JUNE 6, 1999

IN ISRAEL

Prof. Itamar Rabinovich was elected President of TAU, replacing Prof. Yoram Dinstein who completed his second term. Prof. Rabinovich assumed office this morning. Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak sent a message to the TAU Board: "I would like to congratulate you on your decision to elect Prof. Itamar Rabinovich. This choice serves to highlight and perpetuate the tradition of academic excellence which has become the hallmark of Tel Aviv University. Dedication, integrity and intelligence have characterized his handling of the other public tasks he has taken on for the State of Israel. I am confident that he will bring to this important position the same qualities which have been a source of pride for all Israelis. I will avail myself of Prof. Rabinovich's wise counsel and experience, particularly upon the resumption of fateful and difficult negotiations with our neighbors."

Dr. Jaime Constantiner (Mexico) was elected Deputy Chairman of the TAU Board of Governors (BOG). Marcel Adams (Canada) and Melvin Taub (USA) were reelected Vice Chairmen. Adolfo M. Smolarz (Argentina) was elected Vice Chairman.

Advocate Moshe Porath was reelected Chairman of the Executive Council. Gad Yaacobi, former minister and former Ambassador to the UN was elected a member of the Executive Council.

Three new Israeli members were elected to the BOG: Ron Huldai, Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa; advocate Michael Cegla-Biran; and Yosef A. Maiman, President of Merhav Mnf. Ltd. Management and Finance.

Six new overseas members were elected to the BOG: Dr. Richard Klausner, Head of the National Cancer Institute (USA); Dr. Judith Edersheim of Harvard University (USA); Guido Heule, a banker (Switzerland); Ralph Snow, former President of Bnai Brith Canada (Canada); Thomas Tichauer, an entrepreneur, former Director-General of Bosch do Brasil (Brazil); and Eduardo Wurzmann, a banker (Brazil).

A TAU Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causa was conferred upon Justice Haim Herman Cohen, Israel; Mr. Norbert Cymbalista, Switzerland; Mr. Arie Lova Eliav, Israel; Prof. Donald P. Jacobs, USA; Prof. Walter Kohn, 1998 Nobel Prize laureate, USA; Prof. Sergey Novikov, Russia; Mrs. Gretl Raymond, Australia; and Prof. Michael Sela, Israel. Honorary Fellowships were conferred upon Mrs. Dina Ettinger, Israel-USA, and Dr. Ben A Williamowsky, USA. Mr. Eliav delivered the response on behalf of the recipients.

Four endowed chairs were inaugurated:

The Carlo and Karin Giersch Chair for Research in Modern Painting was inaugurated in the presence of Karin and Carlo Giersch and Ernst Gerhardt, President of the German Friends. The inaugural lecture, entitled "Tel Aviv in Painting – An Unending Challenge," was delivered by Prof. Mordechai Omer, Curator of the Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery and Director-General of the Tel Aviv Museum.

The Herbert J. Berman Chair in Vascular Bioengineering was inaugurated in the presence of Mr. Stanley B. Berenson, a co-trustee of the late Prof. Herbert Berman's estate. A presentation entitled "The Blood Covenant between Engineering and Medicine" was given by Prof. Shmuel Einav, the incumbent of the Chair.

The Henry and Dinah Krongold Chair in Microelectronics was inaugurated in the presence of their sons Ronald and Dennis, their daughter-in-law Susan and grand-daughter Danielle. A lecture entitled "Biomicroelectronics - Turning a Vision into Reality" was delivered by Prof. Yoram Shapira, incumbent of the Chair, who recently returned from a two-year term as scientific attaché in the Israel Embassy in Washington, D.C.

The Norma and Alan Aufzien Chair for Research in Parkinson's Disease was inaugurated. The lecture was delivered by the Chair's incumbent Prof. Eldad Melamed, who spoke on "Research in Parkinson's Disease - The Challenge and the Promise." Mr. Aufzien responded on behalf of the family.

The Süleyman Demirel Program for Contemporary Turkish Studies was inaugurated. A lecture entitled "Evolution of Higher Education in Turkey" was delivered by Prof. Kemal Gürüz, President of the Council of Higher Education, Turkey. Greetings were delivered by Barlas Ozener, the Ambassador of Turkey to Israel; Uri Bar-Ner, Ambassador of Israel to Turkey; and Dr. Martin Kramer, Director of the Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies.

