Northwestern strengthens ties with Tel Aviv University
This article was first featured here, on the Northwestern Now website.
A delegation of Northwestern administrators, faculty and trustees, led by President Morton Schapiro, visited Israel recently to strengthen academic partnerships and meet with alumni, civic and business leaders and government officials there.
The delegation toured the campus of Tel Aviv University (TAU) and met TAU President Ariel Porat.
“Globalization is one of the top goals of our university,” Porat said. “And Northwestern is number one in terms of close partners for us.”
During their meetings, several TAU administrators and faculty described the impact of existing partnerships with Northwestern, highlighting student exchanges, clinical rotations of medical students and joint postdoctoral programs. Northwestern and TAU currently collaborate in several disciplines, notably business, law, medicine and nanotechnology.
The two institutions celebrated the impact of existing partnerships, from student exchanges to clinical rotations of medical students to joint postdoctoral programs.
“Tel Aviv University is one of the world’s best universities,” President Schapiro told attendees. “And it’s one of my favorite partner institutions.”
Devora Grynspan, Northwestern’s vice president for international relations, called TAU “one of only a small number of global universities that we prioritize for special partnerships, due to its academic quality and mix of strengths in the sciences, humanities and arts.”
At the ANU-Museum of the Jewish People, located on the TAU campus, Northwestern also hosted a celebration of the successful conclusion of We Will. The Campaign for Northwestern, which drew more than 80 Northwestern alumni, TAU partners and students enrolled in the Kellogg-Recanati International Executive MBA program and Kellogg’s Global MBA program.
Porat announced at the event that Schapiro had accepted an invitation to join the TAU board of governors.
In other events, the Northwestern delegation explored Jewish-Arab relations in Israel and toured the Jewish-Arab Community Center of Jaffa and predominantly Arab neighborhoods nearby.
Elie Rekhess, Northwestern’s Crown Visiting Professor in Israel Studies, addressed the group on evolving dynamics within Israel and the prospects for peaceful coexistence among disparate groups within the country.
The group also met with the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, the Honorable Thomas Nides.
Several members of Northwestern’s board of trustees participated in the March 27 to April 3 trip. They were Tarek Elmasry, Kate Li (spouse of Jianming Yu), Jennifer Litowitz, Tom Montag, Paula Pretlow and David Sachs.