PHILADELPHIA, PA.- A $500,000 gift from University of the Arts Trustee Irvin J. Borowsky and his wife, Laurie Wagman, will enable the University to establish the Irvin Borowsky Prize in Glass Art and the Irvin Borowsky Center for Glass Arts.

The Irvin Borowsky Prize in Glass Art will be given annually to a glass artist whose vision and skills are advancing contemporary glass art. The artist selected will be invited to give a special lecture to the University community.

The portion of the gift dedicated to the Borowsky Center for Glass Arts will help to create a new craft center at the university, expanding the University’s glass facilities and its capacity to promote the study of the historical and contemporary significance of glass art. The new 3,700 square-foot facility will include a dedicated space for exhibitions and installations as well as hot and cold shops with multiple furnaces and work areas.

“This extraordinary gift will enable the University of the Arts to develop one of the premier centers for glassmaking and study in the region,” said Sean Buffington, president of the University of the Arts. “The Borowsky Center for Glass Arts will be the cornerstone of our re-imagined and enhanced crafts studio spaces­. It honors the University’s 130 years of leadership in teaching craft artists, and will help us to continue shaping the future of these disciplines.”

An innovator and leader in the publishing industry and a generous patron of the arts, Borowsky has been a member of the University’s Board of Trustees since 1981. Through the Borowsky Gallery in the University’s Gershman Hall, he has presented the works of painters, sculptors and book artists. He is also the founder and chairman of the National Liberty Museum, and founder of the American Interfaith Institute. He is a member of the Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature, and lectures worldwide on diversity, faith and cooperation.

The Borowskys’ personal art collection is highly regarded, including works by contemporary masters of studio glass art.

The University is taking further steps to enhance and expand its glass programs. Following a national search, it has named glass artist Alexander Rosenberg to lead the glass program and to create the first Glass major in the University’s history. Rosenberg earned his BFA in Glass at the Rhode Island School of Design and holds a graduate degree in visual studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work has been exhibited in Corning, New York and at the Toledo Museum of Glass in Toledo, OH.