MAY 1ST 1997

IN ISRAEL

The TAU Senate approved the establishment of a graduate school at the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts.

The TAU Senate approved the establishment of two institutes and four chairs: the Adler Research Center for Child Welfare and Protection, to

be headed by Prof. Zehava Solomon; the Joan and Jaime Constantiner Institute for Molecular Genetics, to be headed by Prof. Gerald Cohen; the Jack and Lisa Yael Chair in Comparative Economics; the George and Mary Bloch Chair in Comparative Art History, incumbent Prof. Nurith Kenaan-Kedar; the Carol and Melvin S. Taub Chair in Applied Medical Physics, incumbent Prof. Avraham Katzir; and the Branco Weiss Chair for Research in Child Development and Education, incumbent Prof. Sidney Strauss.

Five academic agreements were signed between TAU and overseas universities and institutes: The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences; Claude Bernard University, Lyon; Toronto University Faculty of Management; UIBE University, Beijing; and Georgia Institute of Technology.

TAU's Meyerhoff Technical College and the Israeli high-tech company ESHED ROBOTEC signed in Tel Aviv a cooperation agreement with six technical colleges in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the establishment of an advanced technological infrastucture.

CONFERENCES

The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities and the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies held a conference honoring Prof. Daniel Carpi, the incumbent of the Benyamin and Chaya Schapelski Chair of Holocaust Studies, on the publication of his jubilee book. Participating were the book editors and his former students Prof. Anita Shapira, Prof. Minna Rozen and Dr. Dina Porath. The Conference was chaired by Prof. Shlomo Simonsohn.

Prof. Asher Susser of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies delivered a lecture entitled, "The Ripening Process of Jordan's Identity," at a conference in memory of Prof. Uriel Dan, chaired by Dr. Martin Kramer, Director of the Center. Prof. David Menashri delivered a memorial address.

Prof. Ryuzo Yanagimachi of the University of Honolulu, Hawaii, was guest lecturer of the Sackler Distinguished Lectures in Medicine, coordinated by Prof. Uri Liberman. His talk was entitled, "The Old and the New in Fertilization."

The New Student Union hosted MK Shimon Peres, former Israeli Prime Minister, to a guest lecture entitled "Israeli Society - Where Is It Heading?"

Prof. Jeffrey Lesser of Connecticut College was guest lecturer of the Morris E. Curiel Center for International Studies. Title of the lecture was "Negotiating National Identity: Arabs, Japanese and the Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil."

Prof. Geoffrey Hartman of Yale University was a guest lecturer at an event jointly held by the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies and the English Department, Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities, entitled "Shoah and Intellectual Witness."

The Herczeg Institute for Aging hosted Prof. Gabrielle Rosenthal of the University of Kasel, who delivered a lecture entitled, "The Holocaust in Three Generation Families."

The Herczeg Institute also held a meeting to discuss Prof. Shulamith Kreitler's research on "Psychosocial Problems of Elderly Cancer Patients."

The Israeli Friends of TAU held a memorial evening on the 30th day of the passing of Lola Beer-Ebner, TAU Honorary Doctor and Board Member.

Addresses in her memory were delivered by Professor Yoram Dinstein and Raya Jaglom, President of the Friends Association. Prof. Nurith Kenaan-Kedar of the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts delivered a lecture on "Fashion as an Artistic Expression," followed by the film "Lola Beer - 50 Years of Fashion in Israel," directed by Nili Tal.

The TAU School of Education's Center for Scientific and Technological Education (MABAT), in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, presented for the first time to Arab municipal and educational authorities their technological and scientific curriculum for Arab schools in a conference entitled, "New Trends in Education for Scientific Technological Literacy." The Conference was organized by Dr. Ruth Novik, Director of the Center. Addresses were delivered by Prof. Nili Cohen, TAU Vice Rector, and Ali Assadi, Director of the Arab Education Department at the Ministry. Prof. David Chen, Head of the School of Education, delivered a lecture entitled, "Teaching Scientific Literacy in the Era of Peace."

Prof. John Archibald Wheeler of Princeton University, the 1997 Wolf Foundation Prize laureate in Physics, was guest lecturer of the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies. His lecture was entitled, "Delayed Choice Experiments as Clues to 'How Come the Quantum'"?

Dr. Mary F. Lyon of Harwell, UK, the Wolf Foundation Prize laureate in Medicine, gave a joint seminar for the Faculties of Life Sciences and

Medicine, entitled, "The Xist Gene and the Mechnism of X-Chromosome Inactivation."

Prof. Ya G. Sinai of Princeton University, the Wolf Foundation Prize laureate for 1997 in Mathematics, gave a guest lecture at the School of Mathematical Sciences, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, entitled "Twist Maps Without KAM-Islands."

