Samuel and Sheila Goldberg created this fund in order to help bring internationally acclaimed lecturers to UIUC's campus to interact with students and faculty on a variety of levels. The focus of these presentations is on Judaism's interactions with, contributions to, and impact on Western ethics, morals, values, philosophy, law, religion, and art. These lectures are meant to reach broadly based audiences of Jews and non-Jews. Since 1999, this fund has enabled many events, workshops, and lectures including Seth Sanders, Steven Weitzman, and Shaul Magid in recent years.  This endowment supports a biennial lecture open to the public.

Sam and Sheila Goldberg lived in Urbana-Champaign for many years. Sam joined the Department of Mathematics at UIUC in 1960. A native of Toronto, Sam served in the Canadian Army during World War II and received all of his degrees from the University of Toronto. Before coming to UIUC, he taught at Lehigh, Wayne State, and Harvard Universities, and he has held visiting positions at Berkeley, Liverpool, Cambridge, the College de France, and the Technion (in Haifa, Israel). Sheila Goldberg hails from England and Canada, and also lived in Kibbutz Kfar Darom in 1947, before the founding of the State of Israel. She completed three degrees at the UIUC, including a Ph.D. in Psychology and Human Development, while raising a family and playing an active role in many community organizations.