The College of Idaho has received a $200,000 gift from the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation that will help endow a lecture series exploring contemporary Jewish issues and strengthen an initiative that establishes the College as a center for Jewish studies in the Intermountain West.

The gift will add to the endowment for the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation Lectureship in Judaic Studies, which brings Jewish dignitaries and public figures to campus to speak about tolerance, diversity, history and current events and will complement the work of a new professor in Judaic studies who will begin teaching at the College in fall 2014.

The Foundation and its chair, C of I alumnus Ray Neilsen ’88, were major supporters of the College’s recently completed $2.2 million initiative to fund the first fully endowed chair in Judaic studies in the Intermountain West.