Tel Aviv University Webflash

November 2006

Zvi Galil , appointed as the seventh President of Tel-Aviv University. Carriculum Vitae

In Israel
	Education Minister Prof. Yuli Tamir was guest speaker at a conference at TAU on Education for Excellence hosted by the Pedagogic Department of the Education Ministry.

	The Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies hosted a lecture by Prof. Amnon Yariv of the California Institute of Technology, USA, who lectured on "Masters and Slaves – Towards Phase Locking of Semiconductor Lasers."

	Documentaly Photo Exhibition marking the50th Anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. TAU`s Sourasky Central Library hosted a documentaly photo exhibition marking the 50th Anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The exhibition was launched by the opening speech of Dr. Raphael Vago from the Department of History, Lester

	The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies held a seminar in memory of Avishai Ben-Zvi, Yehoshafat Netzer and Ziv Balali who fell in Israeli wars. Dr. Elie Rekhess, Director of the Konrad Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Cooperation at TAU, lectured on the Arabs in Israel and the war in Lebanon.

	Battling Terror 101: Tel Aviv University Offers Seminar for Defending Democracy When top schools in the United States seek expertise in terrorism studies, they turn to Israel and specifically Tel Aviv University, where for 10 days every year American students and professors attend a seminar on “Defending Democracy, Defeating Terrorism.” The seminar is cosponsored by the Washington-based Foundation for the Defence of Democracies (FDD). It presents lectures by seasoned TAU experts on security issues, as well as by Israeli military and intelligence officers. Together with academic theory, the seminar also teaches "hands-on" anti-terrorism tactics through visits to military bases, police stations, customs and immigration facilities, and border zones. Attendees enjoy lectures by well-known TAU professors such as Prof. David Menashri, Director of TAU’s Center for Iranian Studies; and Prof. Eyal Zisser, a TAU expert on Syria and Lebanon. “Americans come to us in Israel to get the full and updated picture on terrorism,” says Zisser, a lecturer and adviser for the seminar. “They know that TAU’s Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies and Institute for National Security Studies [INSS] are leading think tanks for strategic and Middle Eastern studies. “They also know that politicians, government officials, policy makers and military personnel from around the world come to ask our advice, and that is why they come to us every year seeking commentary and solutions on how to curb terror,” Zisser says. The Dayan Center and INSS (which incorporates the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies) conduct research on matters related to Israel`s national security as well as Middle East regional and international security affairs. The Defending Democracy, Defeating Terrorism seminar is a joint effort of the Dayan Center, the INSS, TAU’s School for Overseas Students and the FDD in Washington. Founded in 2001 in the wake of 9/11, the FDD’s mission is to shape America’s thinking and policies on war, terrorism, and the Middle East by training Americans how to be pro-democracy activists in schools, cities and government. “We look for students who are very bright, articulate, and who are interested in being activists on terrorism issues the moment they return to their campuses,” notes David Silverstein, FDD’s Campus Education & Grassroots Programs VP, who selects the American participants. Students are chosen by academic merit and school involvement and come from all religious faiths, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam. Silverstein selects 40 graduate students and 20 researchers in the areas of political science, history and international relations from across the United States each year. Academics are chosen based on their ability to impact the greatest number of students and peers on their return. Participants travel to Israel at the beginning of summer break for the intensive classroom or “field” component of the anti-terrorism seminar, which is elaborated upon once they return to America. On their return to the US, the group discusses many questions on terrorism. “But we don’t have a simple answer on how to stop terrorism,” admits Silverstein. “We do have a pretty good idea how we should fight it, though, through a blend of [strategic] military, political, diplomatic, and economic measures. And that’s what TAU helps teach us,” Silverstein says.The summer of 2007 will be the fifth year the seminar will take place on the TAU campus. Contacts: Rachel Barel, Director of the School for Overseas Students ++972 3 640-8639 barel@post.tau.ac.il

