New Ackerman Gift Enhances Online Learning in Holocaust Studies

A $1.1 million gift from the Edward and Wilhelmina Ackerman Foundation continues the family’s multigenerational support of the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at UT Dallas.

The gift will enhance the center’s internationally recognized scholarship while expanding its outreach mission through online learning.

“Today, the lessons of the Holocaust are more important than ever, which means the Ackerman Center’s mission is vital to continue that engagement with the past, a mission that means so much to my family,” said David B. Ackerman, Ackerman Foundation president and chairman of the Ackerman Center Advisory Board. “I am pleased that the Ackerman Foundation is again contributing to the ongoing, timeless mission of the Ackerman Center.”

Edward Ackerman was a Dallas investment advisor, philanthropist and community leader who died in 2016. He made his first donation to the Holocaust Studies Program in 1993. Generous support from Edward and Wilhelmina Ackerman led to the creation of the center in 2006.

The family foundation has invested in graduate fellowships in Holocaust studies, the development of undergraduate programs and the growth of educational outreach.

The foundation’s most recent contribution will expand the center’s endowment, support online educational programming and fund a new biennial awards gala. The funding for online and digital learning is particularly important because it will create new avenues for programs beyond the UT Dallas campus to fulfill the center’s outreach mission.

The gift supports New Dimensions: The Campaign for UT Dallas.

– Jeff Joiner