The 24th course of the International Postgraduate Training in Medicine program of the School of Continuing Education, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, has been completed. Dr. Rekha Sukumar of India delivered an address on behalf of the graduating physicians.

The TAU Israeli Friends Business Club were guests of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, at a meeting chaired by Dean Prof. Isaac Barash. Prof. Ephraim Katzir discussed the importance of relations between industry and the academy in the field of biotechnology.

An historical colloquium in memory of Dr. Raul Parras Barrenechea was held at TAU, in cooperation with the Peruvian Embassy. An address was delivered by Jaime Stiglich, Peruvian Ambassador to Israel.

A colloquium with Argentinean authors who participated in the International Book Fair was held at TAU together with the Embassy of Argentina. Participants included Marcos Aguinis, Liliana Heker and Rodolfo Rabanal. The moderator was Rosalie Sitman and greetings were delivered by Dr. Jose Maria V. Otegui, Argentinean Ambassador to Israel, and Dr. Ilana Ben Ami, TAU's Regional Vice Chairperson for Latin America and Spain.

The Israel Society for Medical and Biological Engineering held a conference at TAU entitled, "Advanced Biomedical Engineering Industries," organized by Prof. David Elad of the Biomedical Engineering Department at the Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering. Greetings were delivered by Associate Dean, Prof. Shmuel Einav.

The inauguration ceremony of the Switzerland Institute of Developmental Biology was held in the presence of the Rector of Konstanz University, Prof. Rudolf Cohen; Dago Schottlander of the Kurt Lion Foundation; and Erich Marx of the Swiss Friends Association. Greetings were offered by Vice Rector, Prof. Nili Cohen; Dean of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Prof. Isaac Barash; Vice President, Yehiel Ben-Zvi; and Mr. Kurt Lion. Prof. Yehuda Ben-Shaul, the Head of the Institute, delivered a lecture entitled "New Developments in Developmental Biology."

Members of the Marcel and Annie Adams Institute for Business Management Information Systems Club were guests of the John Bryce "Intranet 2000" week, sponsored by Oracle Israel and Silicon Graphics. Sallie Martin, Silicon Graphics' WebForce Business Development Manager, Europe, delivered a lecture entitled, "Practical Intranet Technology Applications in Organizations."

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

Prof. Ruth Ben-Israel was appointed the students' ombudsman for sexual harassment complaints.

Prof. Charles Weissmann was appointed Senior Professor by Special Appointment in Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology.

Prof. Emeritus Arieh Lewy of the School of Education was appointed member of the International Academy of Education.

Prof. Jerome Mandel of the English Department won the PEN-UNESCO international competition in short fiction for 1997.

Prof. Uzi Even, former Head of the School of Chemistry, was awarded the Kolthoff Prize for 1996-97 by the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. The Prize is awarded to outstanding Israeli chemists not connected with the Technion.

Prof. Israel Gohberg of the School of Mathematical Sciences, the incumbent of the Nathan and Lily Silver Chair for Mathematical Analysis and Operator Theory, was awarded an honorary doctorate from Darmstadt Technical University, Germany.

Prof. Margalith Galun of the Department of Plant Sciences was awarded the Meitner-Humboldt Award of the Alexander Von Humboldt Siftung, Germany, in recognition of her research and teaching.

Prof. Gideon Langholz of the Department of Electrical Engineering-Systems was appointed Chairman of the Executive Council of the TAU Meyerhoff Technical College, replacing Prof. Emeritus David Abir of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering.

VISITS

Ambassador of South Africa to Israel Mr. Frank H. Land visited on campus. He met with Vice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi and visited the Faculty of Management and the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies.

ABROAD

The Howard Gilman International Colloquium on "Universalism vs. Particularism Toward the 21st Century" was held at Charles University, Prague, sponsored by TAU President Professor Yoram Dinstein and Prof. Arie Nadler, Dean of the Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Studies. Academic directors were Dr. Yossi Shain, Chairman of the Department of Political Science, and Dr. Martina Klicperova of Charles University.

OBITUARIES

TAU mourns the passing of Prof. Yonathan Shapiro, founder of TAU's Sociology and Anthropology Department, Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, and the incumbent of the Zelman and Sima Weinberg Chair in Political Sociology.

COMING EVENTS

The Annual Board of Governors Meeting will take place at TAU from May 16-23, 1997.

The 1997 Riviera Meeting will take place in Monaco on 20-23 of July, under the auspices of Mr. Benno Gitter, Chairman of the Board of Governors, and Mrs. Raya Jaglom, President of the Israeli Friends.

The 3rd Annual TAU North American Conference will take place in Toronto, Canada, on September 18-21, 1997, at the Sheraton Hotel. Contact Barbara Kandell, Board of Governors Office, Tel. 972-3-641-6464; Fax 972-3-640-6257.