	Building Bridges in Their Own Write: Tel Aviv University Held First Conference on American Aliyah Literature The one-day conference highlighted the immigrant experience for American writers in Israel They come from all corners of America bringing with them university degrees, published manuscripts, suitcases of poems, and scribblings of novels in the works. They aren’t running from religious persecution nor do they seek fame or fortune. They are American-Israeli writers, and they have chosen to make “aliyah” and live and work in Israel. For decades now they have been an essential voice for translating life in Israel into English -- the international tongue of literature. And for the first time in history, Tel Aviv University (TAU) has brought these writers and scholars together under one roof to share in each other’s successes and shortcomings. Professor Hana Wirth-Nesher of the Department of English and American Studies at TAU gave opening remarks at the one-day conference, American Aliyah in Literature and Research. “To be an Israeli poet, novelist, or scholar,” said Wirth-Nesher, “is to send our work out into the world with a voice that will be perceived as Israeli, although that same voice here in Israel will be perceived to be American.” A group and panel of about 60 American-Israeli writers listened attentively to Wirth-Nesher and other guest speakers, which included TAU professors, accomplished writers and poets, members of writers’ associations and journals in Israel, and faculty from other Israeli colleges and universities. Among the day’s readings, discussions and Q&A sessions was a talk and poetry reading by Shirley Kaufman, 83, who won the President’s Prize for literature this year. The Seattle-born poet made aliyah more than three decades ago at age 50 during the Yom Kippur War; she is one of the rare instances where an English writer in Israel is getting credit for her work by the state. “English writers are part of a marginal group in Israel, but are not getting recognized in the same way Russian, Arab or religiously oriented poets are,” says TAU senior lecturer Karen Alkalay-Gut, an acclaimed poet, translator, and performer who has lived in Israel since 1972. After a golden period for American poets in Israel from the early seventies until the mid-eighties, the last ten years have been difficult for the growing group of American writers who have made aliyah, says Alkalay-Gut. She wonders if these writers may be feeling competitiveness rather than kinship among the other English writers in Israel as a result. Alkalay-Gut hopes this recent conference will turn into an annual event and help American writers in Israel build a fertile meeting ground for discussing their work. American-Israelis have an important set of boots to fill, believes Alkalay-Gut. They have a task to translate the Israeli experience to a language the world can understand. And unlike other olim groups from places such as the former Soviet Union or South America, “Only American Anglo-Saxons came here because they wanted to and because they had that choice,” notes Alkalay-Gut. “The person who works in English can return to his country. That makes every day a reaffirmation to live here.” Besides sharing creative samples of their work and analysis of the American writer’s experience in Israel, the panel and audience discussed some of the setbacks for English writers in Israel. The writers, however, recognized that these very difficulties of life in Israel could easily be converted to the fuel needed for motivation and inspiration. “Aliyah has been the most defining act in my life,” said Haim Chertok, a biographer and lecturer at Ben Gurion University. Life was very different in America, he says, where he felt his choices were already laid out for him. “Had I not come to Israel I would not be the writer that I am today,” he says. “Coming here forced me to come to terms with myself, and force myself to explain myself to me. And that process continues. I am still up against my experience and I try to explain that again and again in my work.” The writers attending the conference also saw the importance of their role in writing about Israeli Jewry for other Jews around the world, who are often shut out of the Israeli experience for lack of adequate Hebrew literature translations. “It is hard to bridge that gap,” notes Jeffrey Green, from the Israel Association of Writers in English, who made aliyah 33 years ago. “And it is hard for others to understand that the most important fact in our lives is to live in Israel. For people who didn’t make that decision and still live in America -- it is an enormous gap for readers to overcome.” Kaufman, the poet, made aliyah at 50 and even though she would have liked to, she was never able to make the switch from writing in English to Hebrew. “That has been one of the saddest things about my life here,” she notes. However, achievements such as winning Israel’s President’s Prize this year gave the poet a boost, telling her that Israel is finally a large enough country to be able to recognize the languages living within its borders. “This is a mark that Israel has come out of all provinciality,” she adds. Sponsors of the first American Aliyah in Literature and Research conference included the Department of English and American Studies and Lester and Sally Entin Faculty of Humanities at TAU, and the Israel Association of Writers in English. The Fred Simmons Fund, founded by American poet Fred Simmons, also sponsored a number of sessions. TAU’s Department of English and American Studies is the only department of its kind in Israel. Prof. Wirth-Nesher, former chair of the department and incumbent of the Samuel L. and Perry Haber Chair on the Study of the Jewish Experience in the United States, says, “This is a unique department in Israel because we are the only ones who teach courses each year on Jewish American literature and culture. Our sponsors also enable lecturers from abroad to visit and conferences to take place between nations, such as the 350th anniversary of Jews in the United States.” For more information: please contact Dr. Karen Alkalay-Gut gut22@post.tau.ac.il 972 3 6405045.

New programs
	Tel Aviv University Introduces Joint Law Program with Northwestern Tel Aviv University’s Buchmann Faculty of Law has joined forces with Northwestern University Law School to launch Israel’s first joint Executive LLM Program in Public and International Law. The program will also be the first in Israel to award two law degrees – one from TAU, and one from Northwestern, which is rated among the top ten law schools in the world. The program targets legal professionals who already hold senior positions as judges, public defenders and prosecutors; as well as members of government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and private sector law firms. The program is being offered within the framework of an ongoing cooperation agreement between TAU and Northwestern University. “Northwestern’s joining with TAU is an expression of confidence in TAU’s standing as the top law school in Israel and one of the top twenty in the world,” says TAU law dean Prof. Hanoch Dagan. According to Prof. Dagan the program advances TAU’s strategy to “upgrade the quality of legal education in Israel and to train professionals to face the increasing complexity of the new legal environment which is characterized by globalization, constitutionalization and privatization.” The program will also help prevent brain drain by providing top quality graduate legal education in Israel. The program is Northwestern’s third joint international LLM program and is part of the school’s mission to globalize legal education. “Today’s legal practices are not based solely on culture or geography – they are universal,” says Northwestern law dean Prof. David E. Van Zandt. “Globalization has driven dramatic changes in the international and political environment and the program with TAU is designed to prepare lawyers for this exciting world.” Students in the program will spend a four-week condensed summer semester at Northwestern in Chicago that will expose them to the US legal system and US constitutional law. The program will also feature courses by leading international lecturers. The program will open in February 2007 and will accept 40 candidates. “An important feature of the program is that it will allow professionals in various fields to network and form new working alliances,” says Prof. Ron Harris, academic director of the program at TAU. Codirector of the program at Northwestern is Prof. Ronen Avraham. The cost of the program is $15,000; however, the school will be providing assistance to students through scholarships funded externally that will cover a substantial amount of the tuition fees. Prof. Dagan: “We recognize that candidates from the public sector need help in this area and we are also in contact with top officials in the public sector about the possibility of their institutions’ sponsoring applicants for the program.” The program is the second cooperative executive LLM program offered by TAU. The first is a joint LLM program in commercial law with the University of California at Berkeley.

