NOVEMBER 2ND, 1997

IN ISRAEL

The 1997-98 School Year opened today, November 2nd 1997. The following new study programs were launched:

At the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering: Interdisciplinary Program in Electrical Engineering and Physics, a four-year undergraduate program leading to a double degree - BSc in Physis and BSc in Electrical Engineering.

The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences: Double major, Biology with almost any other undergraduate subject at the University.

The Sackler Faculty of Medicine: MSc in Physiotherapy and MSc in Occupational Therapy, a program jointly organized by the Department of Physiotherapy and the Department of Occupational Therapy at the School for Health Professions.

The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences: Undergraduate study program in Chemistry together with any other undergraduate program in Exact Sciences or at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences. Undergraduate studies in Geophysics and Planetary Sciences with Computer Sciences. Undergraduate Program in Geophysics and Planetary Sciences with Biology.

The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities: One Year Editing Program in the Hebrew Language for graduate students at the Department of Hebrew and Semitic Languages, the Chaim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies.

The Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences: Program in Medical Psychology offered by the Psychology Department for clinical psychologists, social workers and medical doctors.

The five month strike of the TAU junior academic staff ended. Doctoral students will now be employed 12 month a year (instead of 9 month) and receive full social benefits; master students will be put on a teaching assistant's track and those working by the hour will receive a 22% wage increase. Instructors employed solely by the University will be paid a full 12-month salary, including full social benefits.

CONFERENCES

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism Moshe Katsav was guest speaker at the inaugural ceremony of the Michael Leven and John Russell Travel, Tourism and Franchising Program of the Faculty of Management - The Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration. Opening remarks were given by Dean Prof. Israel Zang. Lectures were delivered by John J. Russell Jr., Chairman and CEO of HFS Hospitality Division, HFS Incorporated, on "Tourism Is Good for Business"; and by Michael A. Leven, President and CEO, US Franchise Systems Inc., on "Tourism Is Good for Peace," followed by a panel discussion entitled "Structural Changes in the Tourism Industry."

Minister of Defense Yitzhak Mordechai and TAU's Prof. Shlomo Ben-Ami, Member of Knesset, were speakers at the annual Haim Avital Memorial Evening, moderated by TAU Vice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi.

The first conference of the Plant Genome Center's Cereal Project, Ministry of Science, was held at TAU. Greetings were delivered by Dean of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Prof. Isaac Barash. Guest lectures were delivered by Dr. R.C. Peet and Dr. Michael David of Foley and Lardner Law Office, Washington D.C., on "Protection of Plant Biotechnology Inventions." Dr. Miriam Waldman, Head of the Agricultural and Environmental Division at the Ministry of Science spoke on the Ministry's support of research infrastructure. A panel discussion on biotechnological developments in cereals in Israel and other countries was held with participants from the biotechnological industry. The conference organizers were Prof. Zahir Eyal of the TAU Institute for Cereal Crops Improvement and Prof. Jonathan Gressel of the Weizmann Institute of Science.

"Embodied Logos - 14 Women Artists from Germany," an exhibition of the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations, Stuttgart, in cooperation with the Goethe Institute, Tel Aviv, opened at the Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery. Greetings at the opening ceremony were delivered by Vice Rector Prof. Judah Eisenberg; Gallery Curator Prof. Mordechai Omer; director of the Goethe Institute Dr. Kristin Volker; and the exhibition curator, Dr. Gudrun Inboden, Chief Curator for contemporary art at the Staatgaleri in Stuttgart. The exhibition will be open to the public until January 15, 1998.

The unveiling of the plaque of the Jacob Pereman Linguistic Book Collection at the Sourasky Central Library was held in the presence of three generations of the family. Greetings were given by the Library Director, Dr. Dan Simon. Hava Peremen-Chernov spoke in the name of the family. Pereman was the first donor of books to TAU's library 30 years ago. The most important collection is the Assyrian one, which was purchased by Peremen in Nazi Germany.

The School of Physics and Astronomy, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, held a symposium on Particle Physics and Neural Computation in honor of Prof. David Horn, Director of the Adams Super Center for Brain Research, on the occasion of his 60th birthday. Lectures in the field of particle physics were delivered by Prof. Gabriele Veneziano of CERN and Prof. Frederick Gilman of Carnegie Mellon University; and in neural computations by Nobel Prize laureate Leon N. Cooper of Brown University and John J. Hopfield of Princeton University. Opening addresses were delivered by Prof. Nili Cohen, the University's Rector, and by former TAU President Prof. Yuval Ne'eman.

The Bob Shapell School of Social Work hosted the Council of the Israeli Schools of Social Work to a meeting entitled "New and Old: Training in Social Work in a New Social Reality."

Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein opened a three day conference on anti-Semitism sponsored by TAU's Project for the Study of Anti-Semitism; the Israeli Government Forum on anti-Semitism; the Anti-Defamation League; the World Jewish Congress; and the Jewish Agency, held at TAU.

Ambassador of Holland to Israel, Como van Hellenberg Hubar, was guest at the opening ceremony of the three-day Israeli-Dutch Binational Symposium on Electrostatic Accelerator Free Electron Lasers, supported by the Israeli Ministry of Science and the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Greetings were given by Prof. Shlomo Rushin, Chairperson of the Physical Electronics Department, Fleischman Faculty of Engineering; TAU's Prof. Yuval Ne'eman; Yossi van Zuaren, Director of Physics at the Ministry of Science; and the Symposium organizers, Prof. Arie Eichenbaum of the Fleischman Faculty and Dr. Wim Urbanus of FOM Institute of Plasmaphysics, Holland.

