May 18, 1999

IN ISRAEL

University operations were paralyzed for two weeks due to severe sanctions imposed by the Union of the Administrative and Technical Staff of TAU. The sanctions, which also blocked teaching for several days, ended today after an acceptable arrangement was reached between the Union and the University leadership. The University has resumed all activities, and the Public Affairs staff are now working at full steam to ensure that the upcoming Board of Governors meeting will run smoothly.

The Holocaust Memorial day ceremony was held on campus by TAU and the Student Union. The speakers were Prof. Shimon Yankielowicz, TAU Vice Rector; Noam Wiener, President of the Student Union; and Maj. General (res.) Yossi Peled, a Holocaust survivor.

The Memorial Day ceremony of TAU and the Student Union took place at the Esther Sidi Memorial Garden. The speakers included Rector Prof. Nili Cohen; Chairperson of the Student Union, Lior Tanner; and General Gideon Scheffer.

The Regional Center for the NASA Earth Observing System - Data and Information System (EOSDIS) was inaugurated at TAU in the presence of Minister of Science Silvan Shalom. Opening remarks were given by Prof. Dinstein, TAU President, and Aby Har-Even, General Director of the Israel Space Agency. Dr. Ghassem Asrar, Associate Administrator for Earth Science at NASA, sent a recorded message. Prof. Pinhas Alpert, Head of EOSDIS, made a presentation on the Center.

R&D cooperation between Scitex and TAU's Fleischman Faculty of Engineering was agreed upon by Yoav Chelouche, President and Chief Executive Officer of Scitex, and Dean Prof. Gideon Langholz, during a scholarship awarding ceremony for graduate students of the Faculty.

CONFERENCES

The first workshop of the Rene G. Favaloro Chair in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine was held at the Felsenstein Medical Research Center. Leading cardiac surgeons presented the latest innovations in cardiology and cardiac surgery. Participants included: Prof. Rene G. Favaloro of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Dr. Sylvain Chauvaud of Broussais Hospital, Paris. Opening remarks were delivered by Prof. Bernardo Vidne, incumbent of the Chair, and by Dean Prof. Menahem Fainaru.

TAU's Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences and the Sackler Faculty of Medicine hosted a lecture by Prof. Favaloro, entitled "Latin America - An Unfinished Project." Greetings were delivered by Mr. Benno Gitter, Chairman of the TAU Board of Governors, and by Dean Prof. Moshe Semyonov. Prof. Bernardo Vidne, the incumbent of the Favaloro Chair, introduced Dr. Favaloro.

The Ruta and Felix Zandman Annual Lecture in memory of Moshe Shamir was delivered by Prof. Dan Laor, Chairperson of TAU's Department of Hebrew Literature, at the opening session of the conference held by the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism. The Conference, entitled "The Holocaust in the Public, Historiographic and Literary Dialogue," included lectures sponsored by the Alfred P. Slaner Chair in Anti-Semitism and Racism (endowed by Ruta and Felix Zandman), entitled "The Historiographic Dialogue."

The first lecture of the series, "The Green Today Is Very Green": Relationships between the Author and His Creation," was delivered by renowned Israeli author Amalia Kahane-Carmon, lecturer-in-residence of the Department of Hebrew Literature, under the auspices of the Barecha Fund. Greetings at the opening session were delivered by Prof. Marcelo Dascal, Dean of the Entin Faculty of Humanities, and Prof. Dan Laor, Chairperson of the Department.

TAU, the Israeli Air Force, the Jordanian Air Force, and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel held an international seminar on Birds and Flight Safety in the Middle East, organized by Dr. Yossi Leshem of TAU's Zoology Department, Director of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration at Latrun.

"Nuclear Matter, Hot and Cold" was the title of a symposium held in memory of Prof. Judah M. Eisenberg, the late TAU Vice Rector. Speakers at the opening session were Rector Prof. Nili Cohen and Prof. Walter Greiner of the University of Frankfurt. Together with Prof. Eisenberg Prof. Greiner started a tri-national project - Palestinian, German and Israeli - in theoretical nuclear physics funded by the German Fund DFG. The Israeli project director is TAU's Prof. Daniel Ashery, who organized the symposium, and the Palestinian project director is Prof. Henri Jaqaman of Bethlehem University, who delivered a lecture on "Hot Nuclear Matter."

