APRIL 1ST, 1997

IN ISRAEL

The Council for Higher Education authorized the College of Engineering in Tel Aviv, functioning within TAU's Meyerhoff Technical College, to offer a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech.) in Engineering in three subjects: Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Industrial Management and Computers; and Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering. Prof. David Abir of the TAU Fleischman Faculty of Engineering is the Chairman of the Academic Council and Prof. Adi Zaidman is Chairman of the Executive Council.

The TAU Senate approved the establishment of the Miriam Lebach Chair in Molecular Neurodegeneration. Incumbent is Prof. Daniel Michaelson.

The TAU Senate approved the establishment of the Max Perlman Center for Global Business. Head of the Center is Prof. Niv Ahituv.

The TAU Senate aproved the establishment of the Parvis and Pouran Nazarian Chair in Modern Iranian Studies. Coordinator: Prof. David Menashri.

The TAU Senate approved the establishment of the Robert Raynor Chair in Environmental Conservation Research. Incumbent: Prof. Yossi Loya.

US Ambassador to Israel, Dr. Martin Indyk, delivered a message from US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the reception held by the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research upon the conclusion of the international conference, "Women Writers Talk Peace - Dialogue Around the Mediterranean," held under the auspices of UNESCO; the delegation of the European Union to the State of Israel; former Minister of the Arts Shulamit Aloni; and Tel Aviv Mayor Roni Milo. Prof. Ephraim Ya'ar, the Steinmetz Center Director, announced a new project in which literary selections written by Palestinian and Israeli women writers will be translated into Hebrew and Arabic and published in two anthologies, under the auspices of the Israeli publishing house Am Oved.

The TAU Israeli Friends Association sponsored the first performance at the Habima National Theater of the play Master Class by Terrence McNally, starring Gila Almagor as Maria Callas, under the auspices of TAU President Professor Dinstein. Proceeds went to the Rubin Israeli Academy of Music at TAU. The evening was dedicated to the memory of Lola Beer Ebner, President of the Academy Friends, who passed away a few days earlier. A panel, chaired by Dr. Gad Keinar of the TAU Theater Arts Department, was held with play director Jonathan Pape; Gila Almagor; and Prof. Tamar Rahum, Chairperson of the Academy's Vocal Department and the Opera Workshop.

CONFERENCES

The Howard Gilman International Colloquium on Air and Missile Warfare directed by TAU President Prof. Yoram Dinstein was held at TAU.

Former US Ambassador to Israel Edward P. Djerejian of the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, and former Ambassador to the US Prof. Itamar Rabinowitz, participated in a special seminar on "Syria and Lebanon: Domestic Politics and the Peace Process," chaired by Dr. Martin Kramer, Director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. The seminar was sponsored by the Dayan Center and the Yona and Dina Ettinger Chair for the Contemporary History of the Middle East, Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of the Humanities.

Renowned Israeli writer A. B. Yehoshua was guest of the Marcelle Gordon Faculty Club on the publication of his book, Voyage to the End of the Millennium.

The Adam Super-Center for Brain Studies held a meeting to award research grants, chaired by the Center Director Prof. David Horn. Research reports were given by Dr. Shamgar Ben Eliahu of the Psychology Department and Prof. Isak Prohovnic of the Sheba Medical Center Memory Clinic.

The Herman Minkowski Minerva Center for Geometry, the eighth Minerva Center at TAU, was inaugurated in the presence of Rector Prof. Dan Amir; Dr. Dietmar Nickel, the Minerva Foundation Director General; Dr. Günter Markus, Science Counselor at the German Embassy; and Prof. Wulf-Dieter Geyer of the Mathematisches Institut, Erlangen, Chairman of the Advisory Council of the Center. Prof. Micha Sharir, Director of the new center, delivered a lecture entitled "The Many Facets of Geometry: The Case of TAU." An inaugural symposium was held on "The Many Facets of Geometry."

The George Bekefi Library was inaugurated at the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering in the presence of donor Chaya Bekefi and Dean Prof. Uri Shaked. Prof. Bekefi, Prof. Emeritus of MIT, was renowned for his contributions in the field of plasma physics and free electron lasers and was the mentor of many TAU students and faculty. Addresses in his memory were delivered by his colleagues Prof. Samuel Goldsmith and Prof. Shlomo Rushin.

