Trustee's gift establishes Richman Distinguished Fellow in Public Life

Program will bring to campus individuals who advance social justice

Brandeis Trustee Carol Richman Saivetz ’69, P ’97, P ’01 and her family made a generous gift to establish the Fred and Rita Richman Distinguished Fellow in Public Life, which will bring individuals to campus who have had a significant impact on improving American society, strengthening democratic institutions and advancing social justice. 



The new fellowship program, named in honor of Carol’s parents, complements the recent conversion of the Fred and Rita Richman Distinguished Visiting Professorship to an endowed chair in politics or economics.

“The Richman Distinguished Fellow in Public Life makes an important contribution to Brandeis as an institution committed to public service and social justice,” President Fred Lawrence said. “We thank the members of the Saivetz family for their gift and their longstanding commitment to Brandeis.”


Appointment as a Richman Fellow includes an honorarium of $25,000 and requires the individual selected to spend two to three days on the Brandeis campus, meeting with students and faculty and participating in other activities.

Adam Jaffe, the Fred C. Hecht Professor in Economics, will chair a faculty-student committee that will review and evaluate nominations before forwarding recommendations to the president. Nominations, which must include a narrative of no more than 1,000 words explaining the rationale for the nominee’s selection, must be received by March 1 for candidates to be considered for appointment during the 2013-2014 academic year. 

Nominations may be mailed to the Richman Distinguished Fellow in Public Life Committee, attention John Hose, Brandeis University, 415 South St., Mailstop 122, Waltham, MA 02453 or submitted online at the Richman Fellow website.

The Richman and Saivetz families have a long, multi-generational involvement with Brandeis. Carol became an alumni leader in the 1970s, together with her husband, former Brandeis Alumni Association President Richard Saivetz ’69, who died in 2000. Their children, Michael ’97 and Aliza ’01, are both Brandeis alumni. Aliza is married to Daniel Glasser ’02. The gifts from the Richman and Saivetz families have supported student scholarships and the study and teaching of architecture at Brandeis.