JUNE 1ST, 2000

BOARD OF GOVERNORS

Elections:

Mr. Michael Steinhardt was elected Chairman of the Board of Governors of Tel Aviv University. He will assume office on October 26, 2000, on the eve of the 2000-2001 academic year.

Benno Gitter was elected Honorary Chairman of the TAU Board of Governors; and Joseph Buchmann and Hugo Ramniceanu were reelected Vice Chairmen.

Dr. h.c. Karl-Heinz Kipp was elected Deputy Chairman of the Board; and Stewart Colton and John Landerer were elected Vice Chairmen.

Yehiel Ben-Zvi was reelected Vice President. Prof. Niv Ahituv was elected Vice President and Director-General; Prof. Yair Aharonowitz was elected Vice President for Research and Development; Dr. Ilana Ben Ami was elected Vice President for Latin America and Spain; and Avi Primor was elected Vice President.

Honors:

A TAU Doctor Philosopiae Honoris Causa was conferred upon Justice Aharon Barak, President of the Supreme Court of Israel; Samuel Berger, Assistant to the US President for National Security Affairs; Andrea Bronfman, USA-Canada-Israel; Benno Gitter, Israel; Prof. Eric S. Lander, USA; Steffi Perlman, Brazil; Orna Porat, Israel; and Jean-Claude Trichet, Governor of the Banque de France.

Honorary Fellowships were conferred upon Dr. Nahum Barag, France; Gabriela David, Italy; and Dr. Sanford Lefcoe, USA.

Plenary sessions:

Reports were presented at the first plenary session by Benno Gitter; advocate Moshe Porath, Chairman of the Executive Council; President Itamar Rabinovich; Rector Nili Cohen; and Chairman of the Student Union Guy Kelner. A presentation was delivered by TAU Honorary Doctor Samuel R. Berger, Assistant to the US President for National Security Affairs.

Prof. Rabinovich announced that Mr. Dan David established a major endowment which will award three $1 million prizes to outstanding scientists and scholars. Prof. Rabinovich called it the "Jewish People's Nobel Prize."

A presentation of the Social Involvement Program was given with the participation of Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa Ron Huldai, Robert E. Price and Prof. Ruth Shalgi, Dean of Students.

A presentation of Space Research at TAU was given under the auspices of the Gretl and Fred Raymond Extraordinary Chair for International Exchanges in Science with Col. Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut. Reports were delivered by Vice President Yair Aharonowitz, Prof. Zev Levin, Prof. Hagai Netzer, and Dr. Colin Price.

Prizes and scholarships:

The first Raymond and Beverly Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences was awarded to Prof. Michael R. Douglas of Rutgers University and Prof. Juan Maldacena of Harvard University. Former President of the University Prof. Yuval Ne'eman read the decision of the Prize's Steering Committee.

The recipient of the Hugo Ramniceanu Prize in Economics for 2000 was Prof. Jacob Frenkel, former Governor of the Bank of Israel.

The Australian Friends (Victoria) Scholarship Fund for Australian Students was inaugurated.

Two new schools:

The High-Tech Management School, a joint venture with the Sacta-Rashi Foundation, was inaugurated with the participation of the Foundation President Hubert Leven and Chairman of the Executive Council of the School Didi Arzi.

The cornerstone laying ceremony of the Porter School of Environmental Studies Building was held in the presence of the Ambassador of the UK to Israel. A lecture was delivered by Prof. Asa Kasher, Israel Prize laureate and the incumbent of TAU's Laura Schwarz-Kipp Chair in Professional Ethics and Philosophy of Practice.

Five chairs were inaugurated:

The Louise and Nahum Barag Chair in Molecular Genetics of Cancer Biology. Incumbent of the Chair is Prof. Gabriel Kaufmann of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences.

The Hella Gertner Chair for Research in Hypertension. Prof. Talma Rosenthal of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine was elected incumbent of the Chair.

The Argentina Chair for Research in the Social Psychology of Conflict and Cooperation in the presence of TAU's Prof. Yuli Tamir, Minister of Immigrant Absorption. Incumbent of the Chair is Prof. Arie Nadler of the Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences.

The Shoul N. Eisenberg Chair for East Asian Affairs. Incumbent of the Chair is Prof. Aron Shai of the Entin Faculty of Humanities. Six ambassadors of East Asian states were present at the ceremony.

