May 1st, 1998

IN ISRAEL

Tony Blair, Prime Minister of Britain, visited TAU's Meyerhoff Technical College High School where he answered tough questions on contemporary issues presented to him by the high school students. Michael Kesary, Head of the College, announced that the School will establish the Tony Blair Forum for meetings between Israeli and Palestinian students. TAU Chancellor Sir Leslie Porter, Dame Shirley Porter, and Vice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi attended the meeting.

TAU and the Student Union Council held a Holocaust and Remembrance Memorial Assembly at the Jacob and Shoshana Schreiber Square and at the Holocaust and Heroism Square donated by David and Fela Shapell. Addresses were delivered by Prof. Reuven Chen, former Dean of Students, and Rafi Zitbar, President of the Student Union Council. Dr. Dina Porat, Head of the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism, delivered a lecture entitled "The Pope's Address to His Believers: We Remember the Holocaust - Do They?"

TAU and the Student Union held the annual Memorial Day assembly at the memorial monument in the Esther Sidi Memorial Garden. Speakers were Rector Prof. Nili Cohen; Air Force Commander Eitan Ben-Eliahu; the renowned Israeli author S. Yizhar; and Erez Eshel, Chairman of the Student Union Council.

A memorial service was held on the 30th day of the passing of the late Vice Rector Prof. Judah Eisenberg. Addresses were delivered by Rector Prof. Nili Cohen; Dr. Ephraim Levin of ELTA, first PhD student of Prof. Eisenberg; and Prof. Itzhak Kelson of the School of Physics and Astronomy. Prof. Yakir Aharonov, Israel Prize and Wolf Prize laureate, delivered a lecture entitled "Body and Soul as Reflected in Modern Physics."

The Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism was inaugurated. Addresses were delivered by TAU President Prof. Yoram Dinstein who also chaired the inauguration ceremony; Prof. Marcelo Dascal, Dean of the Entin Faculty of Humanities; Dr. Dina Porat, Head of the Institute; and Peter Roth, QC, son of the late Stephen Roth, an international expert on anti-Semitism. Prof. Shlomo Avineri of the Hebrew University delivered a guest lecture entitled "Never Again? Not Really."

TAU held a press conference in Jerusalem on the occasion of the publication of the annual report "Anti-Semitism World 1997/8." The report is published by the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism at TAU jointly with the World Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The report was presented by Dr. Dina Porat, Head of the Institute; Avi Beker, Executive Director of the WJC's office in Israel; and Rabbi David Rosen, director of ADL in Israel.

The Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies published the first issue of Strategic Assessment Quarterly, an electronic journal in both Hebrew and English. Editor-in-Chief is Dr. Shai Feldman, Head of the Jaffee Center, and editor is Moshe Grundman.

The unveiling ceremonies of the Albert Einstein statue at the Sam Mallah Palm Tree Garden and the Franz Kafka statue at the Gilman Building were held in the presence of sculptor Tosia Malamud and family, donor Jacobo Goldberg of Mexico and his family, and Dr. Ilana Ben Ami, TAU's Regional Vice Chairperson for Latin America and Spain. Prof. Marcelo Dascal, Dean of the Entin Faculty of Humanities, took part in the unveiling of the Kafka statue, and Prof. Avraham Nitzan, Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, participated in the unveiling of the Einstein statue.

Four new agreements for academic cooperation with TAU were signed by: Universitat Autonomas de Barcelona; the Fachochschule Magdenburg; Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Holland; and the Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey (with the Faculty of Management).

CONFERENCES

TAU's Buchmann Faculty of Law and the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of Arts held a joint event commemorating Israel's 50th Independence Day, entitled "Justice in Israeli Literature, Poetry and Dramatics," written by Dean of Law Prof. Eli Lederman, Prof. Menachem Mautner, and Shelley Zer-Zion. The show, directed by Prof. Tom Lewy, was performed by students of the Theater Arts Department. Five justices of the Supreme Court attended.

A conference on Microbial Ecology and Infectious Disease, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Emerging Diseases, was organized by Prof. Eugene Rosenberg of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology, and was held at Ma'ale Hahamisha. A special opening lecture was delivered at TAU by Dr. Peter E. Greenberg of the University of Iowa, entitled "Quorum-Sensing in Gram-Negative Bacteria."

