SEPTEMBER 1ST 1999

IN ISRAEL

Prof. Itamar Rabinovich, President of the University, announced several major projects launched in the first three months of his administration:

• Chancellor Sir Leslie Porter and family have decided to endow a School of Environment and an Eco Center at TAU.

• Honorary Chairman of the Board of Governors, Dr. Raymond Sackler, and Mrs. Beverly Sackler have established a special fund for Prizes in Natural Sciences.

• A European friend of the University has sponsored a new School of Government at TAU in the pattern of the Kennedy School at Harvard.

• Mrs. Andrea and Mr. Charles Bronfman have decided to endow a Center for Jewish Media.

• Mr. Edgar Bronfman is supporting the development of a new international MBA program (in English) at the Faculty of Management.

• The Maurice and Gabriela Goldschleger Foundation has decided to build a multidisciplinary building for Medicine and Life Sciences on the TAU campus.

• Mrs. Judy and Mr. Stewart Colton announced that they will double their Fund at TAU which supports Doctoral Fellows.

• Two immigrant hostels in Ramat Aviv, close to the campus, have been leased by TAU and will be transformed into dormitories for students, according to an agreement reached between TAU and the Jewish Agency. This will be an addition of 540 places to the University's existing 1,100 places.

• Dr. Noël Barag, of Paris, decided to establish a Chair for Molecular Genetics of Cancer Biology.

• The Rubinstein Estate, Australia, will establish a Chair for Civil Law.

TAU's Prof. Yael (Yuli) Tamir of the School of Education and the Department of Philosophy was appointed Minister of Immigration and Absorption.

CONFERENCES

"Visions in Mathematics towards 2000" was the title of an international conference at the TAU School of Mathematical Sciences. Profs. Vitali Milman and Noga Alon chaired the Scientific Committee, which also included Professors J. Bourgain, A. Connes and M. Gromov. Among participants were 14 laureates of the prestigious Fields Medal for young mathematicians and the Wolf Prize in Mathematics, and the equivalent Nevanlina and Turing Prizes in Computer Science. Among the lecturers were TAU Honorary Doctor Prof. Novikov, the first Russian laureate of the Fields Medal. Opening remarks were delivered by Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences Prof. Uri Liberman.

The Peres Institute for Diplomacy and Regional Cooperation held a

four-day seminar for Turkish and Greek Cypriot academics, supported by the Cyprus Fulbright Commission and the United States Information Service, and organized by Prof. Arie Nadler, Head of the Peres Institute. Seminar participants included Prof. Marion Angelica, a Fulbright Fellow in Cyprus. The meeting included lectures and discussions on the social psychology of conflicts and their resolution and processes of peace building and the promotion of regional cooperation. Participants discussed promoting cooperation among the island's academics.

The TAU Israeli Friends held a memorial evening for the late Nathan Naftali Engel, founder of the Dr. Rosa (nee Volkmman) and Nathan Engel Doctoral Fellowship Fund in memory of Jacob, Sara and Regina Volkmman.

The School of Continuing Medical Education at TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine, together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs International Cooperation Center (MASHAV), held the certificate-awarding ceremony of the 31st Postgraduate Training Course in Medicine. Dr. Vinita Devi Poorun from Mauritius spoke on behalf of the training physicians.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and senior officials of the Palestinian Authority met with students and executives of TAU's Kellogg-Recanati International Executive MBA Program, in the Palestinian city of Ramallah. The Kellogg-Recanati delegation was headed by Dr. Gad Ariav, academic coordinator of the Program, Prof. Shmuel Kandel, incoming Dean of the Faculty of Management, and Prof. Israel Zang, outgoing Dean. The meeting was organized by Abdul el Malik el Jabber, a student of the Program and the managing director of the Palestinian Authority's nascent industrial and free trade area. The delegation also met with the Palestinan Authority's Minister for Regional Development Nabil Sha'ath. The Kellogg-Recanati Program has both Palestinian and Jordanian students.