The annual conference of the Miriam and Georg Faktor Entrepreneurial Center, Faculty of Management-Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration, was entitled "Satellite Communication." Greetings were delivered by Dean Prof. Israel Zang and Isaac Kaul, CEO of Clal (Israel) Ltd, moderated by Prof. Eitan Muller, Director of the Faktor Center. Leon Recanati, Chairman of Clal's Board of Directors, awarded Yoel Gat, Chairman and CEO of Gilat Satellite Network, the Faktor 1997 Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Gil Shwed, CEO and President and founder of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., Shlomo Kramer, Executive Vice President and co-founder, and Marius Nacht, Vice President of International Operations and co-founder, jointly won the 1997 Young Entrepreneur Prize. TAU Rector Prof. Nili Cohen awarded Avinoam Nowogrodski, CEO of Smart Solutions, the Technical Data Management Company, and Avichay Nissenbaum, V.P. Product Marketing, the first Prize for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the Miriam and Georg Faktor Center and Clal.

The TAU English Speaking Friends held their first event for 1997-98, a membership tea with David Landau, Editor of the HA'ARETZ English Edition - International Herald Tribune, who talked about "Israel in the Eyes of the International Media".

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

Prof. Philip Ein Dor was appointed the Head of the Marcel and Annie Adams Institute for Business Management Information Systems.

Prof. Zvia Agur of the Department of Cell Research and Immunology, the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, was elected as member of the Board of the European Society of Mathematical and Theoretical Biology (ESMTB).

Eran Weintrob, outgoing President of the TAU Student Union and fourth-year student of the Buchmann Faculty of Law, was elected Chairman of the Israeli National Students Union.

VISITS

Dr. Liu Zhongde, Chinese Minister of Culture, was hosted by Vice Rector Prof. Judah Eisenberg and Yoram E. Shamir, Director of Public Affairs. He met with Chinese students of TAU's Samuel Rubin Israeli Academy of Music and toured the Academy guided by Prof. Ami Maayani, its Head.

Dr. Johannes Gerster, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung resident-representative to Israel, met TAU President Prof. Yoram Dinstein during his first visit to TAU.

Prof. Harald Bottger, President of the Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg, met with Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Prof. Abraham Nitzan; Dean of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Prof. Isaac Barash; and Dean of Research and Development, Prof. Emanuel Marom, while visiting on campus.

Andrea Noske, of the German Federal Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Technology, met with Prof. Emanuel Marom, Dean of Research and Development, and visited the labs of Prof. Abraham Katzir, Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences.

ABROAD

The British Trust held the Goldman-Sachs Luncheon with TAU professor Jacob Frenkel, Governor of the Bank of Israel, the incumbent of the Weisfeld Extraordinary Chair for Economics of Peace and International Relations.

The TAU Australian Friends, Victoria Chapter, held their 21st Anniversary Ball at the Carlton Crest Hotel, Melbourne, in the presence of guest of honor Mr. Alan Selwyn, Chairman of the TAU Perpetual Scholarship Fund for Undergraduate Students, and Mrs. Ahda Selwyn. Patrons in attendance were The Hon. Walter Jona, Mr. Henry Krongold, and Prof. Louis Waller. Organizer: Mr. Abe Monester, President of the Chapter.

AFTAU and the American Friends of Beth Hatefutsoth held a tribute dinner honoring Sam Bloch and Shalom Yoran, in New York. An Honorary Fellowship of the Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities was awarded to Sam Bloch by TAU President Prof. Yoram Dinstein and the Flame of Truth Award was given to Shalom Yoran by Amnon Barness, Chairman Emeritus of the Fund for Higher Education. An address was delivered by Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel. The event was held in support of the Project for the Study of Anti-Semitism at TAU and Beth Hatefutsoth.

Harold Prince was awarded the President's Award by TAU President Prof. Yoram Dinstein at the "Broadway Salute to Israel" gala held to benefit the Broadway Musical Project and its Musical Theater Library, sponsored by Prof. Dinstein and AFTAU. Barbara Cook and Wally Harper were honored with the American Friends of Tel Aviv University "Year of the Dove" Peace Award. The evening included performances by Israeli artists participating in the Project.

OBITUARY

TAU mourns the passing of Prof. Hayim Biochis, former Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, the incumbent of the Lea and Arie Pickel-Paamoni Chair in Pediatric Nephrology.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The "Howard Gilman International Colloquium Quo Vadis Zionism?: What Is the Meaning of Zionism 100 Years after the Basel Program and 80 Years after the Balfour Declaration?" begins today in Basel, Switzerland, at the "Stadtcasino", the historical setting for the first Zionist Congress, through November 4. The Conference is jointly sponsored by TAU and Basel University, under the auspices of TAU President Professor Yoram Dinstein; Director of Basel University, Prof. Heiko Haumann; and Rector-elect of Basel University, Prof. Ekkehard Stegemann. The Conference is being directed by Head of TAU's Chaim Weizmann Zionist Research Institute, Prof. Yossef Gorny.

The 7th European Conference of the Board of Governors will take place at the Carlton Hotel, St. Moritz, Switzerland, on 22-26 January, 1997. For more information contact Barbara Kandell, Secretary of the Board of Governors, at Tel: (972)-3-641-6464. Fax: (972)-3-640-6257.

The TAU International Board of Governors' Study Cruise - Jewish Roots of the New World, will take place aboard the Royal Caribbean's Legend of the Seas from March 11-21, 1998. For more information contact Jules Love, Executive Vice President, American Friends of Tel Aviv University, Tel: (212) 687-5651; (800) 989-1198. Fax: (212) 687-4085.