American Jewish University
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| Motto | Leadership, Identity, Innovation |
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| Type | Private |
| Established | 1947 |
| Affiliation | Judaism |
| President | Robert Wexler |
| Location | Bel-Air, Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Campus | Urban |
| Mascot | Zion the Lion |
| Website | www.aju.edu |
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The American Jewish University, formerly the separate institutions University of Judaism and Brandeis-Bardin Institute, is a Jewish, non-denominational educational institution in Los Angeles, California.
Its largest component is its Whizin Center for Continuing Education in which 12,000 students are enrolled annually in non-credit granting courses. A prominent program of the Center is the university's annual speaker series, featuring luminaries like Tony Blair, Colin Powell, and other political and diplomatic leaders.
AJU's academic division includes the College of Arts and Sciences, leading to a B.A. degree in majors such as Biology & Bioethics (pre-med), Business Administration & Innovation, Communication, Literature, and Media, Jewish Studies, Politics & Global Studies, and Psychology. In addition, AJU offers graduate degrees through the Fingerhut School of Education, The David L. Lieber Graduate School, and the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies, a Conservative Jewish rabbinical seminary. AJU is host to the Miller Introduction to Judaism Program, which prepares students to convert to Judaism and engages interfaith couples and families, as well as three "think tanks": the Institute on American Jewish-Israel Relations, and the Sigi Ziering Institute for Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust and the Center for Policy Options. Through the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, the University has oversight over Camp Alonim and Gan Alonim Day Camp.
The University of Judaism was founded in 1947. The spiritual founder was Dr. Mordecai Kaplan, a Jewish thinker and philosopher whose goal was to create an institution representing the diversity of Judaic expression in the United States. Another co-founder was Rabbi Jacob Pressman. Initially a project of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City and the Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles, the UJ became an independent institution in the 1970s. It became officially non-denominational with the ascension to the presidency of Dr. Robert Wexler in 1992. Dr. Wexler was preceded in the presidency by Dr. Simon Greenberg (1947–1963) and Dr. David Lieber (1963–1992).
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