Dear Friends,
1. BOG: The 2018 Board of Governors events will start on June 9th and will be more extensive than usual, celebrating the Cornerstones Centennial (1918-2018). Faculty members are very welcome to participate in the events. The program is available here.
Please note that the Convocation, in which the PhD degrees are awarded, will be held on Monday, June 11th, at 17:30, at the Rothberg Amphitheatre, Mount Scopus Campus. We strongly encourage the academic units to hold a farewell gathering before the main event, at around 16:30, honoring the students and their supervisors.
2. Budgeting: More than 70% of our budget is publicly financed, through the PBC. It is based on three components: Teaching, research grants obtained by faculty members, and publications of articles in academic journals. Enclosed are the PBC formulas (in Hebrew) of budgeting for teaching and for research.
3. Cornerstone Courses: Undergraduate students study 4 courses (2 credits each) in disciplines different than their main field of study. Please consider offering new courses under this Program to further expose your field of research and teaching to our students.
4. Visibility: Too many of our faculty are not present in the Google Scholar system. While this platform is far from optimal, it is an important element in increasing our online visibility. Please make sure that your profile there is updated.
5. Moonlighting: Faculty members dedicate most of their time and efforts towards activities within the University. Faculty members may work at an additional place of employment, as long as they receive permission to do so in writing by the conditions set in the Regulations. In short, one may work up to an additional 8 hours/wk (or 4 teaching hours/wk) in another academic institution, as long as there is no conflict of interest with his/her employment as a HU faculty member and whereby a written approval is given ahead of time. The form for requesting to work at an additional place of employment is available here.
6. The Israeli National Natural History Collections at the Hebrew University, headed by Prof. Gila Kahila Bar-Gal, host the herbarium, invertebrate, mollusc, fish, amphibian, reptile, avian, mammalian, archaeozoological and palaeobiological collections. The collections are located at the Safra Campus, and are open to visitors. The Collections have been recently admitted to the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities.
7. Congratulations to our colleague Prof. Mimi Ajzenstadt, who was elected President of the Open University.
8. A new version of our welcome letter to new faculty members is enclosed here. It includes important information on various aspects of our activities at the University.
Yours, Barak