During Summer 2025, the WVU Provost’s office placed the Pi Lambda Phi Jewish Studies Lectureship Endowment under the guidance of the Humanities Center.
This relationship is a mutually supportive opportunity for both the Humanities Center and Jewish Studies. With generous additional support from the Art Museum of WVU and Dr. Judith Stitzel, Professor Emerita of English and the founding director of the WVU Center for Women’s and Gender Studies, the Humanities Center welcomed Dr. Jeremy Dauber.
Dauber, a prolific and world-renowned scholar of American Studies and Jewish and Yiddish Literature and Culture at Columbia University, packed the WVU Art Museum’s education center to present, “Jewish Comedy: A History in Five Jokes.”
Dauber’s presentation was the perfect blend of learning and laughing. For a laugh, here is one of the jokes he told:
Desperately looking for a parking space, Shmuley tells G-d, “If you give me a spot, I promise I’ll go to synagogue every week.” Suddenly, Shmuley sees a spot. He darts into the space, beating another driver, wipes his brow, and tells G-d, “Never mind, I found one!”