DECEMBER 1ST, 1997

IN ISRAEL

TAU and the Student Union held an assembly commemorating two years since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Speakers were Minister of Defense Yitzhak Mordechai; Rector Prof. Nili Cohen; Chairman of the Student Council, Lior Rotbart; and Rabin's grandson Yonathan Ben-Arzi, on behalf of the family.

The TAU Student Union in cooperation with the Student Union at Bar-Ilan University held a joint watch of orthodox and secular students at the Rabin Memorial in Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, saying prayers and lighting memorial candles.

The first TAU Senate meeting of the 1997-98 school year opened with a performance by the Gertler String Quartet of the Samuel Rubin Israeli Academy of Music. The Senate elected a new Dean of Research and a new Dean of Students (see page 4).

The Rector's Lecture Series of the first semester of the 1997-98 school year has commenced, and will be delivered by Prof. Yuval Neeman of the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies, on the scientific revolutions of the twentieth century.

Lockheed-Martin has donated $350,000 toward the establishment of an international research center for studying bird migration at Latrun, situated on the main migrating track. Lockheed-Martin CEO Norman Augustin visited the site accompanied by Dr. Yossi Leshem of TAU's Zoology Department, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, who initiated the research center. As of now, seven TAU students are involved with research in the center, which includes a study financed by the Max Planck Institute, Germany.

TAU's School of Education established an Alumni Club. Dr. Shimshon Shoshani moderated the first meeting. A guest was TAU Rector, Prof. Nili Cohen. A lecture entitled "Trends in Developing the Future School" was delivered by Prof. David Chen, Head of the School.

TAU and Instituto Matias Rumero de Estudias Diplomaticas, Mexico signed an agreement of cooperation.

CONFERENCES

"New Horizons in Cancer Research: From Bench to Bedside" was the title of the annual scientific meeting of the Felsenstein Medical Research Center (FMRC) of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, held under the auspices of the Israel Cancer Association and organized by Prof. Yosef Mekori, the Center's Director. Lectures were given by the Center researchers and guests.

Prof. Boris Rubinsky of the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Professor by Special Appointment at TAU's Department of Biomedical Engineering, Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, was the guest lecturer at the monthly meeting of SHILUVIM, the Faculty's Alumni Club. Moderator was Prof. Shmuel Einav, Associate Dean. A project financed by the Israel Space Agency of the Ministry of Science and the Survey of Israel for Establishing Infrastructure for Global Position Systems (GPS) was inaugurated, in the presence of Dr. Mordechai Bishari, Director-General of the Ministry of Science, and Aby Har Even, Director-General of the Israel Space Agency. The Project's principal investigators are Dr. Shimon Wdowinski of TAU and Dr. Yehuda Bock of the Scripps Institute. The project is jointly run by TAU's Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences; the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the University of California, San Diego; Survey of Israel; and the Geological Survey of Israel.

The Herczeg Memorial Chair of Argentine Friends on Allergy and Related Diseases held the second TAU-Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center Symposium on allergy, inflammation and the immunological system. Moderator was Prof. Yoram Levo, incumbent of the Chair.

The Department of General History and the Morris E. Curiel Center for International Studies held a memorial evening, chaired by Prof. Miriam Eliav-Feldon, Chairperson of the Department, marking ten years to the passing of Prof. Charles Yehuda Bloch. Prof. Aron Shai of the Department of East Asian Studies delivered a lecture on the future of diplomatic history.

The TAU Buchmann Faculty of Law held a memorial evening for former Minister of Justice Shmuel Tamir. Participants included President of the Supreme Court Prof. Aharon Barak; Attorney-General Elyakim Rubinstein; TAU President Prof. Yoram Dinstein; and Jacob Achimeir of the Israel TV Channel 1.

The TAU Buchmann Faculty of Law held a conference commemorating 25 years to the establishment of Israeli contract law.

The Sackler Faculty of Medicine held a memorial evening on the 30th day of the passing of Prof. Hayim Boichis, fifth Dean of the Faculty. The event was moderated by Prof. Zvi Spirer, Associate Dean. Opening remarks were given by Dean Prof. Elieser Kaplinsky and former Rector Prof. Yehuda-Ben Shaul. The late Prof. Boichis' son Eli spoke on behalf of the family.

Prof. Itamar Rabinovich was the speaker at the opening session of the International Forum of the TAU English Speaking Friends and the Department of Political Science, Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, entitled "The Middle East Peace Agenda."

The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies in cooperation with the English Speaking Friends of TAU opened this semester's seminar on "Leaders of the Middle East".