"Ceremony and the Arts" was the title of the conference held by the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts within the framework of Motar, the Faculty periodical. Organizer: Anat Halevi.

The Rector's Series in memory of Prof. Judah M. Eisenberg held an event on the eve of Israel's Independence Day entitled "Israelis - The Nation of the Bible." Opening remarks were delivered by Rector Prof. Nili Cohen. Prof. Itamar Rabinovich eulogized Prof. Eisenberg. The first meeting of the Series was entitled "Are We the Bible Nation?" and was chaired by Prof. Elia Leibowitz of the School of Physics and Astronomy, and the second meeting was entitled "Ideology, Culture and Law in the Bible" and was chaired by Vice Rector Prof. Shimon Yankielowicz.

The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies and the Department of Middle Eastern and African History held a memorial evening for Prof. Uriel Dan. A lecture was delivered by Prof. Mordechai Tamarkin entitled "Ethnic Awakening in the Era of Globalization."

The Women's Studies Forum held a conference entitled "Women and Society in the Middle Ages," organized by Dr. Hana Naveh, Head of the Women's Studies Program.

The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies hosted the annual Joseph (Buddy) Strelitz Lecture, which was delivered by Prof. Ali Banuazizi of Boston College on "Iran: Islamic State and Civil Society from Khomeini to Khatami."

Ambassador of France Jean-Noel de Bouillane de Lacoste was the guest lecturer of the International Forum of TAU's Israeli English Speaking Friends and the Department of Political Science of the Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, on "The Israeli French Dialogue." The event was chaired by Prof. Aharon Klieman, incumbent of the Nahum Goldmann Chair in Diplomacy.

The School of History at the Entin Faculty of Humanities held an international conference entitled "The Mediterranean and Latin America," organized by Prof. Tzvi Medin and Raanan Rein, under the auspices of the Gretl and Fred Raymond Extraordinary Chair for International Exchanges in Science and the Morris E. Curiel Center for International Studies. The renowned Argentinean author Marcos Aguinis delivered the keynote speech at the Conference. Opening remarks were given by President Prof. Yoram Dinstein, Rector Prof. Nili Cohen, and Dean Prof. Marcelo Dascal. An exhibition of photographs of Mexican people by Israel Kornblat entitled "The Grand Tinacal" at the Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery was part of the Conference.

The Chair of the History and Culture of the Jews of Salonika and Greece held its 23rd conference, chaired by Prof. Aharon Oppenheimer, Head of the Diaspora Research Institute. Participants celebrated the publication of Prof. Daniel Carpi's book Italian Diplomatic Documents on the History of the Holocaust in Greece (1941-1943) .

The Cymbalista Jewish Heritage Center held the second lecture in a series on the relationship between Judaism and other cultures. The talk, entitled "Christianity and Judaism: The Role of Public and Individual Rights," was delivered by Dr. Michael Mach, Chairperson of the TAU Department of Philosophy. For the series "Rome and Jerusalem," Dr. Yuval Schachar of the Department of Jewish History spoke on "Yavne and Jerusalem"; and on Holocaust Memorial Day Prof. David Bloch of the Department of Musicology talked about "Jewish Music in the Ghetto of Terezin."

The Cymbalista Jewish Heritage Center held the first lecture of the series entitled "The Supernatural in Judaism: Historical, Social and Cultural Expressions." Prof. Eili Yassif of the Department of Jewish Literature spoke on "Elitist Culture and Superstition." The event was chaired by Prof. Aharon Dotan, Director of the Center.

The Cymbalista Jewish Heritage Center's Parashat Ha'shavua Series hosted Prof. Tsevi Mazeh of the School of Physics and Astronomy who spoke on "Holidays and the Jewish Calendar."

"Commercial Banking Systems in 1998" was the title of a conference held by TAU's Faculty of Management - Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration, jointly organized by Prof. Yair Orgler, incumbent of the Goldreich Chair in International Banking, and Associate Dean of Management Prof. Shmuel Kandel.

