FEBRUARY 2, 2000

IN ISRAEL

President Itamar Rabinovich signed an agreement for scientific and academic cooperation with the University of Sao Paolo (USP), the IBMEC School of Administration and Economy, and the Albert Einstein Jewish Hospital, also in San Paolo, while on a visit to Brazil.

TAU held the third university-wide Open House for potential candidates. Faculties offered lectures and presentations and the registration office provided information and consultation. Some 10,000 candidates attended.

"The Campus as an Open-Air Museum" is the title of a new weekly tour of the TAU campus offered to the public every Monday, organized by the Israeli Friends of TAU and the Tel Aviv Municipality. The tour emphasizes architecture and art as represented by the various styles and periods on the Tel Aviv campus.

Rector Prof. Nili Cohen presented 32 outstanding undergraduate students of all faculties with certificates of excellence. Keynote speaker at the ceremony was Prof. Avner Holtzman of the Department of Hebrew Literature, who spoke on "The University as Spiritual Center."

CONFERENCES

The TAU Sackler Faculty of Medicine's School of Continuing Medical Education celebrated the 10th anniversary of the International Postgraduate Training in Medicine program, at the graduation ceremony of the 32nd class. Greetings were given by Prof. Shimon Yankielowicz, TAU Vice Rector; Haim Divon, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Ministry and Head of MASHAV (International Cooperation); Prof. Menachem Fainaru, Dean of the Faculty; Prof. Moshe Phillip, Vice Dean; and Dr. Ron Maymon, Program Coordinator. Dr. Ilia Kutoukchiev of Bulgaria spoke on behalf of the graduating physicians.

The TAU Department of Theater Arts held a production of the play, Eleanor of Aquitaine. The title character was the wife of King Louis VII of France and King Henry II of England, and the mother of Richard the Lion-Hearted. The play started as a project in a seminar taught by Prof. Nurith Kenaan-Kedar and was written by master's student Rimona Farkash and directed and edited by Department Chairperson Prof. Tom Levy. This is the first departmental production fully produced by students.

TAU's Elite Sports Center held the 12th International Conference on Physical Training and Fitness, sponsored by Adidas, the Israeli Basketball Coaches Association and the Israeli Weightlifting Federation. Keynote speaker was Frank Eksten, formerly of Indiana University.

The Cymbalista Jewish Heritage Center presented the first lecture in a series entitled "The Jews of Egypt in the History of the Jewish People."

The annual memorial evening in memory of Amnon Ben-Nathan, entitled "Technological, Political, and Economic Forecasts at the Beginning of the New Millennium," was held by the Pinhas Sapir Center for Development, and moderated by Prof. Alex Cukierman, incumbent of the Amnon Ben-Nathan Chair of Economics at the Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences.

Prof. Elhanan Helpman of the TAU Berglas School of Economics and Harvard University's Department of Economics was the keynote speaker at the annual symposium in memory of Prof. Eitan Berglas, on "Productivity Factors in the Era of Globalization." Prof. Saul Abarbanel of the School of Mathematical Sciences spoke in Berglas's memory.

"Optimal Water Management and Conflict Resolution" was the title of a lecture delivered by Prof. Franklin M. Fisher of MIT at a symposium in memory of Prof. Gideon Fishelson, organized by the Eitan Berglas School of Economics. Gideon Fishelson Scholarships were awarded to doctoral students Sharon Blei and Osnat Lifshits.

The Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences held a conference marking the publication of a book by Prof. Yehuda Shenhav, entitled Manufacturing Rationality: The Engineering Foundations of the Managerial Revolution, published by Oxford University Press.

The Department of French at the Entin Faculty of Humanities held a conference entitled "Pragmatics and Literature" within the framework of cooperation between TAU and the University of Cannes. The Conference was held under the auspices of the Henry Glasberg Extraordinary Chair for International Cooperation and the Embassy of France in Israel, and organized by Chairperson of the Department, Prof. Ruth Amossy.

The Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies held the annual conference in memory of its founder, General Aharon Yariv, entitled "The State of the Nation - Major Issues Facing the State of Israel in the Year 2000." Prof. Itamar Rabinovich, President of the University, and Prof. Shai Feldman, Director of the Jaffee Center, gave greetings. Amos Malka, Head of IDF Intelligence, spoke on "The Strategic Environment of Israel."

The School of History at the Entin Faculty of Humanities held a symposium in memory of Sir Isaiah Berlin, entitled "The Counter-Enlightenment and Its Legacy," organized by Prof. Shulamit Volkov, Head of the School, and Prof. Joseph Mali. TAU Prof. Yael (Yuli) Tamir, Minister of Immigration and Absorption and a former student of Sir Isaiah, spoke on "Isaiah Berlin and Multiculturalism." Rector Prof. Nili Cohen gave greetings.

TAU held the Second Raoul Wallenberg Symposium, this year on "Contemporary Islamic Anti-Semitism - Historical and Juridical Perspectives," chaired by Dr. Martin Kramer, Director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. Ambassador of Sweden Anders Liden gave greetings. The Raoul Wallenberg Prize was awarded to Yoram Rabin of the Buchmann Faculty of Law.

A symposium entitled "Population Explosion in the Third Millennium and New Approaches in Contraception" was held by TAU's Felsenstein Research Center, under the auspices of the Tarnesby-Tarnowski Chair for Family Planning and Fertility Regulation, organized by Prof. Ben-Zion Raphael, the Chair's incumbent.

A panel discussion with the participation of Palestinian physicians was held on "Contraception and Family Planning in Israel and in the Palestinian Authority."

