The UAHC establishes a teacher training and adult education school named the College of Jewish Studies (CJS). The faculty is part-time and made up mostly of local rabbis.
The CJS comes under the joint auspices of HUC-JIR and the UAHC.
The first appropriation from the HUC-JIR budget - $10,000 - is made to the Los Angeles school.
May 29 - Jack Skirball, a prominent filmmaker who had been ordained at HUC-JIR and a chief proponent of a HUC-JIR/LA campus, leads a group that secures a state charter for a "California School" of the College-Institute. Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin becomes Dean of the combined institution offering teacher-training, adult education, and degree granting programs.
Fall - Formal pre-rabbinic classes take place for the first time. The initial group consists of four students and is taught by Dov Bin-Nun.
The HUC-JIR/LA Department of Sacred Music is organized under the leadership of Cantor William Sharlin.
The degree program in Jewish education is launched.
Samuel S. Cohon joins HUC-JIR/LA upon retiring from the HUC-JIR/Cincinnati faculty. He donates his collection of nine thousand volumes to become the nucleus of what is currently the Frances-Henry Library.
The Appian Way property in the Hollywood Hills becomes the first HUC-JIR structure.
Fall - HUC-JIR classes begin at Appian Way.
Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk succeeds Rabbi Isaiah Zeldin as HUC-JIR/LA Dean.
HUC-JIR/LA enters into an "arrangement" with USC whereby students are offered the possibility of simultaneous enrollment in both institutions with reciprocity of course credits towards graduate and undergraduate degrees.
The School of Jewish Communal Service is formed. Gerald Bubis is appointed Director (1968-1989). The program is the first of its kind and has an initial class of 15 students.
The Rhea Hirsch School of Education is founded, initiating a three-year full time M.A. program. Rabbi William Kramer serves as the Director, succeeded by Dr. William Cutter (1970-1980). The RHSOE becomes involved with UC Santa Barbara in the Ford/Esalen project in Humanistic Education. From 1974-1980 it provides teacher enhancement resources for use in national summer institutes.
Rabbi Alfred Gottschalk is appointed HUC-JIR President. Rabbi Lewis M. Barth succeeds Rabbi Gottschalk as HUC-JIR/LA Dean (1971-1979).
The new HUC-JIR/LA campus, adjacent to the University of Southern California, is opened.
HUC-JIR functions as USC's undergraduate Judaic Studies arm, later named the Louchheim School of Judaic Studies. The Louchheim School currently educates over 600 USC students of all faiths. This is the only arrangement in the U.S. in which a Jewish seminary provides exclusive instruction in Judaica for students at a secular university.
The HUC-JIR Museum, originally located in Cincinnati, re-locates to become the HUC-JIR Skirball Museum at HUC-JIR/LA.
The Master's program in Jewish Communal Service is offered.
The School of Jewish Communal Service offers a Dual Masters degree program in social work with USC and a joint Masters degree program with the Rhea Hirsch School of Education.
The School of Jewish Communal Service sponsors its first Seminar in Israel.
The School of Jewish Communal Service offers a Dual Masters degree program in social work and Jewish Communal Service with the George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University, St. Louis.
The School of Jewish Communal Service offers a Dual Masters degree program in gerontology and Jewish Communal Service with the USC School of Gerontology.
The Rhea Hirsch School of Education and Skirball Museum create the Museum Utilization for Student Education (MUSE) program. Funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, the program trains docents and public school teachers to utilize museum resources in educating children, and educates hundreds of public and Jewish school students about multicultural life.
Rabbi Uri Herscher is appointed HUC-JIR/LA Dean (1979-1985).
The Rhea Hirsch School of Education establishes the Tartak Learning Center, providing media and instructional resources for part-time teachers.
Sara Lee is appointed Director of the Rhea Hirsch School of Education (1980 to present).
The School of Jewish Communal Service offers a Dual Masters degree program in public administration and Jewish Communal Service with USC's School of Public Administration.
The Rhea Hirsch School of Education offers a Ph.D. program in Jewish Education.
The RHSOE, in co-operation with Project Discovery (co-sponsored by Wilshire Boulevard Temple and the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles), institutes a program in which a Jewish education student serves as a Judaic Studies teacher and resource person in two Catholic high schools.1984 The School of Jewish Communal Service offers a Dual Masters degree program in social work and Jewish Communal Service with the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.
Rabbi Lee Bycel is appointed HUC-JIR/LA Dean (1985-1997). Rabbi Uri Herscher is appointed HUC-JIR Executive Vice-President (1985-1995).
The Rhea Hirsch School of Education inaugurates a summer certificate program to train Jewish day school teachers and principals and hosts the first national conference for directors and other personnel of Reform Day Schools throughout North America.
Ted Kanner is named Director of the Daniels School of Jewish Communal Service (1989-90).
Dr. H. Jack Mayer is named Director of the Daniels School of Jewish Communal Service (1990-1994).
The School of Jewish Communal Service and USC School of Public Administration add specialization in synagogue management to the Double Masters Degree program.
The School of Jewish Communal Service and USC create the Tom Bradley Internship Program through which multiethnic USC students and HUC-JIR students engage in dialogue and joint seminars. The USC students serve summer internships in Jewish agencies and the HUC-JIR students serve internships with organizations representing diverse ethnic groups in Los Angeles.1992 The School of Jewish Communal Service offers a Dual Masters degree program in communications management and Jewish Communal Service with the Annenberg School of Communications at USC.
The Rhea Hirsch School of Education creates the Day Schools for the 21st Century project that works to intensify the Jewish character, expand the Jewish mission, and create both a community of
Jewish learning and learning organization with the participating day schools.
The Rhea Hirsch School of Education creates a Postgraduate Residency Program, placing graduates in Jewish Day Schools.
The RHSOE creates Experiment in Congregational Education, "to bring together a small number of Reform congregations to re-think and re-structure the full range of their educational programs, as they affect all age groups" with the ultimate purpose "to widen the definition of education in the congregational setting, and to assist congregations in their efforts to transform themselves into learning communities." This program receives generous support from the Mandel Associated Foundations and the Nathan Cummings Foundation.
Marla Abraham is named Director of the Daniels School of Jewish Communal Service (1994-1995).
Dr. Steven Windmueller is named Director of the Daniels School of Jewish Communal Service (1995 to present)
The HUC-JIR Skirball Cultural Center opens.
The Rhea Hirsch School of Education receives a $250,000 grant from the Righteous Persons Foundation to support the continuation of the Postgraduate Residency Program.
Rabbi Lewis M. Barth is appointed HUC-JIR/LA Dean (1997 to present).
Rabbinic Ordination at HUC-JIR/LA is approved.
The School of Jewish Communal Service offers a Dual Masters degree program in Business Administration and Jewish Communal Service with the Marshall School of Business at USC.
The School of Jewish Communal Service offers a track in informal education with the Rhea Hirsch School of Education.HUC-JIR/LA creates Sexual Orientation Issues in Congregations and Community Initiative.
Agnes and Rabbi Erwin Herman fund the creation of the Virtual Resource Center for Sexual Orientation Issues in the Jewish Community, an on-line educational resource for HUC-JIR students, faculty, and alumni in working with issues relating to the gay and lesbian communities of all faiths.
The Kalsman Family endows HUC-JIR's Lee and Irving Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health, an innovative center for the exploration of religion and healing, advocacy, and training for religious and professional healthcare leaders.
May 5 - the first ordination of HUC-JIR/LA at Wilshire Boulevard Temple; eight new Reform rabbis (3 men, 5 women) are ordained.