The TAU Department of Film and Television hosted a two-week bicultural screenwriters master class with Prof. David Howard, founder of the Screenwriting Department of the University of Southern California (USC), as part of the first Tel Aviv-Los Angeles Cinema Arts Classes Cooperative Project. Participants included screenwriter Prof. Allan Ermer of Northridge University, California.

APPOINTMENTS AND AWARDS

The fund-raising system of the University has been reorganized and expanded. Joining Vice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi is the former Israeli Ambassador to Germany, Ambassador Avi Primor. He was elected Vice President and will focus on government agencies and foundations mainly in Europe, on multinational corporations and on international organizations. Dr. Ilana Ben Ami, head of the Latin American Department, was elected Vice President (in a personal capacity), and continues to head the development campaign in Latin America, Spain, and Spanish-speaking communities in other countries.

Prof. Alexander Olevskii of the School of Mathematical Sciences was elected incumbent of the Nathan and Lily Silver Chair for Mathematical Analysis and Operator Theory.

Prof. Shlomo Rozen, Head of the School of Chemistry, was elected incumbent of the Josef Kryss Chair in Organic Chemistry, replacing Prof. Ed Kosower who has retired.

ABROAD

The TAU Friends in Argentina organized their annual international symposium "The Argentinean Economy after the Elections (in Argentina)" under the auspices of TAU's Jack and Lisa Yael Chair of Comparative Economics and in cooperation with the Israeli Embassy in Argentina. Mrs. Polly Mizrahi de Deutch, President of the Argentinean Friends, delivered greetings at the opening session. Dr. Daniel Tsiddon of TAU's Eitan Berglas School of Economics delivered a lecture entitled "The Israeli Economy in the Next Decade" at the first panel on the International View. Other speakers on that panel were Dr. Mario I. Blejer, senior consultant at the FMI, USA, and Dr. Miguel A. Kiguel, Vice Minister for Finance at the Ministry of Economics. Dr. Rosendo Fraga and Mr. Manuel Mora Y Araujo spoke at the third panel on Social Politics. Speakers at the third panel on Argentina 2000 included Dr. Miguel Angel Broda, director of Broda and Associates; Dr. Ricardo Lopez Murphy, Chief Economist of FIEL; and Dr. Carlos Rodriguez, Rector of CEMA, the Center of Macroeconomics Studies of Argentina. Concluding remarks were delivered by Mr. Enrique Szewach, consultant of BID and the World Bank.

Prof. Itamar Rabinovich met with the German Friends on his first visit as TAU President, accompanied by Rector Prof. Nili Cohen and Vice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi. They were hosted for a festive Kabbalat Shabbat dinner by Giselle and Ari Schach and to a reception with the Young Leadership by Perla and Henry Faktor at their home.

Josef Buchmann held a garden party at his home in honor of Prof. Rabinovich, hosting Frankfurt personalities and members of the TAU Friends, including Friends President Ernst Gerhardt and Frankfurt Mayor and TAU German Friends Board Member Petra Roth. Prof. Rabinovich spoke on TAU's role in Israeli politics and on the peace process with the Palestinians and with Syria. Proceeds of all events will benefit the Yitzhak Rabin Peace Fund at TAU.

TAU President Prof. Rabinovich, Chairman of the Board of Governors Benno Gitter and Vice President Yehiel Ben-Zvi were hosted to dinner by Board Member Samuel Wijler and Mrs. Brigitte Kirchheimer at their home in Zurich. Participants included guests from the world of finance, business and the arts and TAU Friends, among them the President of the Swiss Friends Dr. Andre Kuy.

Prof. Rabinovich, Benno Gitter and Yehiel Ben-Zvi, together with Sam Wijler attended a lunch hosted by Dr. Hans Bär, Honorary Chairman of Julius Bär Holdings, a leading figure in the international banking and financial world.

OBITUARIES

Philip M. Klutznick, Honorary Member of the Board of Governors, passed away in the USA.