A conference marking the publication of the book Egypt and Israel - A Look from the Left: The Egyptian Left and the Arab-Israeli Conflict 1947-1978, by Dr. Yossi Amitay, Director of the Israel Academic Center in Cairo, was held under the auspices of TAU's Kaplan Chair in the History of Egypt and Israel and chaired by Prof. Shimon Shamir, incumbent of the Chair.

Prof. Abraham Udovitch of the Department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University was guest lecturer of the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies in collaboration with the Department of History of the Middle East and Africa. He spoke on "North and South in the Medieval Mediterranean World: The View from the South."

A workshop on recent developments in string theories, conformal field theories and integrable models from the previous millennium was held at TAU by the School of Physics and Astronomy and the Center of Excellence for the Physics of Basic Interactions of the Israel Science Foundation, under the auspices of the European TMR Program, organized by Prof. Cobi Sonnenschein of TAU and the Center.

TAU hosted one day of a two-day international conference of the Historical Society of Israel, entitled "Between Nostalgia and Hope: Thoughts on the Past and the Future toward the End of the Millennium." Prof. Marcelo Dascal, Dean of Humanities, delivered greetings at the opening session.

"Who Needs Another Television Channel? " was the title of a conference at TAU organized by the Department of Communication and the Israel Democracy Institute. The keynote speaker was Alan Fountain, former editor-in-chief of Britain's Channel 4. Prof. Itamar Rabinovich and Prof. Akiva Cohen, Chairperson of the Department of Communication, delivered opening remarks.

The monthly lecture of the Israeli Friends of TAU was delivered by TAU's Prof. Yael (Yuli) Tamir, Minister of Immigration and Absorption, entitled "Israel 2000 - The Evolution of a New Society. "

The International Forum of the English Speaking Friends of TAU and the Dr. Nachum Goldman Chair in Diplomacy hosted Ambassador of Argentina to Israel, Vincente Espeche-Gil, who spoke on "Argentina and Israel."

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron, Chairperson of the Electrical Engineering Undergraduate Program of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, was appointed Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Prof. Amnon Aharoni of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences' School of Physics and Astronomy won the Rothschild Prize.

Guy Kelner, graduate student of the Public Policy Program, was elected Chairman of the Student Union, and Amit Becher, undergraduate student in Law and Accounting, was elected President of the Council.

Prof. Michael Schwarz, Professor Emeritus of the Departments of Jewish Philosophy and Arabic Language and Literature, won the Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Prize for his scientific translation into Hebrew of Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed from the original Arabic version, published by TAU's Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies.

The TAU Faculty of Management--Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration hosted a conference for counselors of the Young Entrepreneurs Israel Forum. Students of the Faculty will be counselors in the program for the first time. The Young Entrepreneurs high school will participate in the Young Enterprise Europe Fair in Malta. Faculty Dean, Prof. Shmuel Kandel, delivered greetings.

VISITS

Forty heads of universities, financial directors and heads of human resources departments at various universities visited TAU, hosted by Prof. Niv Ahituv, Vice President and Director-General, and by Prof. Yair Aharonowitz, Vice President and Dean for Research and Development.

Prof. Tulten Mirkomilov, Rector of the Technology University of Tashkent, and Rustan Issaev, Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Israel, visited TAU.

Commissioner Wally Halas of the Institute for International Sport at the University of Rhode Island visited the Sports Culture and Recreation Club for a meeting with the organizing committee of the Middle East-Mediterranean Scholar Athlete Games to be held at TAU in June 2000.

ABROAD

The 9th European Regional Conference of the Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University took place at the Carlton Hotel, St. Moritz, Switzerland. Chairman of the Board of Governors, Benno Gitter, opened the first session, which featured lectures by President Itamar Rabinovich on "TAU on the Threshold of a New Era," and by Rector Prof. Nili Cohen on "The Role of Humanities in the Technological Age." The second session featured a lecture on "The Unfolding Israeli-Arab Peace Process" by Prof. Rabinovich and a panel discussion on "High Tech: Israel's Success Story" with Prof. Yosi Y. Shacham-Diamand of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering; Eli Barkat, Chairman and CEO of BackWeb Technologies Ltd. and Managing Director, BRM Technologies Ltd., USA; and Zohar Zisapel, Director of RAD Data Communications Ltd., Israel. Dr. Norman J. Ornstein, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C., lectured on "US Elections 2000" in the third session. The Gertler Quartet of TAU's Samuel Rubin Israeli Academy of Music gave musical performances.

Prof. Itamar Rabinovich received an honorary doctorate of the University of Buenos Aires while visiting Argentina, accompanied by Vice President for Latin America and Spain, Dr. Ilana Ben Ami. He was also awarded a Corresponding Membership of the Argentine Council for Foreign Affairs (CARI).

The Association of Friends of TAU in Argentina held their fourth international symposium on the Argentine Economy in the wake of the 1999 elections, under the auspices of the Jack and Lisa Yael Chair in Comparative Economy. Speakers included Dr. Daniel Tsidon of TAU's Eitan Berglas School of Economics. World famous cardiovascular surgeon Prof. Rene Favaloro, TAU Honorary Doctor, gave the keynote lecture at a farewell dinner in his honor hosted by Adolfo and Miriam Smolarz.

President Rabinovich bestowed the 1999 President Awards on former TAU Friends President Dr. Michael Perlman and Charles Tawil, while visiting Sao Paolo, Brazil, and on the former President of the Rio de Janeiro Chapter, Luiz Chor, during a visit to Rio. While in Sao Paolo, Prof. Rabinovich met with the Governor of the State of Sao Paolo, Dr. Mario Covas.

The New York Time's Science section and Science Magazine published reports in early January on TAU's excavations in Megiddo, led by Professors David Ussishkin and Israel Finkelstein. Previously, the November/December issue of Archaeology published a cover story on "Digging at Armageddon."