Appointments and honors
	A reception hosted by Catherine et Jean Pierre Visan, supporters of the French Friends of TAU, took place in Paris. Prof. Frederic Encel, of the Institute of Political Science, Paris, lectured on his new book, «Geopolitique du sionisme »

	Prof. David Andelman has been appointed incumbent of the Herch Moyses Nussenzveig Chair in Statistical Physics.

	Prof. Shai Ashkenazi has been appointed incumbent of the Lea and Arieh Pickel Chair for Pediatric Research.

	Prof. Leslie Banks-Sills has been appointed incumbent of the Diane and Arthur B. Belfer Chair in Mechanics and Biomechanics.

	Prof. Alexander Battler has been appointed incumbent of the David Halperne Chair in Cellular and Molecular Cardiology.

	Prof. Eyal Benvenisti has been appointed incumbent of the Anny and Paul Yanowicz Chair in Human Rights.

	Dr. Yael Benyamini has been appointed Secretary of the European Health Psychology Society.

	Prof. Michael Eldar has been appointed incumbent of the Walton Chair in Interventional Cardiology.

	Prof. Zvi Farfel has been appointed incumbent of the Dr. Boris (Dov) Quartin Chair in Chemical Pathlogy.

	Prof. Amihay Freeman has been appointed incumbent of the Edouard Seroussi Chair for Protein Nanobiotechnology.

	Prof. Avraham Gover has been appointed incumbent of the Jokel Chair of Electronics.

	Prof. Touvia Miloh has been appointed incumbent of the Lazarus Brothers Chair of Aerodynamics.

	Prof. Modechai Omer has been appointed incumbent of the Carlo and Karin Giersch Chair for Research in Modern Painting.

	Prof. Moshe Phillip has been appointed incumbent of the Irene and Nicholas Marsh Chair in Endocrinology and Juvenile Diabetes.

	Prof. Eliazer Piasetzky has been appointed incumbent of the Wolfson Chair in Experimental Physics.

	Prof. Ariel Porat has been appointed incumbent of the Alain Poher Chair in Private Law.

	Prof. Ran Tur-Kaspa has been appointed incumbent of the Josefina Maus and Gabiela Cesarman Chair for Research in Liver Diseases.

Visitors on campus
	Polish members of the European Parliament visited TAU and met with Prof. David Assaf, Head of the Institute for the History of Polish Jewry and Israel-Poland Relations, and Chairman of the Department of Jewish History; Dr. Raphael Vago, Senior Researcher at the Cummings Center for Russian and East European Studies; Prof. Marek Karliner, Senior Researcher at the School of Physics and Astronomy; and Dr. Scott Uri of the School of History.

	Representatives of Lodz universities visited TAU and met with Prof. Dany Leviatan, Rector of TAU; Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron, Vice President for Research and Development; Prof. Yoram Oron, Director of Inter-Academic Affairs; Prof. Yosef Mekori, Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine; Prof. Tomer Lev, Head of the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music; and Prof. David Zisenwine, Head of the Kelman Center for Jewish Education.

	Senator Pierre Laffitte, President of Sophia Antipolis Foundation and SCS Competitiveness Cluster, France, and a delegation, visited TAU, accompanied by Philippe Carlevan, Scientific Attaché at the French Embassy, they met with Prof. Hagit Messer-Yaron, Vice President for Research and Development; Danny Strauss, Manager of the Advanced Communication Center at the Fleischman Faculty of Engineering; Prof. Hanoch Levy, Senior Researcher at the School of Computer Science; and Amiram Porath, EU Officer at TAU.

	Tom Phillips, Ambassador of Great Britain to Israel, visited TAU and met with Prof. Itamar Rabinovich, President of TAU; Prof. Asher Susser, Director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies; Prof. Eyal Zisser, Chairman of the Department of Middle Eastern and African History; Dr. Zvi Shtauber, Head of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS); Dr. Ephraim Kam, Deputy Head of INSS; and Dr. Mark Heller, Director of Research at INSS.

	A group of the UK Conservative Friends of Israel visited TAU and met with Prof. Asher Susser, Director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies, and with Prof. Yossi Shain, Head of the Hartog School of Government and Policy.

Editor: Limor Simhony

TAU