TAU's School of Continuing Medical Education, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, held its certificate awarding ceremony for the participants of the 27th International Postgraduate Training Course in Medicine. Dr. Madhav Paranjpe of India spoke on behalf of the graduating physicians. Greetings were delivered by Dean Prof. Elieser Kaplinsky and Associate Dean Prof. Menahem Fainaru.

The Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research held a conference commemorating Sofia and Markus Margosches entitled "Aggressiveness and Violence Patterns in Israeli Society and their Implications." Opening remarks were delivered by Prof. Marcelo Dascal, Dean of the Entin Faculty of Humanities; Prof. Ephraim Yuchtman Yaar, the Head of the Center; and Mrs. Rina Shadmi, who represented the family.

"Film, Politics and Identity" was the title of a three-day international colloquium held by the Entin Faculty of Humanities; the School of History; the Joseph Alkalay Fund for Latin-American Studies; and the Elias Sourasky Chair of Ibero and Latin-American Studies. Speakers at the opening session, chaired by Dr. Raanan Rein, were Dean Prof. Marcelo Dascal and Head of the School of History, Prof. Shulamit Volkov.

Ambassador of Turkey, Mr. Barlas Özener, was guest speaker of the International Forum jointly held by the Department of Political Science, Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, and the English Speaking Friends of TAU. The Forum is chaired by Prof. Aharon Kleiman.

The TAU Women Studies Forum held the sixth annual conference on Feminist and Gender Studies on "Alternate Routes: Femininity, Masculinity, and a Place in the World," in cooperation with the programs of Gender Studies of the Entin Faculty of Humanities; the Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences; and the Katz Faculty of the Arts. The conference was sponsored by the Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics; the George and Mary Bloch Chair in Comparative Art History; and US/Israel Women to Women. Greetings at the opening session, chaired by Prof. Nurit Guvrin, were delivered by Rector Prof. Nili Cohen; Dean of Humanities Prof. Marcelo Dascal; Prof. Ziva-Ben Porath, Head of the Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics; and Dr. Hana Naveh, Head of the Women Studies Forum. The closing session was hosted by Prof. Rita Manning of the Philosophy Department of San Jose State University. The three-day conference, organized by Dr. Orly Lubin and Dr. Hana Naveh, was well attended by students and academic staff.

TAU's Elias Sourasky Central Library, in cooperation with the Center for Jewish Medical Heritage, held a seminar entitled "The Contribution of German Jewish Physicians to the Development of Medicine in Israel," in honor of Prof. Gerhard Baader, organized by Prof. G. L. Baum. Director of the Library, Dr. Dan Simon, awarded Prof. Baader a certificate in recognition of the donation of his collection to TAU. Ambassador of Germany, Mr. Theodor Wallau, delivered greetings together with Vice Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine Prof. Zvi Spirer.

Avinathan Hassidim of the Hebrew University High School was the winner in the annual Astronomy Olympics in memory of TAU's Prof. Dror Sadeh, organized by Dr. Meir Meidav. Opening remarks at the ceremony were delivered by Prof. David Chen, Head of the School of Education. Prof. Dina Prialnick-Kovetz of the Department of Geophysics and Planetary Studies gave a lecture entitled "Comets and the Beginning of Life."

The Buchmann Faculty of Law held its annual scholarship awarding ceremony for Arab students. Donor Ahmad Natour, President of the High Shari'a Court of Appeals, handed the awards to the five recipients in the presence of Dean Eli Lederman, who talked about the Faculty's affirmative action for Arab students.

The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences held an open house. Prof. Shoshana Bar-Nun, Head of the Faculty's Graduate School, explained the School's curriculum and the Faculty's professors gave lectures in their fields of expertise, followed by visits to the laboratories.

The Sackler Faculty of Medicine's Graduate School also held an open house for candidates and presented research opportunities.

Roni Milo, Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and TAU President Prof. Dinstein held a reception in honor of Israeli author Meir Shalev who is author-in-residence at TAU and is delivering a lecture series. Greetings were delivered by Prof. Dinstein; Dean of the Entin Faculty of Humanities, Prof. Marcelo Dascal; and Mayor Milo.

