Audrey G. Ratner Speaker Series

Audrey G. Ratner Lecture

Rottman Family Lecture

In December 2020, Colonel (IL) Jennifer N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Retired) facilitated a gift commitment of $1,000,000 over five years from the TAWANI Foundation to establish the Audrey G. Ratner Excellence Endowed Fund for American Jewry and Jewish Culture. Additionally, the TAWANI Foundation agreed to match, dollar for dollar, over a period of five years, private cash and stock donations received by Tulane in support of the Audrey G. Ratner Excellence Endowed Fund, for a total of up to $1,000,000. The TAWANI Foundation gift is made in honor of Audrey Gilbert Ratner, the matriarch of the Ratner-Pritzker families. Ms. Ratner is mother to Jennifer, and grandmother to both Andrew Pritzker and Emily Ratner. Ms. Ratner selected Tulane to be the recipient of this honorary gift from her daughter Jennifer to honor her grandchildren’s education and continued involvement at Tulane.

 
The Audrey G. Ratner Excellence Endowed Fund for American Jewry and Jewish Culture supports a dynamic slate of action-oriented programming goals, innovative student engagement activities, and cutting edge research, educating Tulane students for the transformative purpose of becoming the forward-thinking Jewish leaders of tomorrow. To accomplish this goal, the endowment will support key initiatives and programs. Students will have opportunities to cultivate leadership skills through structured academic experiences: the Audrey G. Ratner Jewish Leadership Course and Student Faculty Research Funds.

 
The Ratner Speaker Series supports lectures, roundtables, and films and could bring internationally renowned speakers to Tulane University. Our participants—artists, scholars, public intellectuals, communal leaders—will contribute to a robust conversation about American Jewish culture, history, and ideas, to which the entire Tulane community would be invited. Ratner Speakers will also meet with student leaders at Hillel, connecting their academic work with our community and offering another area where student leaders could experience life-changing growth in their personal understanding and relationship to Judaism and Judaic culture.