The 1997 Toeplitz Lectures and a joint Israel-Netherlands Workshop on Operator Theory and Systems, supported by TAU and Vrije University, Amsterdam, were held at the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences' School of Mathematical Sciences, sponsored by the Nathan and Lily Silver Chair for Mathematical Analysis and Operator Theory. Coordinators were TAU Professor Israel Gohberg and Prof. M.A. Kaashoek of Vrije University.

The 11th Autoimmunity Day in honor of Profs. Graham and Michel Kazatchkine was held under the auspices of the TAU Sackler Faculty of Medicine; the Israel Society of Immunology and Clinical Immunology; and the Freda and Leon Schaller Fund for Research in Autoimmunity.

Dr. Morris Benveniste of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine's Department of Physiology and Pharmacology received the 1997 research award of the Gad and Nava Shtacher Pharmacology and Genetics Fund in a ceremony chaired by Department Chairperson Prof. Rafi Korestein and Dean Prof. Kaplinsky. Title of the study: "The NMDA Channel Function."

The 1997 recipients of the Hendrik and Irene Gutwirth Research Prize in Diabetes Mellitus are Prof. Vladimir Toder of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine's Department of Embryology; Dr. Arieh Shamis of the Department of Internal Medicine and Sheba Hospital; and Prof. Shmuel Dekel of the Orthopedics Department and Ichilov Hospital. Addresses at the ceremony, held in the presence of Dr. Paul Zimmet, were given by Dean Prof. Eliezer Kaplinsky and Ms. Vivien Zimmet, Australia, who represented the family.

30 new immigrant students from the former communist bloc were awarded the Lottie and Charles Zucker Scholarships. Addresses were delivered by Prof. Dan Huppert, Dean of Immigrant Absorption, and Dean of Students Prof. Reuven Chen. Ms. Marguerite Stoltz represented the Zucker family.

The recipient of the Bernice Schaffer Bessin Prize in Poetry was Noam Reisner of the English Department, the Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities.

Prof. Mordechai A. Friedman, editor of the Teuda research series of the Talmud Department, gave an address at the annual ceremony of the Moshe Dorf Fund of the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies. Greetings were delivered by Dean of the Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities, Prof. Marcelo Dascal, and Col. (res.) Haim Ganel, on behalf of the family. Prof. Tirzah Meacham of the University of Toronto delivered a lecture entitled "Human Features Definitions: Abortion in the View of the Sages."

Preventing Super Terrorism: Threats and Responses" was the title of an international conference co-organized by TAU's Prof. Yuval Ne'eman, the incumbent of the Wolfson Extraordinary Chair of Theoretical Physics, and Prof. Yona Alexander of George Washington University and a visiting professor at TAU. The conference was co-sponsored by TAU; the Morris E. Curiel Center for International Studies at TAU; the Technological Education Center, Holon; and theTerrorism Studies Program of GWU.

The Buchmann Faculty of Law held for the first time "The Law in the Public Interest Week" including an employment fair. The week was opened with a conference chaired by Dean Prof. Eli Lederman and Vice Dean Prof. Menachem Mautner, which hosted Dr. Eliakim Rubinstein, Israel Attorney General; Prof. Kenneth Mann of the Buchmann Faculty and Chief Public Defender; and legal advisors of public bodies.

The TAU Pinhas Sapir Center for Development held a conference entitled "Income Gaps and Poverty in Israel," moderated by Dr. Dan Tzidon of the BerglSchool of Economics.

The Dr. Asher Silfan Scholarships were awarded by the Department of Philosophy, Entin Faculty of Humanities, by Department Chairperson Prof. Shlomo Biderman.

The TAU Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures of the Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities published the first newsletter of its Megiddo expedition, "Revelations from Megiddo" The digs are under the auspices of TAU and Pennsylvania State University as the senior American partner.

Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak was guest of the TAU Student Union. His lecture on "Army and Society" was presided over by Student Union Chairperson Eran Weintrob.