The Danielle Rubinstein Chair in Comparative Private Law. Prof. Daniel Friedmann of the Buchmann Faculty of Law was elected incumbent of the Chair.

Two research centers were inaugurated:

The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Center for Media of the Jewish People. Director of the Center is Prof. Michael Keren. Guest lecturer was Hirsh Goodman, founding editor of the Jerusalem Report.

The Manna Institute for Plant Biosciences in the presence of Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Haim Oron. Head of the Institute is Prof. Baruch Epel.

Major projects:

The plaque of the Building for the Institute for Cereal Crops Improvement was unveiled by Chairman Benno Gitter and President Rabinovich.

A concert was held, conducted by Prof. Noam Sheriff, dedicating the Adrea and Victor Carter Symphony Orchestra, followed by a reception hosted by Adrea and Victor Carter.

Social events:

Kabbalat Shabbat - dinner at homes of Israeli friends and faculty members.

A gala dinner marking the opening of the meeting of the Board of Governors, hosted by the outgoing Chairman of the Board of Governors Mr. Benno Gitter and Dr. Ilana Ben Ami.

A cocktail reception in honor of the recipients of honorary degrees, hosted by President Itamar Rabinovich and Dr. Efrat Rabinovich and Chairman of the Executive Council advocate Moshe Porath and Mrs. Zila Porath.

A reception inaugurating the Porter School of Environmental Studies hosted by the Chancellor Sir Leslie Porter and Dame Shirley Porter.

Spouses' program: Visit to the Joseph Hackmey Art Collection, hosted by Joseph Hackmey and Dr. Efrat Rabinovich, at Phoenix House.

The TAU Student Union held a Farewell Evening of theater, song and dance, created and performed by the students.

AROUND THE BOARD EVENTS

The President's Prize for Volunteer Students was awarded to Dimitri Epstein, an undergraduate in Economics, a resident of Jaffa, and a representative of the students of the Department of Economics in the Student Union.

The Henri Glasberg Prize was awarded to Yossi Machlouf, a research student in the Biology Department's Program for Excellent Students at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences; Dafna Hacker, a doctoral student of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology; Barak Tor and Nissim Azran, both undergraduates at the Buchmann Faculty of Law; Lilach Levy, a master's student of the Cultural Research Program of the Entin Faculty of Humanities; and Eyal Alon of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

The Annual Lecture in Memory of Sheila Carmel was delivered by Prof. John Sutherland of University College London. His lecture was entitled, "Stephen Spender, Poet and Jew."

"Israeli Banking in the Era of Globalization" was the title of the annual Hugo Ramniceanu Economic Forum. Greetings were delivered by conference organizer Prof. Leonardo Leiderman, senior director of the Bank of Israel; and Mr. Hugo Ramniceanu, President of the TAU French Friends. Other speakers included Prof. Jacob Frenkel of the Eitan Berglas School of Economics; Jean Claude Trichet, Governor of the Banque de France; and Christian Poncelet, President of the French Senate.

"Incest" was the title of the annual conference of the Adler Research Center for Child Welfare and Protection. The Adler Prize for Child Welfare was awarded to E.L.I. - the Israel Association for Child Protection against Abuse and Neglect, and a certificate of recognition was awarded to Prof. Rami Benbenisty of the School of Social Work at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

The Louise and Nahum Barag Annual Lecture in Rhetoric and Culture in Modern France was inaugurated. The lecture coordinator is Prof. Ruth Amossy of the French Department. Greetings were delivered by Vice President Avi Primor and Counselor for Cooperation and Cultural Action at the French Embassy Alexander Defay.

The Max Perlman Center for Global Business held its annual conference and the presentation of the Max Perlman 2000 Award for Excellence in Global Business Management. Recipient of the award is Dan Goldstein, Chairman and CEO of Formula Systems. The keynote speaker was Dr. Reuven Horesh, Director-General of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The Shalom and Varda Yoran Human Genome Research Institute hosted Prof. Eric Lander, Honorary Doctor of TAU and Director of the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research. His lecture was entitled "Genes and Genomes." Opening remarks were delivered by Prof. Batsheva Bonne-Tamir, Head of the Institute.

The Yoran-Sznycer Fund in Jewish History scholarships were awarded. The keynote address was delivered by Prof. Dina Porat, Head of the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism.

