Global Campaign

TAU Honors Susan and Henry Samueli for Visionary Gifts

Tel Aviv University awarded an honorary doctorate, its highest honor, to Dr. Susan and Prof. Henry Samueli in recognition of their inspiring achievements in engineering, health, high-tech and business, and their shared success as philanthropists.

The Samuelis recently established the Susan & Henry Samueli Engineering and Health Research Endowment and Susan & Henry Samueli Engineering Building at TAU, both far-reaching and ambitious projects that represent the convergence of “industry, philanthropy and Jewish values,” according to TAU President Ariel Porat.

The Samuelis are well-known and respected philanthropists who generously donate to the fields of higher education, STEM, integrative medicine, children and youth, and Jewish causes. Prof. Henry Samueli is co-founder and Chairman of the Board of Broadcom Inc. Dr. Susan Samueli holds a PhD in nutrition and promotes integrative healthcare. They are based in Southern California but have long supported initiatives and projects in Israel.

Prof. Porat said at the degree ceremony that the Samuelis represent the right balance between science and society. “Professional careers, civic leadership, and philanthropy—Henry and Susan manage to balance them all and to transform ideas into social action,” he said. “I think they are wonderful models for goodness, and we are delighted that they are part of the TAU family.”

Earlier the same day, TAU hosted the inaugural conference of the Susan & Henry Samueli Engineering

Prof. Henry Samueli (left), Dr. Susan Samueli and TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat at the honorary doctorate ceremony

and Health Research Endowment, titled ” Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Ingenuity, Leadership and Innovation.” The Endowment will support a wide spectrum of fields at TAU such as national security, medical diagnostics and treatments, integrative health and drug development.

The conference featured a diverse and fascinating roster of speakers, reflecting the synergy among academia, industry and the public sector at the core of the Samuelis’ philanthropic vision. "Since technology will play an ever-increasing role in health care in the future, I am very happy that our Research Endowment will focus on engineering and health,” said Dr. Susan Samueli at the conference. “TAU has exceptional strength in both of these areas, so I am highly confident that we will see some great interventions coming out of this research.”

Earlier in the week, TAU hosted the grand opening of the Susan & Henry Samueli Engineering Building in the presence of the donors, President Porat and Tel Aviv-Yafo Mayor Ron Huldai.

The modern building, which overlooks the TAU campus and a panoramic view of Tel Aviv, features labs, classrooms and offices belonging to TAU and an industry partner.

The project is “a wonderful example of what can be achieved through creative thinking and cooperation between the public and private spheres,” said Prof. Henry Samueli at the opening.

A stand-up comedy show at the Black Family Foundation Student Club

Black Family Student Club Thrives Again

The Stanley and Joyce Black Family Foundation Student Club is back in action after more than a year of COVID-19 restrictions.

The spacious facility is a buzzing hub of student life located in the Millie Phillips Student City complex. Under the management of the TAU Student Union, the Club runs diverse activities, including exercise classes, social gatherings, stand-up comedy shows and lectures. Thousands of students, among them internationals and Israelis from the country’s social and geographical periphery, frequent the Club regularly.

After a period of closure due to COVID-19, the Club reopened to provide students with a quiet study space, in strict compliance with health regulations. More recently, as students became eligible for vaccines, the Club returned to its regular activities.

The Stanley and Joyce Black Family Foundation Student Club was established by the Black family of California, longtime benefactors of TAU, and dedicated in 2016. For over 40 years, the family has supported important research at TAU, including in medicine and Yiddish language and culture.

Stanley Black is a highly respected real estate developer and philanthropist based in Beverly Hills, California. In 1985, he founded the Black Equities Group, a real estate investment and operating company, with his son, Jack. Stanley’s daughters, Jill Black Zalben and Janis Black Warner, are Directors of the Stanley and Joyce Black Family Foundation.

TAU Dedicates Chair to Philanthropist Joseph Safra

TAU dedicated the Joseph Safra Chair for Capital Markets and Financial Institutions to the memory of the late Joseph Safra (1938-2020). Safra was one of the world’s top bankers and businessmen. He was also a longtime and influential philanthropist in Brazil, where he lived for most of his life, as well as in Israel and across the Jewish world. In Israel, his generosity greatly benefited hospitals, museums, educational institutions and other diverse organizations. He was an Honorary TAU Governor, and his children have continued his friendship with the University.

