The Board of Trustees has voted to award Prof. Jonathan Sarna (NEJS) ’75 M.A. ’75 the title of University Professor — the highest distinction that can be given to a professor, according to the University’s website.

There are currently only three other University Professors: Profs. David Hackett Fischer (HIST), Anita Hill (HS) and Steve Goldstein (BCBP) ’78. The title is “awarded to Brandeis faculty members of surpassing eminence whose work cuts across disciplinary boundaries,” according to the University’s website.

“It was obviously a great honor,” Sarna — who has been with the University since 1990 — said in a phone interview with the Justice. “I’ve received hundreds of messages on Facebook and email, … [and] I did not expect that this honor would be a way of reconnecting with so many people, but that too has been very gratifying.”

“Jonathan Sarna embodies the highest ideals of scholarship through his groundbreaking research, inspired teaching and public engagement. He is truly deserving of this honor,” Interim University President Lisa Lynch said of Sarna, according to an April 8 BrandeisNOW article.

In his interview with the Justice, Sarna reflected on his time at the University, explaining that the highlights of his career at the University span from professional to scholarly to teaching achievements, noting that nurturing students and helping them reach their own milestones has proven especially fulfilling.

In terms of his work as one of the leading scholars of American Jewish history, Sarna said, “Books are a bit like your children, and each one is born. … ‘American Judaism’ was one I’d always wanted to write. Its publication was really exciting, and the response to it was also a great thrill, … but each book is exciting in its own way.” His “American Judaism: A History” received an outpouring of praise, winning the Jewish Book Council’s Jewish Book of the Year Award in 2004.

While he is scheduled to take a sabbatical next year, he said he is considering adding some new courses when he comes back.

n particular, he said he hopes to teach a course on American Judaism and capitalism, which he said would show how the world of business and the free market affect American Jewish life.

He added that he has also considered teaching a course on the Soviet Jewry Movement, in which he played a small role.

A course on this movement would be especially important, he said, because the significance of the movement has not yet been fully understood in undergraduate academia, and it was one of the most important human rights campaigns of the post war era.

Sarna, the Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History also chairs the Hornstein Jewish Professional Leadership Program at the University, according to his faculty profile.

He also serves as the president of the Association for Jewish Studies and the Chief Historian of the National Museum of American Jewish History.

He graduated summa cum laude from the University in 1975 with highest honors in Judaic Studies and History.

Per tradition, Sarna will deliver a University Professor lecture to the community, though the date has yet to be announced as of press time, according to the BrandeisNOW article.