The TAU Political Science Department held the inaugural session of the newly- established Ambassadors Forum at TAU. Opening remarks were given by Sylvana Foa, former spokesperson of the UN Secretary General, on "The UN in Changing Diplomacy." Prof. Emeritus David Vital responded and Prof. Aharon Klieman chaired the event. Greetings were delivered by Rector Prof. Dan Amir; Dr. Yossi Shain, Chairperson of the Political Science Department; and Ignatius C. Olisemeka, Ambassador of Nigeria and doyen of the diplomatic corps in Israel.

Dr. Ben Weider, President of the International Napoleonic Society (INS), delivered a lecture entitled "The Murder of Napoleon - Circumstances and Implications," at the inaugural ceremony of the Israeli Society for the Study of Napoleon and His Times. Prof. Mordechai Gichon, Prof. Emeritus of the TAU Department of Classics and former Chairperson of the Israel Society for Military History, was awarded a gold medal called the Order of Merit of the Napoleonic Society. He is the first Israeli to win the medal.

The TAU Sackler Faculty of Medicine celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Immigration of Physicians from Latin America, in collaboration with the Latino-American Association in Israel and the Uruguay-Israel Friendship Association. Addresses were delivered by Benno Gitter, Chairman of the Board of Governors, and Dean Prof. Kaplinsky.

"Middle Eastern Diary - A Memorial Conference for Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen," held in the framework of the 100th anniversary of Zionism, was organized by Dr. Yossi Leshem of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences' Zoology Department, in cooperation with the Nature Preservation Society and the Ministries of Education and the Environment. Opening remarks were delivered by Raphael Eitan, Minister of the Environment; TAU President, Prof. Yoram Dinstein, Chairperson of the Israel Society for Military History; and son Randal Meinertzhagen.

Cellcom President Jacob Perry was guest lecturer of the Marcel and Annie Adams Institute for Business Management Information Systems' Club.

Prof. Geoffrey Hartman of Yale University's Department of Comparative Literature delivered Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies Lectures entitled "Fragments of a Theory of Culture" and "Shoah and Intellectual Witness." Director: Prof. Yuval Ne'eman.

Prof. Sir David Hopwood, Head of the Genetics Department, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, England, was the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies Lecturer on "How Genetics Can Help Improve Antibiotics Production." Director: Prof. Yuval Ne'eman.

The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Distinguished Lectures in Mathematics hosted Prof. Laszlo Lovasz of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Sciences, Yale University, for a series of talks on "Geometric Representations of Graphs." Coordinator: Prof. Noga Alon.

Prof. Roland List of the University of Toronto Physics Department was guest lecturer of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Distinguished Lectures in Geophysics and Planetary Sciences. Lecture titles were "The Mystery of Hail Formation"; "The Properties of Falling Particles"; and "The Evolution of Raindrop Spectra." Coordinatior:Prof. Zev Levin.

Prof. Itamar Rabinowitz was guest lecturer of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering's Shiluvim Graduate Business Club. Title of lecture: "USA-Israel and the Peace Process," chaired by Associate Dean Prof. Shmuel Einav.

"Adam Berg: Conversations with Giordano Bruno - Alexandrian Encounters" is the new exhibition at the Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery. Opening remarks were deliverd by Prof. Eli Rozik-Rosen, Dean of the Katz Faculty of Arts; Prof. Mordechai Omer, Curator; and Adam Berg. A conference entitled "The Art of Memory, History and Esthetics" was held in the framework of the exhibition.

"Word and Image in the Arts" was the title of a conference held by the journal Motar of the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts.

Ambassador of Switzerland Pierre Monod was this month's guest at the International Forum. His lecture, "Israel and Switzerland: Current Relations/Future Prospects," was chaired by Prof. Aharon Klieman. The session was part of the Lecture Series in Honor of Prof. Emeritus David Vital.

A conference entitled "Capital and Politics in West-East Asia Relations, Past and Present," was held on the occasion of the publication of Prof. Aron Shai's book entitled The Fate of British and French Firms in China - 1949-1954, Imperialism Imprisoned. Opening remarks were deliverd by TAU President Prof. Dinstein. Among speakers were Prof. Eli Barnavi, Director of the Morris E. Curiel Center for International Studies, the conference sponsor; Prof. Shai, Chairperson of the Department of East Asia Studies; and Prof. Niv Ahituv, Director of the Max Perlman Center for Global Business.

