Christmas came 4 days early on December 21st, 2017, with a donation of $800,000 by a few philanthropist Jains in Los Angeles and from Jain Center of Southern California in Los Angeles. This enabled us to establish the “Bhagwan Mallinath Endowed Professorship in Jain Studies” at Loyola Marymount University (a very elite university) in Los Angeles, California. Prior to this, during 2017, two chairs in Jain Studies were established in California.
- “Mohini Jain Presidential Chair in Jain Studies” with a donation of $1.5 million was established at the University of California at Davis.
- During 2017, 150th birth anniversary of Shrimad Rajchandraji was celebrated all over the world. The generous one million dollar donation by philanthropist Jains in Los Angeles made it possible to pay a special tribute to Shrimadji by establishing a “Shrimad Rajchandra Chair in Jain Studies” at the University of California at Riverside. The university’s College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, as well as the Department of Religious Studies Feb. 17 signed papers for the establishment of the Chair.
In 2015 also, we had seen several Universities making a commitment to provide Jain education:
- “Bhagwan Parshvanath Presidential Chair in Jain Studies” was established at the University of California at Irvine with a total funding of two million dollars.
- Jain Studies classes began at San Diego State University in San Diego, California
- University of North Texas, Dallas, Bhagwan Adinath Professorship with a donation of $500,000.
- Rice University Houston, Texas. Bhagwan Mahavir Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Jain Studies with a yearly donation of $40,000.
List of Jain Study Centers:
As of December 2017, the Jain community has built/established 4 such Gyan Mandirs in the names of our Tirthankars. These are:
- Bhagwan Adinath endowed Professorship in Jain Studies at University of North Texas in Denton (Dallas)
- Bhagwan Mallinath endowed Professorship in Jain Studies at Loyola Marymount University, LA
- Bhagwan Parshavanath Presidential Chair in Jain Studies at University of California Irvine in LA
- Bhagwan Mahavir endowed Professorship at Florida International University in Miami, Florida
Studies and Research in Jainism are now offered at many universities in USA, Canada and Europe.