The first Sergio Griwac Prize for Doctoral Dissertations in Jewish-Arab Relations in the State of Israel was awarded to Manar Hassan of the Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences. A lecture entitled "The Citizenship Status of the Palestinian in Israel" was delivered by Dr. Yoav Peled of the Department of Political Science.

Prof. Richard Klausner, Director of the National Cancer Institute, USA, delivered the Otto Herz Memorial Lecture, on "The War on Cancer: Where Science Is Taking Us."

The Institute for Latin American History and Culture in cooperation with the Israel-Brazil Cultural Center held a colloquium on "500 Years Since the Discovery of Brazil. " Opening remarks were delivered by Prof. Tzvi Medin, Director of the Center; Vice Rector Shimon Yankielowicz and Dean of Humanities Marcelo Dascal.

The Prof. Michael Higatsberger Hall was inaugurated at the Dan David Building, in the presence of Prof. Higatsberger, Vice President of the TAU Austrian Friends.

The 24th annual conference of the Chair for the History and Culture of the Jews of Salonika and Greece was held in honor of Albert and Elba Cuenca. A lecture entitled, "From Salonika to Jerusalem - the History of the Ginio Family," was delivered by Prof. Alisa Meyuhas Ginio, coordinator of the Chair.

The first conference of the Manna Institute for Plant Biosciences took place, entitled "Plant Sciences in the Age of Agro-Biotechnology - New Directions." Lectures were delivered by Prof. Baruch Epel, Head of the Institute, and Prof. Adina Briman, Chairperson of the Department of Plant Sciences.

The Celia and Marcos Maus Annual Prizes in Computer Sciences were awarded to Ph.D. student Manor Mendel; and master's students Tal Lev-Ami and Iddo Lev, all of the Department of Computer Sciences. A lecture was delivered by Prof. Yishay Mansur.

The Deutsch Prize in Computer Sciences was awarded to Vera Asodi, a master's student of the Department of Computer Sciences. Dr. Michael Rodeh, director of the IBM Research Laboratory in Haifa, delivered a lecture entitled "Cooperation between Academia and Industry."

The Seminar Room in memory of Janos Junger and the Sonia Kossoy Conference Room were inaugurated at the Buchmann Faculty of Law. The plaque unveiling ceremony was held for the Jeannette Klar Seminar Room; the Jaime and Israel Mekler Seminar Room; and the Samuel Capralik Seminar Room. Greetings were delivered by Benno Gitter; Rector Nili Cohen; and Dean Eli Lederman. Prof. Menachem Mautner delivered a lecture entitled "The Law School as a Multicultural Institution."

EXHIBITIONS

An exhibition in honor of Miriam and Adolfo Smolarz showed selected works by students of the Azrieli School of Architecture in the Laura Schwarz-Kipp Rotunda, George S. Wise Senate Building.

A photo exhibition called "A Look at the Campus" by Naomi Tracz was displayed in the Marcelle Gordon University Club.

The "TAU - The Green University" exhibition of the Green Course was displayed in the Dan David Building.

The Press and Jewish Life in the 20th Century, from the collection of the Institute for the Study of Jewish Press and Communication at TAU, was displayed at the Judaica Museum of the Cymbalista Jewish Heritage Center.

OTHER EVENTS

IN ISRAEL

The TAU Student Union and TAU held the Memorial Day Assembly. Addresses were delivered by President Itamar Rabinovich; General (Res.) Yoram Yair, former Head of the Manpower Division of the IDF; and Guy Kelner, Chairman of the Student Union Council. The moderator was Omer Frenkel.

TAU held the Holocaust Memorial Assembly. Addresses were delivered by Yosef (Tomy) Lapid, the last remaining Holocaust survivor in the Knesset. Dean of Students Ruth Shalgi and Vice President of the Student Union Lior Strassberg laid the memorial wreaths.

The TAU Senate approved the election of Prof. Dan Laor of the Department of Hebrew Literature as Dean of the Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities; Prof. Menachem Mautner as Dean of the Buchmann Faculty of Law; and Prof. Nurith Kenaan-Kedar as Dean of the David and Yolanda Katz Faculty of the Arts.

The Student Union held their annual Student Day. Thousands attended the celebrations.

The new M.F.A. program in directing, production and script writing at the Katz Faculty of Arts was approved by the Council for Higher Education.

