NEW YORK (JTA) — The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion established a provost chair as part of a $4.1 million grant from the Cleveland-based Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation.

Along with establishing the  Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Provost Chair at the Cincinnati institute, the grant given this week will go toward continued funding for HUC’s Mandel Initiative for Visionary Leadership.

Rabbi Michael Marmur started as the provost chair on Monday. He previously served as vice president for academic affairs at HUC.

The Mandel Initiative for Visionary Leadership is a three-year program that functions as an incubator for future Reform rabbinical, cantorial and education leaders.

“The Mandel Initiative students are committed to becoming Jewish leaders for the Jewish community throughout North America, Israel and around the world,” Morton Mandel said in a statement. “Our Jewish future depends in part on these students’ capacity to inspire the next generations of knowledgeable and engaged Jews.”

HUC President Rabbi David Ellenson said the Mandel Initiative “deepens our rabbinical students’ capacity for leadership and empowers them to develop their own visions based on increasingly informed and thoughtfully held values and commitments.”