Center for Interfaith Studies boosted by $1M in donations

by Bennett J. Loudon Staff writer

Nazareth College has received a total of $1 million in donations to support the school’s Center for Interfaith Studies and Dialogue and the related academic department.
The center has been renamed the Brian and Jean Hickey Center for Interfaith Studies and Dialogue in honor of the Pittsford couple who donated $500,000 to the program.
The International Institute of Islamic Thought, based in Herndon, Va., also donated $500,000 to fund the new IIIT chair of interfaith studies.

Muhammad Shafiq, executive director of the Center and a religious studies professor at Nazareth, has accepted the post.
The IIIT donation was a challenge grant conditioned on a matching donation, which the Hickeys provided. The International Institute of Islamic Thought, a nonprofit cultural and educational organization, has provided funding to the interfaith center in the past.
“I admire and appreciate the work of Nazareth College. They recognize that faith is a major element in solving problems and moving ahead,” said Iqbal Unus, director of The Fairfax Institute, which is part of the International Institute of Islamic Thought.
Brian Hickey, 59, a Nazareth trustee and executive vice president at M&T Bank, said he was impressed by the work done at Nazareth in interfaith understanding, dialogue and collaboration.
“It is our hope that our contribution will provide greater prominence to that work and inspire others to continue it in Rochester and beyond,” said Jean Hickey, 57, primary therapist at Unity Behavioral Health.
Nazareth currently offers only a minor in interfaith studies. But with the new funding, an undergraduate major and a master’s degree will be offered within two years, Shafiq said, adding that a doctoral program may also be in the future.
By 2020, Shafiq hopes to establish a school of religious and interfaith studies at Nazareth.

The interfaith center has an office in the Golisano Academic Center on the Pittsford campus. Besides Shafiq, there is one full-time assistant. Most of the programs offered by the center are run by Shafiq with the help of student and faculty volunteers.
The center, created about six years ago, promotes research on the peaceful interaction of people from all cultures and faiths, offers training programs and workshops, and conducts conferences.
“Today is truly a milestone for Nazareth College,” Nazareth President Daan Braveman said at an announcement at the school on Wednesday.

“We believe the real goal of the center is to get people to believe that religious differences should be a source of strength and not a source of divisions,” Braveman said.
Referring to Brian and Jean Hickey, Braveman said: “They get it. They understand the work of the center is critical, not only to the community, but to the world, and I don’t think I’m overstating that.”
BLOUDON@DemocratandChronicle.com http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20111208/NEWS01/112080321/Center-for-Interfaith-Studies-and-Dialogue-Nazareth-College-Brian-Jean-Hickey