Air Force Commander Eitan Ben-Eliahu was the guest lecturer at the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies' Sirkin Memorial Lecture, entitled "Air Strength in the Year 2000." The Chairman was Dr. Shai Feldman, Head of the Jaffee Center.

The Azrieli School of Architecture hosted Prof. Carles Heric Vallhonrat of Princeton University who gave a lecture on the renowned architect Louis I. Kahn. The Wolfson Building of Mechanical Engineering on the TAU campus was designed by Louis Kahn.

TAU hosted a conference entitled "Future Generations of Women in High-Tech Industries" held by the Israeli universities, the Ministry of Education, the IDF, and the Israel Manufacturers Association. Prof. Hagit Yaron-Messer of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, chaired a panel discussion entitled "How to Encourage Young Women to Join the Faculties of Engineering and Sciences." Opening remarks were delivered by Prof. Shmuel Einav, Associate Dean of the TAU Faculty of Engineering.

The Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics held a conference on Portuguese Literature in cooperation with the University of Lisbon.

The Interdisciplinary Forum on Structural Biology and the Laura Schwarz-Kipp Institute of Biotechnology held an international symposium entitled "Basic and Applied Aspects of Structural Biology," organized by Prof. David Gutnick of the Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology, George S. Wise Faculty of Life Science.

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

Prof. Isaac P. Witz was appointed Director of the Cancer Biology Research Center.

With Law is the name of a film by TAU student Dover Kosashvili who was awarded the Yona Zaretsky Scholarship. Film photographer and director Yachin Hirsh talked about Yona Zaretsky's filmmaking in a ceremony chaired by the Chairperson of the Film and Television Department, Emil Knebel.

Erez Eshel, a philosophy student, was elected Chairman of the TAU Student Union Council.

The TAU Senate approved the appointment of Prof. Bernardo Vidne as the incumbent of the Rene G. Favaloro Chair of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, replacing Prof. Morris Levy, who retired.

VISITS

Lord and Lady Wolfson visited on campus. They toured the Wolfson Building of Mechanical Engineering and the Wolfson Building of Electrical Engineering, the clean room, and the wind tunnel laboratory, accompanied by Dean Prof. Uri Shaked; Prof. Gideon Langholz, Head of the Program for Computer Engineering and Software; and Prof. Emanuel Peled, Head of the Wolfson Center for Material Research. The party was hosted for lunch by President Prof. Yoram Dinstein.

Dr. N. Blum and Dr. A.M. Metz of the UFZ Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig-Halle, Germany, visited on campus. They met with President Prof. Dinstein and were introduced to the Porter Super-Center for Ecological and Environmental Studies, the Institute for Nature Conservation Research, and the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering.

ABROAD

TAU, the University of Vienna, and the Austrian National Bank celebrated Israel's jubilee at a colloquium held under the auspices of the Presidents of Israel and Austria. Lectures were given by Prof. Alfred Ebenbauer, Rector of the University of Vienna; TAU President Prof. Yoram Dinstein; Dr. Franz Vranitzky, former Federal Chancellor of Austria; Dr. Klaus Liebscher, President of the National Bank of Austria; and TAU's Prof. Jacob Frenkel, Governor of the Bank of Israel. Among the participants were Benno Gitter, Chairman of the Board of Governors; Prof. Heinz Fisher, President of the Austrian National Parliament; Nathan Meron, Ambassador of Israel; and Kathryn Hall, Ambassador of the US. The event was organized by President of the Austrian Friends Association, Dr. (hon.) Hella Gertner, and Vice President Prof. Michael Higatsberger.

Dr. Michael Haupl, Mayor of Vienna, gave a dinner reception for Colloquium participants and members of the Friends Association at the City Hall's Grand Hall, attended by 350 guests.

COMING EVENTS

The 1998 Board of Governors Meeting will be held on May 15-22.

TAU's 7th International Student Film Festival will take place on June 6-13, 1998.

The University's 4th Riviera Weekend will take place from July 24-27, 1998, under the auspices of Prince Rainier of Monaco. An economic colloquium entitled "Israel and the European Union as We Approach the Year 2000" will be held with the participation of TAU's Prof. Jacob Frenkel, Governor of the Bank of Israel, and Mr. Jean Claude Trichet, Governor of the Bank of France.

OBITUARIES

TAU deeply mourns the passing of Prof. David Simons, TAU Governor from Holland.