The TAU Faculty of Management and the Joseph Kasierer Institute for Research in Accounting held a conference entitled "Short Trading and Trends in the Capital Market," organized by LAHAV. Academic coordinators were Prof. Dan Galay of the Hebrew University and Prof. Itzhak Swary, Head of the Kasierer Institute.

Colin Tweedy, Director General of ABSA, the Association for Business Sponsorship of the Arts, was guest of the Faculty of Management's LAHAV course in Management of Art and Culture Institutes for a conference held in cooperation with the Association of Businesses for the Arts.

The Interdisciplinary Center for Technological Analysis and Forecasting (ICTAF) held a conference entitled "Monitoring Diabetes Painlessly - A Technological Challenge to Industrial R&D," in cooperation with the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International, the Israeli Chapter, organized by Dr. Eliana Tapuchi and Dr. Yair Sharan, Deputy Director of ICTAF.

Richard Cox of the Speech and Image Processing Services Research Laboratory, AT&T, US, gave a lecture at the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering entitled "The Role of Speech Processing in the Multimedia Communication Revolution."

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

Danna Glazer, a graduate student of the Rubin Israeli Music Academy, won first prize in the biannual Maria Callas Competition held in Athens. She is also winner of the 21st François Shapira Competition for Young Musicians organized by the America Israel Cultural Foundation.

Prof. Shmuel Kandel of the Faculty of Management was awarded the Smith Breeden Prize for 1996 Best Paper published in the Journal of Finance, "On the Predictability of Stock Return: An Asset-Allocation Perspective," with co-author Prof. Robert Stambaugh of the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.

The TAU Senate approved the appointment of Prof. Aharon Oppenheimer of the Department of Jewish History as the incumbent of the Sir Isaac Wolfson Chair of Jewish Studies, replacing Prof. Emeritus Shlomo Simonsohn.

Prof. Zvi Yaron of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences was appointed the incumbent of the Norman and Rose Lederer Chair of Experimental Biology, replacing Prof. Emeritus Elazar Kochva.

Four awards of the Michael Albin Fund and the Film Department of the Public Council on Culture and the Arts went to students of the TAU Film and TV Department - Tal Maoz, Eran Skotalsky, Neta Lanzman, and Boaz Hagin - for screenplays.

VISITS

A BMBF (The German Ministry of Science Education Research and Technology) delegation headed by Helmut Stahl, General Director, met with President Prof. Yoram Dinstein and attended a meeting with senior faculty members ofthe George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences. The session was chaired by Dean of Research and Development Prof. Emanuel Marom and Faculty Dean Yitzhak Barash.

A delegation of the Vienna University of Technology visited on campus and met with Rector Prof. Dan Amir and Prof. Yoram Shapira, outgoing Director of the Wolfson Applied Materials Research Center.

Dr. Federico Welsch, NIH Associate Director for International Affairs, met with Life Sciences and Medical School academic staff and Research Authority personnel.

Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia, Darja Bavdaz, visited on campus. She met with Prof. Dinstein and visited the Cummings Center for Russian and East European Studies.

Mr. Frank Lowy of Sydney, Australia visited on campus and reviewed the Overseas Student Program. The Program will be dedicated by his family as a School in the upcoming annual meeting of the Board of Governors. An Australian youth forum was held by the Program and hosted Prof. Robert Rockaway who discussed the Program's agenda.

OBITUARIES

TAU mourns the passing of Lola Beer-Ebner, Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causa of the University, Member of the Board of Governors and the Executive Council; President of the Friends of the Samuel Rubin Israeli Academy of Music; and patron of the Katz Faculty of Arts and the Sackler Faculty of Medicine.

TAU mourns the passing of Nathan Silver, donor of the Nathan and Lily Silver Chair for Mathematical Analysis and Operator Theory, Member of the Board of Governors.

COMING EVENTS

The Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors - May 16-23. For full program and last minute registration call 972-3-6406199 or fax 972-3-6408601.