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UCLA became the first university to establish an endowed chair devoted specifically to the study of the Japanese-American internment during World War II and named Lane Ryo Hirabayashi to hold the position.

The 53-year-old anthropologist was celebrated Saturday afternoon as the first holder of the George and Sakaye Aratani Chair on the Japanese American Internment, Redress and Community, a position within the Asian American Studies Department at UCLA.

Hirabayashi was selected after a year-long international search conducted by the professors, staff and students of the Asian American Studies Center and Department.

“(The Aratanis’) endowed chair will make it possible for pre-eminent and committed scholars like professor Hirabayashi, along with their students, to continue to explore, analyze, share and apply the Japanese American experience for generations and generations,” said Don Nakanishi, director and professor of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.

The endowed chair, funded by a $500,000 donation from the Aratanis, will furnish Hirabayashi with money to research Japanese American studies.

Professors holding the position are charged with teaching at least one course related to internment and must also organize or aid public education programs on the issue.

“Being appointed as the inaugural recipient of the Aratani Chair is like a dream come true for me,” Hirabayashi said. “Not only will I join a stellar set of colleagues in Asian American Studies at UCLA, I can contribute to the long tradition of Japanese American Studies and collaboration with community groups that have been undertaken by so many distinguished UCLA facility, staff and students over the years.”

The study of the Japanese internment also has meaning to Hirabayashi personally, he said, as his parents and grandparents were interned, and he grew up hearing stories of their experience.

Hirabayashi said he will never forget what his colleagues told him when he first entered academia.

“They told me something I never forgot: Don’t just be an academic, go out and get involved in the Japanese American community,” he said.

He explained that they meant for him to take on an active role in promoting the rights of Asian Americans and to avoid simply teaching activism without actually going out and doing what he encouraged.

But Aiko Herzig, a senior research associate from the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, said the formation of the chair is relevant for everyone today.

“To apply what they learn to the situation today is especially important,” Herzig said, specifically referring to connections she said she has found between the incarceration of Japanese Americans in the 1940s and the treatment of Iraqi-Americans today.

George and Sakaye Aratani established the endowed chair to help educate the American public and advance the Japanese American community.

Both George and Sakaye Aratani had been interned during World War II, and George Aratani is the founder and former CEO of Mikasa Corporation and Kenwood Corporation, two companies he started after having lost his finances during the war.

Patricia O’Brien, executive dean of the UCLA College, called the founding of the chair a welcome gift that would continue to benefit the UCLA community far into the future.

She said the addition would be useful to all students no matter what their ethnicity.

Susie Ling, Hirabayashi’s colleague and a professor at Pasadena City College, said the creation of the endowed chair would help the Japanese American community as a whole.

“The re-dress movement had a can-do attitude. (Hirabayashi) has that same can-do attitude,” she said.

Some members of the Asian American Studies Center said they believe the addition of Hirabayashi as the new chair would help fulfill the goal of educating people about Japanese American issues.

“His professional vision will not only fulfill the goals of the endowed chair, but also exchange the undergraduate and graduate curriculum and forge important links between Asian American studies and other departments as well as the larger community,” said Cindy Fan, chair and professor of the Department of Asian American Studies.