Dear Faculty Members,

Upon returning from the Passover break, I am happy to report on some updates:

1. We have added a few programs, in Computer Sciences and in Mathematics, in addition to the ones that were added in the Humanities and the Social Sciences in which students can start their studies in the Spring. The number of applicants was relatively low, but we plan to continue this policy to further explore its benefits.

2. In most faculties, the recruitment procedures of new faculty members have concluded, but a few units, mostly in the STEM, have yet to finalize the process, and the following data will be updated soon. Thus far, 42 new faculty members accepted our offer to join us in 2018-19, in addition to 11 who will join in 2019-20. This year, the ratio of those who accepted our offer substantially increased, in correlation with the dramatic increase in the budget that we allocated to financing and establishing research infrastructure for the new recruits. The Deans, Reem Sari, the Head of R&D Division, along with the lead of our President, are to be praised for their contribution to this positive outcome.

The names of the new recruits will be published in a few weeks’ time, once the process has concluded in all units. In the meantime, here are some demographic data on the group of scholars that will join us in 2018-19: among this group there are two Arab-Israeli faculty members (5%). The ratio of women is one-third, but while in the humanities and social sciences the ratio is 43% (10 out of 23), in the STEM it is only 21% (4 out of 19, and in the group that includes those who did not respond yet to our offer, 6 out of 27). The recruitment of international scholars continues, and 2 faculty members (5%) will join the existing 17 International faculty members.

3. Congratulations to Prof. Emeritus Moshe Sharon from the Department of Islam and Middle Eastern Studies, upon his acceptance to the French Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres; and to Prof. Emeritus Saharon Shelah upon receiving the Schock Prize in Logic and Philosophy from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, 2018.

In addition, five (out of eight) of our candidates received the prestigious Rothschild Post-Doctorate Fellowship; We have ten new post-doctorate scholars from India and China who will study at our university who have won a competitive Post-Doctorate Fellowship funded by the PBC; Three out of the eight recipients of the Adams Scholarship awarded by the Israeli Academy of Science are doctoral students at the Hebrew University.

4. I bring to your attention, on the advice of Roy Shenhar (Chemistry), an interesting article, published in Nature, on innovation in teaching (TLDR: despite strong evidence about the benefits of using interactive teaching technics, an overwhelming majority of faculty uses an overwhelming majority of the time the dated teaching method of lecturing. While innovative in research, scholars are often highly conservative in teaching). In part to overcome this barrier, Ilan Benshalom (Faculty of Law) suggests forming a five-faculty member group, that will contribute to enhancing the group-members’ quality of teaching, through peer-review of teaching, consultation and reflection. I strongly support this initiative.

 

Yours, Barak Medina