Offers a B.A. and minor in modern Jewish studies. Features more than 40 courses focusing on Holocaust studies; American Jewish studies with emphases on social justice and Jewish material cultures; Israel studies; Judaism as religion and philosophy; and comparative Jewish literatures.

Serving a diverse student body, courses are also available through CSU Online and ElderCollege, expanding access throughout California. Department strengths translate into public lectures and events on and off campus.

Professors include Kitty Millet; Marc Dollinger (Richard and Rhoda Goldman Chair); Fred Astren (emeritus); Eran Kaplan (Richard and Rhoda Goldman Chair in Israel Studies); and Rachel B. Gross (John and Marcia Goldman Chair in American Jewish Studies).

Each semester, course offerings may include: Hebrew language instruction; Judaism: An Introduction; Jewish Social Responsibility; American Jewish History; Antisemitism and Social Justice; Arab-Israeli Conflict; Ancient Jewish History; Modern Jewish History; Israeli Democracy: Politics, Institutions and Society; Israeli Cinema; Jerusalem: Portrait of a City; Holocaust and Literature; Holocaust and Genocide; Holocaust and Law; Jewish Literature of the Americas; 20th Century American Jewish Women Writers; European Jewish Writers; Judaism, Christianity and Islam; Hebrew Bible; Kabbalah: Jewish Mysticism and Literature; Film and the Holocaust; Judaism: Religion and Text; Repairing the World: The Jewish Call for Social Justice; and Christmas and Hanukkah in the United States, as well as numerous electives in Jewish cultural studies.