The Department of Philosophy at the Entin Faculty of Humanities held a conference entitled "Biography, Autobiography and Meditation," organized by Dr. Michael Mach, Chairperson of the Department.

The Buchmann Faculty of Law held a symposium entitled "Who Needs Protection Laws? 50 Years of Labor Legislation in Israel." Among the lecturers were Prof. Ruth Ben-Israel of the Faculty and Prof. Zvi Eckstein of TAU's Berglas School of Economics.

The TAU Institute for Cereal Crops Improvement held a symposium in memory of Aaron Aaronsohn, father of the Wild Emmer, organized by Prof. Zahir Eyal, Director of the Institute. Among the participants were Prof. Yehoshua Anikster of the Department of Plant Sciences at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences; Prof. M.D. Gale of the John Innes Centre, Norwich, UK; and Dr. A.A. Jaradat of the Agricultural University, Jordan.

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

Prof. Gideon Rechavi of the Hematology Department at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine was elected incumbent of the Gregorio and Dora Shapira Chair for Hematological Malignancies, replacing Prof. Bracha Ramot, who has retired.

Prof. Daniel Ashery of the School of Physics and Astronomy, Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, was elected incumbent of the Wolfson Chair in Experimental Physics, and Prof. Shmuel Nussinov was elected incumbent of the Wolfson Chair in Theoretical Physics, replacing Prof. Yuval Ne'eman, who has retired.

Prof. Dan Laor, Chairperson of the Department of Hebrew Literature, is the recipient of the 1999 Ben-Zvi Award for his book on the life of the Israeli author and Nobel Prize laureate, Agnon.

Boaz Kol, a PhD student of the School of Physics and Astronomy, Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, was awarded the first Judah Eisenberg Award for Excellence by Prof. Jechiel Lichtenstadt, Head of the School.

Shmuel Milner is the winner of the Yoram Rosenfeld Award in International Financial Entrepreneurship in Advanced Technology for his master's thesis at the Faculty of Management, supervised by Prof. Shmuel Kandel.

VISITS

A delegation from the National University of Singapore visited TAU. They met with Vice Rector Prof. Shimon Yankielowicz; with Dean for Research Prof. Yair Aharonowitz; and with Dean of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering Prof. Gideon Langholz.

ABROAD

A delegation of TAU professors headed by President Professor Yoram Dinstein visited several universities in Japan in order to strengthen relations with Japanese institutions of higher learning. A new agreement for scientific cooperation was signed with Kyoto University by Professor Dinstein and Prof. Nagao Makoto, President of Kyoto University. An Addendum to the existing agreement for student exchange was signed with the University of Waseda by Professor Dinstein and Prof. Takayasu Okushima, President of Waseda University. Members of the delegation included Prof. Ehud Toledano, professor of Ottoman and Middle Eastern History; Prof. Mordechai Sokolov of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Technological Analysis and Forecasting; Prof. Shlomo Biderman, Chairperson of the Department of Philosophy and an expert on Comparative Religion and Indian Philosophy; Prof. Niv Ahituv, former Dean of the Faculty of Management - Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration and an expert on Information Technologies; and Prof. Jacob Raz of the Department of East Asian Studies, an expert on Japan.

Prof. Dinstein and Prof. Raz also held a working meeting with Fujii Hiroaki, President of the Japan Foundation.

Advanced negotiations have started with a view to further agreements with the University of Tokyo, Osaka University, and Keio University. Meetings with the Presidents of all three institutions were held by the TAU delegation.

Vice President of TAU Yehiel Ben-Zvi visited the TAU Friends Associations in Norway and Sweden. He delivered the keynote address at the annual general assembly of the Swedish Friends of TAU and attended a meeting of the Board of Directors.

COMING EVENTS

The TAU Board of Governors 1999 Meeting will take place on May 28 1999-June 4 1999.
Registration: Barbara Kandell, Secretary of the Board,
Fax: 972-3-6406257; Tel: 972-3-6416464.