FEBRUARY 1ST 1998

IN ISRAEL

TAU held for the first time a university-wide open day, inviting the public to find out about all the possibilities at TAU. All faculties were overcrowded with thousands of candidates.

The TAU Students Union held their annual election. The Labor Party was defeated. A new left-wing movement, Dor Shalom, led by Rabin's son, won 27 seats out of the 75-seat council.

The Student Union appealed to the High Court of Justice against the State of Israel, protesting the inequality between the 147,000 students who get no State support and the 190,000 yeshiva students get many benefits, including free schooling and lodging, as well as exemption from army service.

TAU students joined their counterparts at other Israeli institutions of higher learning for a one-day strike to protest the government's intention to provide additional funds for the yeshivas as part of the 1998 budget. National Student Federation Chairman Eran Weintrob, former Chairman of TAU Student Union, and TAU Chairman Lior Rotbart were detained by the police for questioning after a demonstration at TAU which included blocking the roads.

The Department of Computer Science will open a new program in the coming academic year for 50 outstanding students, to help meet demand created by the Israeli high-tech industry.

The first Internet course at TAU is being offered by the School of Education - "Introduction to Psychology and Adolescence," given by Prof. Avner Ziv.

CONFERENCES

"The State of the Nation 1998: The State of Israel's Agenda" was the title of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies' annual conference in memory of Aharon Yariv. Opening remarks and conclusion were delivered by Dr. Shai Feldman, the Center's Director. Among participants were Ehud Barak, MK, Avraham Burg, Chairman of the Jewish Agency, Prof. Yoram Dinstein, and Prof. Shimon Shamir.

A memorial ceremony for the late Dr. Thomas Unger was held at the Marcos, Celia, Teodoro and Josefina Maus Multipurpose Computer Laboratory. He had been director of the lab. Addresses in his memory were delivered by Prof. Micha Sharir, Head of the School of Mathematics, and Prof. Amiram Yehudai. An exhibition of Unger's photographs has opened at the Elias Sourasky Central Library.

The TAU Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Institute for Labor Research in Memory of Pinchas Lavon held an international conference entitled "The Welfare State at Century's End: Current Dilemmas and Possible Futures," supported by the National Insurance Institute and the Hans Bockler Stiftung, Germany.

Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Jacob Frenkel of the Eitan Berglas School of Economics was a guest lecturer of SHILUVIM, the Faculty of Engineering's Alumni Business Club, on "Israeli Economics - Challenges and Opportunities."

SHILUVIM also hosted Peter Paz, Vice President for Marketing, Telegate Global Access Technology, who spoke on "HFC - An Alternative Infrastructure for Telecom Services.

The Department of Political Sciences' Political Communication Program held a conference entitled "Communication, Politics and International Relations."

The Goldstein-Goren Center for the History of the Jews in Romania held a conference marking its 10th anniversary, chaired by Prof. Aharon Oppenheimer, Head of the Diaspora Research Institute. Greetings were delivered by Mr. Abraham Goren-Goldstein, Prof. Shlomo Simonsohn, and Advocate Yitzhak Artzi. Opening remarks were given by Dr. Libiu Rotman, Director of the Goren-Goldstein Center. A lecture was delivered by Prof. Zvi Yavetz.

Prof. Eliot Cohen of the School of Advanced International Studies, John Hopkins University, delivered the Lady Thatcher Annual Lecture on "Soldiers and Statesmen after the Cold War." David Berger, Ambassador of Canada, was the January lecturer for the International Forum of the Department of Political Science and the English Speaking Friends of TAU.

The Sapir Center for Development and the Amnon Ben-Nathan Chair in Economics held the annual Amnon Ben Nathan Memorial Conference, entitled "Relations between the Israeli Financial Market and the Global Markets." It was chaired by Prof. Alex Zuckerman of the Berglas School of Economics and the incumbent of the Ben-Nathan Chair. Ambassador Asher Ben-Nathan presented 17 scholarships to students.

The Sapir Center and the Israel Manufacturers Association held a conference entitled "How to Stop Unemployment and Return to Growth," chaired by Prof. Assaf Razin of the Berglas School of Economics.

TAU hosted the Wolf Foundation Fellowship annual award ceremony in memory of Moshe Gilboa, the Wolf Foundation Council Chairman.

The Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, the Am Oved Publishing House, and the Ministry of Defense Publishing House celebrated the publication of the Hebrew edition of Prof. Bernard Lewis's book, 2000 Years of Middle East History. Guests were Shimon Peres, MK, and Ehud Barak, MK.

The Dayan Center held a conference entitled "Islam and Democracy in the Arab World: the State of the Art," on the occasion of the publication of Dr. Meir Litvak's new book, Islam and Democracy in the Arab World.

The Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities and the Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, held a three-day conference entitled "Immigration State and Immigration Society."

The first conference of the Israeli Society for Theoretical and Mathematical Biology was organized by TAU's Prof. Zvia Agur of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, a member of the European Society of Mathematical and Theoretical Biology Board. Greetings at the opening session were delivered by Prof. Judah Eisenberg, Vice Rector. The conference was sponsored by the CHAI foundation, Vaduz.

