleges and Universities intended to promote civic learning as a focus of academic inquiry. Virginia Wesleyan College was one of only seven (out of 137) colleges and universities, including the University of Michigan the University of Massachusetts, to receive CLEC grants.
The Zimmerman Program in Jewish History, Literature, and Culture
The Zimmerman Program in Jewish History, Literature and Culture, funded by a generous grant from Mr. Raymond Zimmerman, promotes understanding through the international exchange of ideas between Christians and Jews, in the hope of creating lasting friendships and expanding the boundaries of human wisdom, empathy and perception. The Center’s grant contributed to the costs of bringing a Fulbright Scholar to Virginia Wesleyan College during the spring semester, 2000, as well as a visit by Virginia Wesleyan Professor Dr. Craig Wansink and two VWC students to Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the summer of 1999. The grant also enabled the Henry Clay Hofheimer Library of Virginia Wesleyan College to develop its Judaica book collection, and provided support for lectures by several visiting Jewish scholars from 1998 through 2001.