JULY 1st, 2001

IN ISRAEL

179 TAU students were awarded their Ph.D. degrees, the largest number ever. Greetings were delivered by outgoing Rector Nili Cohen and Rector-elect Shimon Yankielowicz. Israeli writer Eli Amir delivered a lecture on his book, "The Dove Flyer."

The TAU Senate elected Prof. Israel Zang, former Dean of the Faculty of Management-Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration, as Vice Rector, replacing Prof. Shimon Yankielowizc who was elected Rector.

The TAU Steering Committee approved an experimental Affirmative Action Program for accepting disadvantaged students to the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences following similar successful programs at the Faculties of Law and Social Sciences.

Prof. Dan Maoz, now on sabbatical at Columbia University, and Amiel Sternberg of TAU's School of Physics and Astronomy took part in an extensive multi-wavelength study of the NGC 1512 galaxy located on the southern constellation of Horologium, 30 million light years away. The study, using the Hubble space telescope, was with the participation of three American researchers.

The Saban Institute for the Study of the American Political System was approved by the TAU Senate.

CONFERENCES

Israeli author A. B. Yehoshua was hosted by Prof. Alisa Meyuhas-Ginio of the Department of History within the framework of the Cymbalista Center for Jewish Heritage Lecture Series "Scholars Meet with Writers," where he delivered a lecture entitled "A Literary and Historical Voyage to the End of the Millennium."

James Rubin, former US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, delivered a lecture entitled "Conflict in the Media: A Spokesman Looks at the Middle East Crisis," as guest of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies and the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. TAU President Itamar Rabinovich chaired the event.

The TAU-affiliated Israel Society for Military History held a symposium in connection with the reconstruction of the first Ottoman flights to Eretz-Israel, entitled "Golden Wings" - The Introduction of Aviation to Eretz-Israel. Opening remarks were delivered by Society Chairman Prof. Gideon Biger of the Department of Geography and Human Environment; Prof. Joseph Kostiner, Head of the TAU School of History; and Ahmet Üzümcü, Ambassador to Israel of the Turkish Republic.

A special symposium was held for Prof. Gideon Alexander of the School of Physics and Astronomy upon his retirement. Greetings were delivered by School Head Prof. Yehiel Lichtenstadt and Prof. Yakir Aharonov. Lectures in his honor were delivered by Prof. Albrecht Wagner, DESY, who discussed "Why Spend a Life Annihilating Matter and Antimatter?, and Prof. David Plane, CERN, who spoke on the "OPAL Days of Gideon." Prof. Alexander responded with a lecture entitled "Why and How I Became a Particle Physicist."

The NCJW Women Studies Forum and the Virginia L. Snitow Public Lecture Series of US/Israel Women to Women held the award ceremony of scholarships for Outstanding Female Doctoral Students of the Dr. Lillian Chutick and Dr. Rebecca Chutick Scholarship Fund. The recipients are Anat Oren of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Daphna Hirsh of the School of History, and Yifat Nevo of the Department of Theater Arts.

Prof. Friedmann Buetner of the Free University, Berlin, delivered a lecture at the School of History on "Solidarities in Middle East Politics."

ARTIC 3, the annual exhibition of works by young painters; sculptors; graphics, fashion, and industrial designers; architects and craftspersons who have received study grants and scholarships from the American Israel Cultural Foundation, has opened at the TAU Genia Schreiber Art Gallery. Greetings were delivered by Prof. Mordechai Omer, the Gallery Curator. The jury's decisions were read by Dr. Micha Levin.

The Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Program for Outstanding Students held a panel discussion entitled "Knowing" in memory of Adi Lautman. TAU President Itamar Rabinovich delivered greetings and Head of the Program Ina Weiner delivered opening remarks. Rector-elect Shimon Yankielowicz delivered the keynote address entitled "Science, Data and Knowledge as an Infrastructure for Economic and Social Stability."

TAU hosted the second part of the workshop "Consumption and Gender in Historical Perspectives" of the Historical Society of Israel in cooperation with the universities of Israel, the University of Sussex, and the Free University of Berlin.