Five facilities were inaugurated:

The George S. Wise Senate Building was dedicated to the founding President and first Chancellor of TAU, Dr. George S. Wise. Prof. Yaacov Ziv, President of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, delivered a lecture entitled "The Challenges Research Universities Face in the Next Decade," which was followed by a reception sponsored by Mrs. George S. Wise. Mrs. Naomi Sarlin spoke on behalf of Mrs. Wise.

The Max Webb Family School of Languages Building was inaugurated. A lecture entitled "Jewish Languages: Are they Jewish? Are They Languages?" was delivered by Prof. Paul Wexler of the Department of Linguistics, in the presence of the family and Victor Carter, Honorary Chairman of the Board.

The Gretl and Fred Raymond Building for Health Professions was inaugurated. Greetings were delivered by Prof. Rebecca Bergman, 1999 Israel Prize laureate, and Haim Doron, founder of the School. A video-taped message from Mrs. Raymond was screened at the ceremony. A lecture was delivered by Prof. Hanan Munitz, Head of the School, entitled "Altruism."

The Leon Weisbrem Central Reading Hall at the Brender-Moss Library of Social Sciences and Management was inaugurated. A lecture was delivered by Prof. Moshe Semyonov, Dean of the Gershon H. Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences, entitled "Industrial Transformation and the Changing Forms of Knowledge."

The Goldreich Family Health and Fitness Center was inaugurated in the presence of Jona Goldrich of Los Angeles and Abraham Goldreich of Tel Aviv. Victor Carter, Honorary Chairman of the Board, was present.

Three institutes were inaugurated:

The Institute for International Scientific Exchanges in Medical Sciences: Opening remarks were delivered by Prof. Michael Blumenthal, Head of the Institute, on "International Cooperation in Medicine in the Information Age." Prof. Dr. Detlef Uthoff, Visiting Professor of Ophthalmology, delivered a lecture entitled "Refractive Surgery for Preventing the Need of Wearing Glasses and Contact Lenses - Risks and Benefits."

The Institute for Latin American History and Culture: Prof. Tzvi Medin, President of the International Federation of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, delivered the inaugural lecture entitled "Latin America: National Identity and Globalization," in the presence of 13 Latin American ambassadors and embassy representatives.

The Laura Schwarz-Kipp Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities: A lecture was delivered by Dr. Ronald Zweig, Head of the Institute, entitled "Computing and the Humanities: Strange Bedfellows or a Natural Couple?"

Four student funds were inaugurated:

The French Friends Scholarship Fund for Student Housing and the Willy and Suzanne Leitner Scholarship Fund were inaugurated. A lecture was delivered by Prof. Ruth Shalgi, Dean of Students, entitled "Beyond the 'Ivory Tower' - T The Reciprocal Relationship between the University and Society."

The Heinrich Manderman Student Loan Fund was inaugurated in the presence of Prof. Dr. Andreas Heldrich, Rector of the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, and Honorary Fellow of the TAU Buchmann Faculty of Law. Prof. Gideon Langholz, Dean of the Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering, delivered a lecture entitled "Preparing Engineers for High-Tech."

The Harry Simons Scholarship Fund and the Bessie Simons Room were inaugurated. Prof. Ariel Rubinstein, incumbent of the Jack Salzberg Chair in Economic Theory, delivered a lecture entitled "Excellence and Equal Opportunity in Higher Education - Conflicting Goals?" Greetings were delivered by Dean of Management Prof. Israel Zang and Mr. Jona Goldrich of the Western Region of AFTAU. Mr. S. Zachary Samuels, executor of the estate of the late Harry Simons, responded on behalf of the estate. Lior Strasberg spoke on behalf of the TAU Student Union.

Th President's Prize for students performing outstanding volunteer work in the community was awarded to Boussayna AbouKassem, a master's student in Educational Counseling and a high school teacher in Jaffa. The Henri Glasberg Prize winners are Erez Eshel, Shiri Gilboa, Ronny Slonim, Hailu Alemu, Chaim Feldman and Sharon Kesten.

The Hugo Ramniceanu Prize in Economics for 1999 was awarded to Amiram Sivan, Chairman of the Board of Management and CEO, Bank Hapoalim, by Mr. Ramniceanu, President of the French Friends, and outgoing TAU President Prof. Yoram Dinstein. The award was donated back to the Eitan Berglas School of Economics by Mr. Sivan for research scholarships.

Rabbi David Rosen, Director of the Anti-Defamation League, Israel, and President of the International Council of Christians and Jews, delivered the lecture of the first Marianne and Dr. Ernst Pieper International Forum on Anti-Semitism and Intolerance entitled "Catholic-Jewish Relations - A Paradigm of Change."