The Adi Lautman Interdisciplinary Program for Outstanding Students held its annual event in memory of Adi Lautman entitled "Between the Brain and Consciousness."

The Department of Film and Television hosted a week of short films.

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

Prof. Yakir Aharonov of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences' School of Physics was named by the Minister of Education the recipient of the 1998 Wolf Prize in Physics, together with Prof. Sir Michael Berry of Bristol University, England. They will share the prize of $100,000 for their discovery of the quantum topological and geometrical phases and their incorporation into many fields of physics.

Prof. Shmuel Kandel was elected Associate Dean of the Faculty of Management-Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration.

Prof. Shlomo Rozen was elected Head of the School of Chemistry of the Beverly and Raymond Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences.

Abed El Hamid Otman of Egypt, a graduate student of the TAU Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies' Department of Jewish History, won the first fellowship of the Abraham and Ruth Bar Fund.

Prof. Ami Maayani, Head of the TAU Rubin Israeli Academy of Music, was awarded the Composers' Prize for Lifetime Musical Activity by ACUM LTD (The Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers in Israel).

Prof. David Katz, incumbent of the Abraham Horodisch Chair in the History of the Book, was elected Fellow of the Zentrum zur Erforschung der Fruhen Neuzeit at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany.

Assaf Pinkus, a graduate student of the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts, was awarded the 1998 prize of the Zozik Hazaz-Bat Miriam Fund.

Ariel Kushmaro of the TAU Department of Zoology and the Porter Super-Center for Environmental and Ecology Research won best Ph.D. presentation at the 1997 Zoological Society of Israel's annual conference, entitled "Bacterial Infection and Coral Bleaching." The thesis supervisors were Prof. Yossi Loya, the incumbent of the Robert Raynor Chair in Environmental Conservation Research, and Prof. Eugene Rosenberg. Tali Kimhi won the best master's presentation prize for her research on the learning and memory ability of the blind mole in a complex maze in comparison with the lab mole

The TAU Senate approved the appointment of Prof. Uri Liberman of the Sackler School of Medicine as the incumbent of the Irene and Nicholas Marsh Chair in Endocrinology and Juvenile Diabetes.

VISITS

Roberto J. Burastero, Regional Director of Asia and the Middle East, Project Hope; Dr. Chen Shu-Bao, Director of Shanghai Children's Medical Center and Dean of College of Pediatrics, Shanghai Second Medical University; and Dr. Chen Zhi-Xing, Vice President of Shanghai Second Medical University visited on campus and met with staff of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Department of Biomedical Engineering.

Dr. Manfred Osten, Secretary General of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, met with Prof. Yoram Dinstein while visiting on campus.

Dr. Sotiris Varouxakis, Ambassador of Greece, and Angelos Ypsilantis, First Secretary, met with President Prof. Yoram Dinstein and with Rector Prof. Nili Cohen while visiting on campus.

ABROAD

The Seventh European Regional Conference of the TAU Board of Governors was held at the Carlton Hotel, St. Moritz. The opening address was given by Mr. Benno Gitter, Chairman of the Board; and the introduction by Vice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi. Lectures were delivered by Rector Prof. Nili Cohen; Prof. Mordechai Sokolov, Head of Interdisciplinary Center for Technological Analysis and Forecasting; and Dr. Elie Rekhess, director of the Konrad Adenauer Program on Arab Politics in Israel of the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies. Keynote speaker was Dr. Samuel Pisar, lawyer and author. The Gertler Quartet performed two concerts. Social activities included an opening gala dinner hosted by Karl-Heinz and Mrs. Hannelore Kipp; a Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner hosted by the TAU Swiss Friends; a festive dinner hosted by Josef Buchmann and Benno Gitter; and a farewell dinner hosted by Dr. Wilfried and Mrs. Ursula Bechtolsheimer.

Prof. Shimon Shamir was guest lecturer at the annual meeting of the TAU Friends in Argentina at Punta Del Este .

The regular general meeting of the TAU Friends Association in Vienna was held in the reception hall of the Federal Ministry for Science and Transport, Vienna, followed by a lecture delivered by Prof. Arik Brauer entitled "Painting 2000."

The Board meeting of the Buchmann Fellowship Fund was held at the Buchmann residence in Frankfurt with the participation of Vice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi. The Board passed a resolution to extend fellowship for four doctoral students at TAU and three at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt.

Two poetry evenings marking Israel's 50th anniversary were held in Germany, one in Frankfurt hosted by Helmut Lohr and one in Munich hosted by Celina and Georg Grunberg. Jan Phillip Reemtman read from Dr. Faustus by Thomas Mann.

A performance by actress Katherina Lange in her new show Das Wunderkind was sponsored by Margit and Ignatz Ceszkowski, followed by a reception hosted by the Ceros Vermogensvensverwaltung GmbH, in benefit of TAU.

OBITUARIES

TAU deeply mourns the passing away of Howard Gilman, Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causa of TAU, member of the Board of Governors.

COMING EVENTS

Registration started for the 1998 Board of Governors Meeting, to be held on 15-22 May 1998.

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.