300 companies participated in the largest ever Employment Fair held on campus. Participants included mainly high-tech companies which were trying to recruit students studying engineering and exact sciences.

CONFERENCES

The establishment of the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Interdisciplinary Center was announced at a three-day international symposium entitled "Nanoscience and Nanotechnology" which was sponsored by TAU and the Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe. Chairman of the organizing committee was TAU Visiting Professor Eli Kapon, EPFL, Switzerland.

Robert B. Reich of Brandeis University, a former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton Administration, delivered the annual lecture in memory of Dr. Joshua Rotenstreich entitled "Globalization and Its Discontents."

The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies and the Yona Ettinger Chair for Contemporary History of the Middle East held a conference entitled "Israel and Lebanon - The Moment of Decision." A panel discussion was held on "Israel's Exit from Lebanon" chaired by Prof. Itamar Rabinovich, incumbent of the Chair.

The 8th International Student Film Festival produced by students of the Department of Film and Television took place over a period of eight days at theTel Aviv Cinemateque, the TAU campus and other venues in Tel Aviv.

The last Aharon Katzir Memorial Lecture of the 1999-2000 school year was delivered by Prof. Itamar Rabinovich, who spoke on "The State of Peace."

The Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of Arts in cooperation with the Entin Faculty of Humanities and the Buchmann Faculty of Law held a three-day international conference entitled "Common Threads." The Conference included films on women and violence and plays organized by Prof. Linda Ben-Zvi. An exhibition entitled "Weaving a Connection: Arab and Jewish Israeli Women's Embroidery," is on show at the Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery and the Sourasky Central Library within the framework of the Conference.

The Rector's lecture series in memory of Prof. Yehuda Eisenberg was entitled "Religion, Science and Identity Building at the Beginning of the Millennium." Opening remarks were delivered by Rector Nili Cohen ad Vice Rector Shimon Yankielowicz.

The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism held the Moshe Shamir Annual Memorial Lecture (donated by Ruta and Felix Zandman) entitled "The Extreme Right Wing as a Challenge for the Political System in Europe and the annual lecture of the Alfred P. Slaner Chair in Anti-Semitism and Racism. The speaker was Father Prof. Franklin H. Littell of the Philadelphia Center on the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights, and Shevach Weiss, former Speaker of the Knesset.

The 2nd Joint Cyprus-Israel Mathematics Workshop on Approximation Theory, Computational Mathematics and Numerical PDE was held at TAU. The workshop was organized by Prof. Dany Leviatan.

Dr. John Bruer, President of the James S. McDonnel Foundation, delivered a lecture in memory of Dr. Tamar Globerson entitled "Brain Science, Mind Science and Learning, under the auspices of the Unit of Human Development and Education at the School of Education.

The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities hosted Paula Hyman, Lucy Moses Professor of Modern Jewish History at Yale University. She delivered a lecture on "Gender and Identity in American Jewish Women's Memoirs," under the auspices of the Samuel L. and Perry Haber Chair on the Study of the Jewish Experience in the United States. The event Chairperson was Prof. Hana Wirth-Nesher.

Prof. M. Ehsani of Texas A&M University delivered a three-day course on Hybrid-Electric Vehicles within the framework of the Gordon Institute for Energy Studies.

Prof. Georg G. Raffelt of the Max Planck Institute for Physics delivered the Prof. Yossef Dothan Memorial Lecture entitled "Neutrinos - News from the Ghost Particles. " The Academic Achievement Scholarship in memory of Yossef Dothan was awarded to Ph.D. student Ido Golding.

The Sackler School of Medicine New-York State/American Program celebrated its 20th anniversary. Thirty alumni attended the graduation ceremony and the scientific program organized on their behalf within the framework of the second Saul Farber Symposium and under the auspices of the US-Israel Binational Science Foundation. Organizer of the event was Prof. Illana Gozes of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine. The guest lecture was delivered by BSF partner Prof. D.E. Brenneman.

The Inbar Attia and Tali Gordon Scholarships awarding ceremony was held by the Entin Faculty of Humanities, the Gershon Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, and the Institute for the Study of Jewish Press and Communications The ceremony was chaired by Prof. Michael Keren, Head of the Institute. Addresses were delivered by Prof. Moshe Semyonov, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, and Prof. Marcelo Dascal, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities.