The TAU Entin Faculty of Humanities, the Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies, and the Weizmann Institute for the Study of Zionism held a conference entitled "Autobiographies and Israeli Biographies." Greetings were delivered by Rosenberg School Head Yair Hoffman.

The Cegla Institute for Comparative and Private International Law at the Buchmann Faculty of Law held an international conference on Negligence in the Law, coordinated by Prof. Ariel Porat, Head of the Institute, and Prof. Gary Schwartz of UCLA.

"Virtual TAU - Web Based Academic Instruction Project" held a conference marking its first year of activity. The Project, which is sponsored by the Council of Higher Education, is headed by Dr. Rafi Nachmias of the School of Education and directed by Judith Ram. Remarks were delivered by TAU Vice President and Director-General Niv Ahituv. The Virtual TAU homepage (in Hebrew): http://virtual.tau.ac.il.

TAU hosted the annual Israeli Bioinformatics Symposium , organized by Prof. Haim Wolfson of TAU's School of Computer Science and Dr. Racheli Kreisberg-Zakarin of the Bioinformatics Unit, the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences. Greetings at the opening session were delivered by Prof. Yair Aharonowitz, Vice President for Research and Development.

The final lecture in the 2001 lecture series in memory of Aharon Katzir entitled "In the Crucible of Revolution" was delivered by Prof. Ben Zion Shilo of the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute of Science. He discussed "How Genes Shape the Embryo ." Opening remarks were delivered by Prof. Eliora Ron, Dean of the Wise Faculty of Life Sciences.

The annual conference of the M.W. Erhard Center for Higher Studies and Research in Insurance was entitled "From Risk to Capital: A (Re)insurance Perspective ." The conference was held under the auspices of the Faculty of Management and Swiss Reinsurance Company. TAU President Itamar Rabinovich and Faculty Dean Shmuel Kandel, the conference moderator, delivered welcome addresses.

"Mutual Reflections: Israel and Jewish America in Dialogue " was the title of a conference of TAU's Chaim Weizmann Zionist Research Institute, the Merenfeld Chair for the Study of Zionism, the Samuel and Perry Haber Chair for the Study of the Jewish Experience in the United States, and the American Jewish Committee (the Institute on Jewish-Israel Relations). Opening remarks were delivered by TAU President Itamar Rabinovich and Chairperson of the Conference Steering Committee Prof. Anita Shapira. The keynote address was delivered by US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, on "The Future of the US-Israel Relationship. "

"The GAP Project in Turkey - The Pursuit of Sustainable Development " was the title of a conference devoted to the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP), organized by the Suleyman Demirel Program for Contemporary Turkish Studies of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, in cooperation with GAP and the Middle East Technical University, Ankara.

The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Center for the Media of the Jewish People held a conference entitled "Economics and Media " marking the publication of a special issue of Kesher dedicated to economics and the Jewish press (in memory of Ya'acov Grauman, editor of the former Israeli daily newspaper Haboker ). The conference was organized by Prof. Michael Keren, Director of the Center, and chaired by Prof. Zvi Eckstein, Head of the Berglas School of Economics. Opening remarks were delivered by the editor of Kesher, Dr. Mordecai Naor.

Prof. Froma I. Zeitlin of Princeton University delivered the concluding lecture of the series "Women in the Academy" of the NCJW Women Studies Forum - The Young Generation and participated in a workshop on "Feminine Mentoring." A panel discussion entitled "Is an Academic Initiation a Feminine Practice?" moderated by Nili Rozmarin concluded the workshop.

"Jewish Poetry in England after World War II" was the title of a lecture by poet Peter Lawson, poetry reviewer for the Jewish Chronicle, at an event hosted by the TAU Department of English and the Cohen-Porter Fund.

TAU's Entin Faculty of Humanities, Buchmann Faculty of Law and Katz Faculty of Arts, in conjunction with the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale University, held an international three-day Howard Gilman Conference on "Law and Literature: Mutual Negotiations," at which outgoing TAU Rector Nili Cohen was honored. The organizing committee of the conference included Prof. Peter Brooks, Head of the Whitney Center; Prof. Dan Laor, Dean of Humanities; Prof. Menachem Mautner, Dean of Law; and Prof. Nurith Kenaan-Kedar, Dean of Arts.

