Congrats to our colleagues in Ethiopic studies! The University of Toronto Arts and Science website is announcing a successful endowment campaign and a major gift by Abel Tesfaye, known as The Weekend, in support of the Ethiopic Program at University of Toronto.
The Ethiopic Program is co-administered by the Centre for Medieval Studies and the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations. It's one of the few programs in the world to offer regular classes in the ancient Ethiopian language Ge'ez.
The campaign's major donor, The Weekend, was recently named one of 2020's most influential people by Time Magazine. He has previously supported Ethiopic studies at the U of T, as has the broader Ethiopian community. Ge'ez is important as a classical language, especially for historical and biblical studies; it's the language of the oldest complete Gospel manuscript and one of the first Christian kingdoms, predating the conversion of Constantine in Byzantium.
More on the story is covered by the Arts and Science endowment announcement, including comments by our own Michael Gervers. Congrats!