The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Distinguished Lectures in Mathematics hosted Prof. Enrico Bombieri, of the Princeton Institute of Advanced Studies' School of Mathematics, for a series of talks on "Diophantine Equations in Low Dimension." Prof. Noga Alon is the coordinator of the Lectures.

The Institute for German History at the School of History, Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities, hosted Prof. Reinhart Koselleck of Bielefeld University, Germany, who delivered a lecture on "Concepts of History - History of Concepts" within the framework of the Fritz Thyssen Lecture Series on "The Impact of German Tradition on the Humanities and Sciences."

The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies and the Department of Middle Eastern History held the annual memorial conference for Avishai Ben Zvi and Yehoshafat Netzer. The Conference was chaired by the Director of the Dayan Center Dr. Martin Kramer. Prof. David Menashri, Chairperson of the Department, delivered an address. A lecture was delivered by Dr. Eli Rekhess on "The Israeli Arabs on the 50th Anniversary of the State of Israel: Their Independence Day - Our Disaster? "

The Marcel and Annie Adams Institute for Business Management Information Systems held its annual conference in cooperation with the Israeli Information Technologies Society, entitled "The State of Israel's Organization Toward the Information Age in Infrastructure and Technologies". Greetings were delivered by Amiram Shore, the Israeli IT Society Chairperson and Prof. Philip Ein-Dor, Head of the Adams Institute. The 1997 Prize for Information Systems Development of the Adams Institute; the Mexico Chair in Management Information Systems; and the Marko and Lucie Chaoul Chair for Research in Information Evaluation was awarded at the Conference to Jonathan Adereth, President and CEO of ELSCINT, and to Danny Yamin, M.I.S. manager for ERP Enterprise Resource Planning of ELSCINT.

The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and the Laura Schwarz-Kipp Institute of Biotechnology held a symposium on Neuroscience and Biotechnology, organized by Prof. Mordechai Sokolovsky.

A three-day international symposium on Signal Transduction in Health and Disease (STADY) was held at TAU honoring Dr. Kevin Catt of NIH, US. The Symposium was organized by Prof. Zvi Naor of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, and was sponsored by NICHD, NIH and the Ares Serono Foundation, Switzerland.

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

The TAU Senate elected Prof. Yair Aharonowitz, Head of the Laura Schwarz-Kipp Institute of Biotechnology, as the new Dean for Research and Development, replacing Prof. Emanuel Marom who concluded his term of office.

Prof. Ruth Shalgi of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine's Department of Embryology and Teratology was elected Dean of Students by the TAU Senate. She replaces Prof. Reuven Chen who has concluded his term of office.

The TAU Senate has elected Prof. Eliezer Ben-Rafael incumbent of the Zelman and Sima Weinberg Chair in Political Socio, replacing Prof. Yonathan Shapiro who passed away.

The TAU Senate approved the establishment of a new Chair of Public Economics. The incumbent is Prof. David Pines of the Eitan Berglas School of Economics.

Prof. Dan Diner of the Institute for German History was elected the incumbent of the Benyamin and Chaya Schapelski Chair of Holocaust Studies, replacing Prof. Daniel Carpi who retired.

Raya Jaglom, President of the TAU Friends Association in Israel, was awarded the B'nai Brith International Humanitarian Award by Tommy P. Baer, President, in Tel Aviv.

Prof. Haim Hazan of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology was appointed head of the Herczeg Institute on Aging, replacing Prof. Jacob Lomranz, who ended his term.

Dr. Moshe Or-Gad of the Faculty of Management and general manager of Management Technology and Organization Ltd. was appointed chairman of the Marcel and Annie Adams Institute for Business Management Information Systems Club.

Lior Rotbart was elected chairman of the TAU Student Union Council.

Adi Ben Arie, a graduate of the TAU Department of Film and Television, won second prize in the NYU International Student Film Festival which was held in Florence, Italy, for his film Second Watch.

Prof. Zehava Solomon, of the Bob Shapell School of Social Work was awarded the Robert S. Laufer Memorial Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement, presented to her at the annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies in Montreal, Canada.

VISITS

Swiss Members of Parliament headed by Peter Blotzer visited TAU accompanied by Ambassador Pierre Monod. After meeting with the members of the Dayan Center and the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research, the guests toured the construction site of the Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center accompanied by Yoram E. Shamir, Director of Public Affairs. Prof. JurDr. Dusan Hendrych, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Prague and JurDr. Ing. Jiri Zemanek, Vice Dean, were guests of the Buchmann Faculty of Law where a reception was held in their honor.