Prof. André Raymond of the Institut de Recherches et d'Etudes sur le Monde Arabe et Musulman gave a lecture entitled "The Cairens and the French Occupation (1798-1801)" under the auspices of the Kaplan Chair in the History of Egypt and Israel. The event was chaired by Prof. Shimon Shamir, incumbent of the Chair.

Miguel Schloss, Executive Director of Transparency International, awarded the Transparency Shield to Ahmed Yousif Massarway of Arara, and Moshe Ben-Porath, General Manager of IAI MHT Technical Publications and Training, at a conference of the Faculty of Management held under the auspices of the Laura Schwarz-Kipp Chair in Professional Ethics and Philosophy of Practice. Prof. Asa Kasher, incumbent of the Chair, chaired the jury.

The Naomi Handelman Memorial Fund held the awarding ceremony of the prize for winning essays. Guest lecturer was Prof. Sasson Somekh, the incumbent of the Halmos Chair of Arabic Literature, who spoke on "Meeting 'Your' Author(s)."

"Cancer Immunology - The Beginning of a New Millennium" was the title of the symposium held in honor of Prof. Isaac P. Witz. Greetings were delivered by President Itamar Rabinovich; Rector Nili Cohen; Vice President Yair Aharonowitz; Dean of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences Prof. Eliora Ron; and Chairperson of the Department of Cell Research and Immunology Prof. Mia Horowitz. The keynote speaker was TAU Honorary Doctor Prof. Robert Gallo.

Dr. Yossi Vardi was guest lecturer of the TAU President and Director- General Lecture Series on the Internet.

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

Prof. Ariel Rubinstein of the Eitan Berglas School of Economics and Dr. Tamar Dayan of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences were awarded the prestigious Rothschild Prize together with Prof. Ben-Zion Shiloh of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

Prof. Zev Levin was appointed Head of the Porter School of Environmental Studies.

Dr. Yehudit Ronen of the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies was awarded the Yad Vashem Literature Prize for her novel Visky shel Harubim ("Carob Whisky").

Amit Sakomsky of the Film and TV Department won second prize at the Cannes International Film Festival, student category, for his graduation film Dessert.

The School of Mathematical Sciences held the Nessyahu Award ceremony. Winners are graduate students Isabela Novik of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Dmitri Novikov of the Weizmann Institute of Science. Opening remarks were delivered by Prof. Noga Alon, Head of the School of Mathematical Sciences.

VISITS

The President of Poland, Alexander Kwasniewski, held a meeting with students and academic staff of TAU. They discussed "The Common Past, Present and Future." Opening remarks were delivered by Rector Prof. Nili Cohen.

While on his first official visit to Israel, President Kwasniewski met with Prof. Rabinovich and was accompanied by Polish Ambassador to Israel Maciej Kozlowski; Secretary of State Chancellery Marek Siwiec; and Undersecretary of State Chancellery Andrzej Majkowski.

Prof. Wang Dazhong, President of Tsinghua University, China, and a delegation visited TAU. They met with Prof. Itamar Rabinovich; Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences Prof. Uri Liberman; and Vice President and Director-General Niv Ahituv. Prof. Yair Aharonowitz, Vice President and Dean for Research and Development, delivered an introductory presentation of the University.

Dr. Duk-Choong Kim, President of Ajou University, Korea, and a delegation visited TAU. They met with Rector Nili Cohen; Director of Inter-Academic Affairs Prof. Benjamin Isaac; and Vice President Prof. Yair Aharonowitz.

ABROAD

The TAU American Friends Association honored "Women of the Middle East Peace Legacy" - Jehan Sadat of Egypt, Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran, and Leah Rabin of Israel. The event was held in Washington, DC, under the patronage of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. The event was chaired by Annie Totah.

COMING EVENTS

The Middle-East-Mediterranean Scholar Athlete Games will take place at Tel Aviv University on June 25-July 2, 2000. Organizer of the Games is Arie Rosenzweig.

The International Convention "Sefarad 2000" will take place in Madrid, Granada and Seville, on October 22-26, 2000. For registration contact the Department for Latin America and Spain, Fax: 972-3-6412272; E-mail: ilanaba@post.tau.ac.il.

The 10th European Regional Meeting will be held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on January 25-29, 2001.

The Annual Meeting of the TAU Board of Governors will take place on May 11-18, 2001.