Social events included a Kabbalat Shabbat festive dinner hosted by TAU Chancellor Sir Leslie Porter and Dame Shirley Porter; a gala dinner marking the opening of the Board of Governors Meeting, hosted by Mr. Moshe Porath, Chairman of the Executive Council, and Mrs. Zila Porath; a reception in honor of the recipients of honorary degrees, hosted by the outgoing president of TAU Prof. Yoram Dinstein and Mrs. Ada Dinstein; a festive reception in honor of the incoming and outgoing Presidents, hosted by Mr. Benno Gitter, Chairman of the Board of Governors, and Dr. Ilana Ben Ami; and a farewell concert performed by the Symphony Orchestra of TAU's Samuel Rubin Israeli Academy of Music, conducted by Prof. Noam Sheriff, Head of the Academy.

The Student Union hosted the Board Members to a Bedouin tent where they were served traditional Arabic coffee and fresh-baked pita. The students discussed their housing and financial problems with Board Members. Guests included Benno Gitter, Chairman of the Board; Moshe Porath, Chairman of the Executive Council; and Michael Roee, Deputy Mayor of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa City Council.

AROUND THE BOARD

The Zelman and Sima Weinberg Chair in Political Sociology held a memorial lecture commemorating Eng. Zelman Weinberg. Prof. Ruth Amossy spoke in his memory. Prof. Eliezer Ben-Rafael, incumbent of the Chair, delivered a lecture entitled "Israel at a Crossroads," followed by a discussion with Prof. Ephraim Yuchtman-Yaar and Prof. Hanna Herzog, both of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

Prof. Dr. Andreas Heldrich, Rector of the Ludwig Maximilians University, Munich, was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Buchmann Faculty of Law, in the framework of a session of the Faculty Council. Greetings were given by Prof. Nili Cohen, TAU Rector, and Prof. Eli Lederman, Dean of the Faculty.

Mr. Dago Schöttlander was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of Arts at a ceremony inaugurating the Schöttlander Workshop for Scenery Construction. Greetings by TAU Vice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi; Dean of Arts Prof. Eli Rozik-Rosen; and Prof. Tom Levy of the Theater Arts Department were followed by an artistic program performed by the students.

The Celia and Marcos Maus Annual Prizes in Computer Sciences were awarded to Eran Halperin, Zipora Fligelman and Ofer Arieli by the family representative Judith Maus. An address at the ceremony was delivered by Prof. Haim Wolfson of the Department of Computer Science, in the presence of Prof. Uri Liberman, Dean of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences; Prof. Micha Sharir, Head of the School of Mathematical Sciences; and Prof. Hanoch Levy, Chairman of the Department.

The Loni Sillerman-Moos Tissue and Cell Culture Unit at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences was inaugurated in the presence of Mrs. Sillerman-Moos; Benno Gitter, Chairman of the Board of Governors; Mr. Hugo Ramniceanu, President of the French Friends; and Prof. Isaac Witz, Head of the Unit.

The Grand Piano and the Scotland Scholarship Fund were inaugurated at the Samuel Rubin Israeli Academy of Music. Greetings were delivered by Prof. Noam Sheriff, Head of the Academy, and Leslie Wolfson, Chairman of the Scottish Friends.

A lecture by Marcos Silber entitled "Demography and Legislation: Jews and Poles in Poland in the First World War" was held at the awarding ceremony of the Yoran-Sznycer Research Fund Scholarship Awards in History.

The first meeting of the Ramniceanu Economic Forum was held. Entitled "Israel's Strategy in the New World Economy," it was organized by Head of the Forum Prof. Leo Leiderman of the Eitan Berglas School of Economics, Senior Director of the Bank of Israel. Greetings were delivered by Prof. Yoram Dinstein; Ambassador Jean Paul Jesse, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission; and Mr. Hugo Ramniceanu, President of the French Friends of TAU.

"Was Roxy Black? Race as Stereotype in Twain, Kemble and Dunbar" was the title of the Annual Lecture in Memory of Sheila Carmel delivered by Prof. Werner Sollors of Harvard University.

Charles R. Bronfman, CEO, Seagram and Koor Industries, delivered the Noah Royal Distinguished Lecture. His talk was entitled "Business and Philanthropy: A Potent Mixture."

The Shalom and Varda Yoran Institute for Human Genome Research and the National Foundation for Jewish Genetic Diseases (New York) held a four-day conference in memory of Prof. Richard M Goodman, entitled "Genomic Views on Jewish History," organized by Prof. Batsheva Bonne-Tamir, Head of the Yoran Institute.

