 | Then ...During a class in 1970.
And Now ...Weisbord during a casual faculty-student chat at the Memorial Union.
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Flashback: Robert WeisbordHistory Professor Robert “Bob” Weisbord has been a pioneer in many things throughout his career. He is:
•One of the first faculty members to receive the URI Foundation Excellence Award for teaching in 1970;
•The first professor in Rhode Island to teach Black history, which he began teaching in 1966 upon first joining the University faculty;
•Author of the first comprehensive study of relations between Blacks and Jews in the U.S., Bittersweet Encounter: The Afro-American and the American Jew (Negro Universities Press) and written with fellow faculty member Arthur Stein, (a 1981 Teaching Excellence Award winner.)
Not afraid to tackle difficult questions, Weisbord has been among the first at the University to address the history of such issues as why relations between Blacks and Jews were often contentious, race and sports, the Holocaust, Black Nationalism, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. A winner of both the URI Teaching and Research Excellence Awards (in 1987), he has published significant work on Jewish-Black relations, Pan-Africanism, papal politics during WWII, and more.
Weisbord has received grants from the Ford and Rockefeller foundations, among many others. Among his awards, he was recognized in 1995 with the Jewish Federation’s Never Again award, presented annually to one who has sought to reduce anti-semitism, racism and prejudice and by Brown University’s Afro-American Studies Program as the recipient of the 1993 Charles H. Nichols Award - given to the Rhode Island resident who contributed the most to the scholarly knowledge of black people.
As part of the University’s historical record, what was written about Weisbord more than three decades ago marking his Teaching Excellence Award still rings true with students today:
“Weisbord makes history meaningful. The past acquires relevance, and indeed, becomes indispensable to understanding and coping with the present. His approach to his subject is at once both scholarly and demanding, stimulating and thought-provoking. Both inside the classroom and out, he encourages student interest and skillfully turns it into a vehicle for teaching students how to think. By his detached manner, his openness to varied viewpoints and his concern for vigorous intellectual exchange, he makes plain his commitment to a University as a place where the pursuit of truth takes precedence over all other purposes....”
By Jhodi Redlich
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