Prof. Dan Amiram, Vice Dean of the Coller School of Management, is the incumbent of the Joseph Safra Chair. Prof. Amiram’s research focuses on the effects and consequences of frictions created by information asymmetry, taxation and business law on debt and equity markets around the world. He is frequently tapped as a consultant by governmental organizations, corporations, financial institutions and the media, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Forbes. Moreover, he is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards for both research and teaching.

Joseph Safra

Leading the Global Yiddish Renaissance

What do scholars, teachers, translators and aficionados of Yiddish have in common? They all flock to TAU’s influential Jona Goldrich Institute for Yiddish Language, Literature and Culture, which promotes academic depth and creativity in the field of Yiddish studies.

Founded in 2005 as the Goldreich Family Institute by TAU benefactor Jona Goldrich (1927-2016), today the Institute is supported by his two daughters, TAU Governor Melinda Goldrich and Andrea Goldrich Cayton, who chose to rename the Institute in honor of their late father and his leadership. The Institute’s summer program, supported by the Naomi Prawer Kadar Foundation since 2011, has hosted 995 participants from 33 countries. The Goldrich Family Foundation Advanced Yiddish Studies Forum brings top scholars to TAU from around the world.

“For me, the Institute is not only a place of advanced research, but a forum where my ideas can be put into practice,” says Mika Cohen, a first-year student in the Yiddish Studies MA Program, jointly supported by Yad Hanadiv. A creative writing workshop she’s running explores the theme of the shtetl as a way to think about modern notions of community. Participants read works by Sholem Aleichem and other legendary writers, and then produce their own vision of community with their 21st century literary voices.

Institute Director Dr. Hannah Pollin-Galay of TAU’s Department of Literature, Entin Faculty of Humanities, enthuses, “Students are eager to ask new questions about Jewish culture and to understand the experiences of their grandparents and great-grandparents.” Her own research combines Yiddish and Holocaust Studies, while the work of Prof. Hana WirthNesher, the Institute’s Founding Director, focuses on multilingualism in Jewish and mainstream American writing. Other research conducted at the Institute explores the interplay between Yiddish and other languages and cultures in Europe, Israel and beyond.

“The Yiddish poet Avrom Sutzkever asked, in reference to Yiddish culture after the Holocaust, Ver vet blaybn? Vos vet blaybn? (‘Who will remain? What will remain?’),” says Dr. Pollin-Galay. “I think Sutzkever would be very proud to see my young students working hard to answer his question in a positive way. It is thanks to them, and to the support of the Goldrich family, that a beautiful Yiddish legacy will not only remain, but blossom and grow in the future.”

Dr. Pollin-Galay meets with students. Melinda Goldrich attended the event remotely.

TAU to Lay Cornerstone for New Trauma Building

TAU is proud to announce the beginning of construction of the Miriam and Moshe Shuster Building for the Center for Traumatic Stress and Resilience. The TAU-run national center brings together 100 mental health and medical researchers, working with the IDF and other organizations in Israel and worldwide, to advance the research, treatment, prevention and education of post-traumatic stress disorder and related conditions.

The extended Moss Family generously contributed a wing in the building in memory of TAU Governors, Honorary Doctors and longtime supporters Sam and Agi Moss of Australia.

Designed by architect Erez Shani, the Miriam and Moshe Shuster Building will provide staff with 2,000 square meters of state-of-the-art research and treatment space. Among the building’s facilities will be laboratories, clinical research facilities, a patient clinic and a large auditorium. “The Center provides a critical treatment opportunity for Israelis who are constantly facing traumatic threats,” says TAU’s Prof. Yair Bar-Haim, the Center’s Director. “The dedicated Shuster building will enable us to enhance our activities and better serve the public.”

Trees Planted in Memory of TAU Governors Annie and Marcel Adams

TAU held a tree-planting ceremony to honor the memory of the late Annie and Marcel Adams of Montreal, both TAU Honorary Doctors, as well as longtime TAU Governors and benefactors. Annie Adams passed away in 1997; Marcel passed away in August 2020, just after celebrating his 100th birthday. Their son, Sylvan Adams—Vice Chair of TAU’s Board of Governors, TAU Honorary Doctor, Global Campaign Cabinet member and second generation donor—planted two trees outside the Sylvan Adams Sports Institute which he founded, in the presence of TAU President Prof. Ariel Porat, Director of the Sports Institute Prof. Chaim Pick, and members of the Adams family.

“The University has become a family project,” Adams said at the ceremony. “It’s my honor to be associated with such a fine institute that is so important to this country, to be part of so many discoveries … [My parents] felt the University is family, and now they have a permanent home here.”