The Max Perlman Center for Global Business held its annual conference. Keynote speaker was 1999 TAU Honorary Doctor Prof. Donald Jacobs, Dean and Gaylord Freeman Distinguished Professor of Banking, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, who spoke on "Globalization and the Need to Change the Model of Executive Education." The Max Perlman Award of Excellence in Global Business Management was presented to Dov Lautman, Chairman of the Board of Delta Galil Industries. The event was moderated by Prof. Niv Ahituv, Director of the Max Perlman Center.

The annual prize of the Adler Center for Child Welfare and Protection was awarded to Anne E. Bialkin, Chairperson of "ELEM," and a Certificate of Recognition was awarded to Dr. Yehezkel Cohen, the former director of the Bnai Brith Children's Home in Jerusalem, within the framework of the Center's symposium entitled "Childhood in the Shadow of the Holocaust." Greetings were delivered by Prof. Yochanan Wozner, Head of TAU's Bob Shapell School of Social Work; Prof. Zehava Solomon, Director of the Adler Center; and Dr. Mario Adler.

The Maria Ajzenberg Hall for the Study of Orchestral and Choral Conducting was inaugurated. Greetings were delivered by Prof. Noam Sheriff, Head of the Samuel Rubin Israeli Academy of Music, and Dr. Lia de Merenfeld, Chairperson of the Venezuela TAU Friends Association.

The Karol and Israel Bleiberg Laboratory for Electronic Instruction was inaugurated. Greetings were delivered by Prof. Gideon Langholz, Dean of the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering; Dr. Adi Arie, head of the Laboratory; and Mr. Simon Seren of Venezuela, Vice Chairman of the Board.

Isidore S. Edelman, Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, delivered this year's Prof. Saul J. Farber Distinguished Lecture in Medicine endowed by the Sackler Foundation, entitled "Genomics - Medical Research." The event was chaired by Prof. Uri Liberman in the presence of Dr. Raymond Sackler, Honorary Chairman of the TAU Board of Governors.

An unveiling ceremony of the plaque at the student instruction laboratory dedicated to Dr. Ben Williamowsky was held on the occasion of the awarding of an Honorary Fellowship to Dr. Williamowsky and a luncheon honoring him, Dr. Ralph Rothstein and Dr. Sanford Lefcoe at the Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine. Prof. Herb Judes, Head of the School, delivered a lecture entitled "For From Zion Will Go Forth Dental Learning as Well."

OTHER EVENTS

The 31st International A.S.A. Games were held the TAU Elite Sports Center. Participating were students from all institutions of higher education in Israel together with students from Germany, Holland, Finland, Poland and Switzerland.

Nobel Prize laureate and 1999 TAU Honorary Doctor Prof. Walter Kohn of the University of California at Santa Barbara delivered a lecture entitled "Electronic Structure of Matter: Wave Functions and Density Functionals" at a special colloquium of the School of Physics and Astronomy, the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences.

Dr. Henry Kaufman, President of Henry Kaufman & Company, was guest lecturer of the Friends of the Eitan Berglas School of Economics, the Henry Kaufman Chair of International Capital Markets, and the Sapir Center for Development. His talk, "The Americanization of Global Economics and Finance," was moderated by Prof. Efraim Sadka, the Kaufman Chair incumbent. Opening remarks were delivered by Prof. Haim Ben-Shahar and Prof. Itamar Rabinovich, the incoming President.

The Azrieli School of Architecture; the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts; the New Architects Association; the French Embassy; and the City of Tel Aviv-Jaffa held a conference entitled "Urban Readings." Opening remarks were delivered by Rector Prof. Nili Cohen, Dean of Arts Prof. Eli Rozik-Rosen, and Head of the Azrieli School Prof. Elinoar Barzacchi.

Prof. Phillip Griffiths, Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, was guest of the School of Mathematics Colloquium entitled "The Empirical TES Modeling Methodology: Theory and Application."

The Department of Musicology at the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts held an international conference entitled "Rethinking Interpretive Traditions in Musicology." Greetings at the opening session were delivered by Dean Prof. Eli Rozik-Rosen, Prof. Emeritus Herzl Shmueli, and the Department Chairperson Dr. Dorit Tanay.