The TAU Samuel Rubin Israeli Academy of Music held a concert in honor of outgoing Rector Nili Cohen, conducted by Prof. Ami Maayani. Greetings were delivered by President Itamar Rabinovich.

The Entin Faculty of Humanities, the Porter School for Cultural Studies, the French Department, and the Program for Translation and Translation Editing held a memorial evening for journalist and translator Yoram Bronovski, which included a ceremony for awarding scholarships to outstanding students.

New Approaches to Brazilian Studies was the title of a conference of TAU's Entin Faculty of Humanities and Institute of Latin American History and Culture, together with the Israel-Ibero American Cultural Institute. Jeffrey Lesser of Emory University delivered the opening lecture on "How the Jews Became Japanese and the Koreans Became Jews: Re-Thinking Whiteness in Brazil."

"Ethnicity, Modernity and the Eclipse of Tradition" was the title of a conference of the TAU Institute for German History and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. TAU Vice President Avi Primor and representative of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Israel Winfried Veit delivered greetings. Head of the TAU Institute Moshe Zuckermann delivered an introduction. The sessions dealt with Germany, Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Israel.

"The Strange and the Wonderful in Islam" was the title of a conference convened by David Wasserstein of the Department of Middle Eastern and African Studies. A meeting organized by the NCJW Women Studies Forum, the NCJW Women and Gender Studies Program, and the Virginia L. Snitow Public Lecture Series of US/Israel Women to Women, marking the opening of the Hebrew Book Week, was dedicated to Goddesses and Heroes: Myths on the Borders of Power, a newly published book by Dr. Yael Renan of the Department of Hebrew Literature, Entin Faculty of Humanities.

The L'Oreal-Recanati Prizes for 2001 were awarded at a ceremony held at TAU with the participation of Minister of Education Limor Livnat, Chairperson of the Prize Committee; and Alain Ducasse, International Marketing Manager at L'Oreal. Galia Maor, Director-General of Bank Leumi, received the Outstanding Women in Management Prize, and Hagit Yerushalmi, CEO of Mashkar Ltd., received the Prize for Research on Women in Management. At the ceremony L'Oreal awarded scholarships to outstanding female students studying at TAU's Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration. Greetings were delivered by TAU President Itamar Rabinovich.

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

Prof. Mordechai Akiva Friedman of the Department of Talmud at the Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies, Entin Faculty of Humanities, and Prof. Uri Seligsohn of the Department of Hematology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, were elected members of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Prof. Marshall Tulin, the Director and Founder of the Ocean Laboratory, incumbent of the Distinguished Presidential Chair at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and founder of the Israeli subsidiary company Hydronautic-Israel, was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of TAU's Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering.

Prof. Bracha Ramot of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Prof. Rina Yerushalmi of the Department of Theater, Katz Faculty of Arts, was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Prof. Zeev Rudnick of the School of Mathematics won the Erdos Prize.

Prof. Joseph Appelbaum of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering was elected incumbent of the Jokel Chair of Electronics.

Prof. Freddie Rokem of the Department of Theater Arts, Katz Faculty of Arts, is the recipient of ATHE's 2001 Research Award for the Outstanding Book in Theater Practice and Pedagogy.

ABROAD

The Howard Gilman Symposium entitled "The Middle East Peace Process and Sino-Israeli Relations" was held in Beijing and Shanghai. The session in Beijing was held jointly with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, with the participation of Yu Guoqing, Zhang Xiaodong, Wang Jinglie, and Yin Gang of the Chinese Academy and Prof. Itamar Rabinovich, TAU President; Prof. Aron Shai, incumbent of the Shoul N. Eisenberg Chair for East Asian Affairs; Dr. Martin Kramer, Head of the Dayan Center; and Dr. Eyal Zisser of the Department of Middle Eastern and African Studies, all of TAU.

The session in Shanghai was held with the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. A cooperation agreement was signed between the Shanghai Academy and TAU.

COMING EVENTS

The Fifth North American Regional Meeting will be held in New York on October 11-14, 2001.

The St. Moritz Meeting will be held in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on January 27-31, 2002.

The 2002 Annual Board Meeting will take place from May 24 to May 31, 2002.