ABROAD

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? ) was held at Basel University, sponsored by Prof. Yoram Dinstein of TAU and Profs. Ekkehard Steggemann and Heiko Haumann of Basel University and directed by TAU Prof. Yossef Gorny. The opening session was held at the City Hall. Dr. Ulrich Vischer, President of Canton Basel City, Prof. Ulrich Gabler, Rector of the University of Basel, and Prof. Dinstein delivered greetings.

TAU and the Mexican Ministry of Health held a joint Symposium on developments in biomedicine in Mexico. Participants at the opening ceremony were Dr. Juan Ramon de la Fuente, Minister of Health of Mexico; Benno Gitter, Chairman of the TAU Board of Governors; Prof. Dinstein, President of TAU; Dr. Ilana Ben Ami, Regional Vice Chairperson for Latin America and Spain; and Dr. Jaime Constantiner, honorary president, architect Isaac Backal, President, and Leopoldo Norten, Vice President of the Mexican Friends of TAU. Prof. Dinstein delivered a lecture on "Medicine and Human Rights". Lectures were delivered by five TAU faculty members and a Mexican scientist in the same field of interest of Mexico. Social events included a festive opening dinner hosted by Dr. Juan Ramon de la Fuente, attended by 100 participants; an evening at the Bet El community center in memory of Marcus Maus, with a lecture by Prof. Rina Zaizov of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine on pediatric cancer; and a closing dinner hosted by the Maus family in memory of Marcus Maus, attended by 300 participants.

Yehiel Ben-Zvi, Vice President, was guest of honor at the Sydney Friends Annual Ball which was very well attended.

The Lowy School for Overseas Students was launched at a press conference held in Sydney with Vice President Ben-Zvi, Frank Lowy, the School's patron, and TAU's Sydney Friends President John Landerer.

A general meeting of the Melbourne Friends Association was also held in honor of Mr. Ben-Zvi at the home of Annette and Abe Monester. At a joint meeting of the Executive and committee members held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Cyngler, Mr. Ben-Zvi addressed the members with an overview of new developments at TAU. The second generation committee was held at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Goldhammer during which the group's inaugural project was discussed.

The Austrian Friends of TAU held their traditional benefit Gala at the Vienna Hilton Hotel hosted by the Association's President Hella H. Gertner and Bank Austria, under the auspices of Prof. Heinz Fischer, President of the Austrian Parliament. Guest was Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine Prof. Elieser Kaplinsky. Music was played by Prof. Dr. Anton Neumayr, piano, and Prof. Kaplinsky, violin. The proceeds were dedicated to the project "Inhibition of Cancer Growth by Means of Oncogene Antagonists," a joint project of TAU and the Dermatology Clinic, Vienna University, headed by Prof. Klaus Wolff.

A gala dinner of the committee of the Swiss Friends took place in the Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich. Guestof honor was Prof. Charles Weissmann, director of the Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Zurich, who spoke on "Genes, Health and Wealth." The event was attended by TAU's Prof. Dinstein and Benno Gitter and was chaired by Simon de Pury. Guests were Dr. Fritz Gerber, CEO of Hoffman-La Roche, and Yitzhak Mayer, Israel Ambassador to Switzerland.

The renowned pianist Tzimon Barto gave a recital in Frankfurt under the auspices of Mayor Petra Roth, hosted by the Bayerische Vereinsbank. Proceeds from the recital will benefit Casimir Prince Wittgenstein's project at TAU's Samuel Rubin Israeli Academy of Music.

An Evening of Literature and Music in benefit of the Karin Brandauer Fund was held in the Great Hall of the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, organized by the Munich Committee of the German Friends of TAU and the Ludwig Maximilians University. Peter Hartling read passages from his novel on Schubert and Gerhard Oppitz and performed works by Schubert.

OBITUARIES

TAU deeply mourns the death of Sir Isaiah Berlin, Doctor Philosophiae Causa of the University.

TAU deeply mourns the passing of Baron Edmond Benjamin De Rothschild, Doctor Philosophiae Causa of the University, Chairman of the Caesarea Foundation.

TAU deeply mourns the passing of Annie Adams, Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causa of the University, co-founder of the Adams Super-Center for Brain Studies and the Marcel and Annie Adams Institute for Business Management Information Systems. In Montreal, Canada.

COMING EVENTS

The annual meeting of the TAU Friends in Argentina will take place at Punta del Este on January 24-25, 1998.

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.