Ann and Bernard Malamud Faculty Scholar

In 2023, the family of former Oregon State University faculty member and Pulitzer Prize winning author Bernard Malamud made a gift to establish the Ann and Bernard Malamud Faculty Scholar.  It is the first endowed faculty position fund in the School of Writing, Literature and Film in the College of Liberal Arts.

The gift from the estate of Malamud’s son, Paul Malamud, who died in 2022, also supported an existing scholarship and created a visiting writer endowment, bolstering the writing program where Malamud developed his literary career before becoming one of the most influential post-World War II American Jewish writers.

In 1949, Malamud was a high school teacher in Brooklyn, a position that didn’t leave much time for creative writing. At the suggestion of his wife Ann Malamud, he sent around 200 letters to colleges across the nation, seeking a teaching position. This produced two offers. One was from Oregon State.

While teaching at Oregon State over the next 12 years, Malamud helped lay the foundation for writing programs in the College of Liberal Arts. His time in Oregon also “gave him the emotional space he needed to write much of his best work,” says his daughter, Janna Malamud Smith. She served as the executor of her brother’s estate, ensuring the gift created a remarkable legacy for the family at OSU.

Malamud published his first novel and won his first National Book Award while in Oregon. He also chronicled his experiences as an Oregon State instructor in his 1961 novel “A New Life.”