The Cummings Center for Russian and East European Studies and the Curiel Center for International Studies held a conference entitled "Winds of War: Strategy and Politics on the Eve of Operation Barbarossa," organized by Prof. Gabi Gorodetsky, Director of the Curiel Center, and Dr. Shimon Naveh, Director of the Cummings Center. Opening remarks were delivered by Rector Prof. Nili Cohen and Head of the School of History Prof. Shulamit Volkov. Chairperson: Prof. Michael Confino.

Dr. Carlo M. Croce of the Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, delivered the Otto Herz Memorial Lecture in Cancer Research of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, coordinated by Prof. Isaac P. Witz.

The Cegla Institute for Comparative and Private International Law of TAU's Buchmann Faculty of Law held the Buchmann International Conference on Law, Information and Information Technology. Speakers at the opening session were Rector Prof. Nili Cohen, Dean Prof. Eli Lederman, and Prof. Dr. Ulrich Sieber of Wurzburg University, Germany.

The TAU Interdisciplinary Center for Technological Analysis and Forecasting, OPET Israel, and JOULE-THERMIE held a seminar within the framework of the Fifth European Union Research Program on the technologies and applications of electric transportation, organized by Dr. Yair Sharan, director of OPET Israel.

"The Mechanized Sublime," an exhibition of Dganit Berest, Yitzhak Livneh and Gabi Klazmer, opened at the Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, curated by Aya Lurie. Greetings were delivered by Rector Prof. Nili Cohen, the Gallery Curator Prof. Mordechai Omer, and artist Dganit Berest.

The Samuel Rubin Israeli Academy of Music at the Yolanda and David Katz Faculty of the Arts presented the opera The Medium by Gian Carlo Menotti, directed by Ruth Kaner, at the Clairmont Auditorium. The Musical Director and Conductor was Ori Leshman.

The Cummings Center for Russian and East European Studies held the 20th conference of the Israeli Association of Slavic and East European Studies entitled "Russia in Transition."

The Samuel L. and Perry Haber Chair on the Study of the Jewish Experience in the United States, Department of English, Entin Faculty of Humanities, held a conference entitled "The Promised Land in Jewish American Literature." Greetings were delivered by Rector Prof. Nili Cohen and coordinator of the Chair Prof. Hana Wirth-Nesher. Prof. Werner Sollors of Harvard University, guest of the Sheila Carmel Lecture Fund, delivered a talk entitled "Mary Antin: Ethnic Assimilation or Palimpsest?"

"Jewish Press and Life in the Twentieth Century" was the title of an exhibition of the Institute for the Study of Jewish Press and Communication at the Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center. A lecture at the opening ceremony was delivered by writer Haim Beer, entitled "Press, Judaism and Modern Life."

The TAU Buchmann Faculty of Law and the Minerva Center for Human Rights held a conference entitled "The Status of Women on the Eve of the 21st Century" in cooperation with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the International Association of Legal Science.

Prof. Jacob Bekenstein of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem delivered the Professor Yossef Dothan Memorial Lecture, chaired by Prof. David Horn. The Academic Achievement Scholarship of the Dothan Fund and the Israel Phoenix Insurance Company was presented to Ph.D. student Ehud Schreiber.

The Gordon Faculty of Social Sciences held a conference on Antitrust and Regulation, chaired by Neil Gandal of the Eitan Berglas School of Economics. A panel discussion, chaired by Prof. Efraim Sadka and entitled "Antitrust Policy in a Small Country: Implications for Israel," was held.

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

Two TAU professors were elected to the Israeli Knesset: Prof. Shlomo Ben-Ami (One Israel) of the Department of History, and Prof. Victor Brailovsky (Change) of the School of Mathematical Sciences.

Dr. Abraham Spirer and Dr. Arie Solomon are the recipients of the Prof. Stein Research Prize of the Maurice and Gabriela Goldschleger Eye Research Institute.

Irit Dinur of the School of Mathematical Sciences was awarded the Charles Clore Scholarship.

Irit Dinur, Alon Fishbach and Gideon Stupp of the School of Mathematical Sciences won the Israel Intel Prize.

Yossi Lichtenstein and Nitza Geri, master's students of the Faculty of Management – Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration, were awarded scholarships donated by members of the Executive Forum of the Marcel and Annie Adams Institute for Business Management Information Systems.

OBITUARIES

Raphael Recanati, Member of the BOG, co-founder of the Recanati Graduate School of Business Administration and the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, passed away in New York.

Mrs. Simone Mallah, member of the BOG and Honorary Fellow of TAU, passed away in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Leonard Strelitz, Honorary Chairman of the BOG, passed away in Norfolk, Virginia.