Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב
Motto	"Israel's capacity for science and research will be tested in the Negev..." David Ben-Gurion
Established	1969
Type	Public
President	Prof. Rivka Carmi
Rector	Prof. Zvi HaCohen
Academic staff	2,600
Students	19,747
Undergraduates	13,047
Postgraduates	6,700
Location	Beer-Sheva, Israel
Website	[1]

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Hebrew: אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב‎, Universitat Ben Gurion Banegev)  (BGU) was established as Negev University in 1969 with the aim to bring development to the Negev, a desert area comprising more than sixty percent of Israel. The University was inspired by the vision of Israel's founder and first prime minister David Ben-Gurion, who believed that the future of the country lay in this region. After Ben-Gurion's death in 1973, the University was renamed Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Today, Ben-Gurion University is a major center for teaching and research, with campuses in Beer-Sheva, Sede Boqer and Eilat. Close to 20,000 students are enrolled in the Faculties of Engineering Sciences, Health Sciences, Natural Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management and the Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies.

Major University research institutes include the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev, the Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research with the Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies, and the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism.

New interdisciplinary programs are redefining the boundaries between the Faculties and attracting outstanding students. Its world-famous Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School has become a model for community-orientated and global medicine, while social work and education degree programs supply Beer-Sheva and the region with the majority of its social service personnel.

In keeping with its mandate, Ben-Gurion University plays a key role in promoting industry, agriculture and education in the Negev. University-sponsored community colleges and pre-academic and continuing education programs make learning accessible to greater numbers of Negev residents, while a myriad of community action programs involving over half of the student body benefit the various communities in the region.

Ben-Gurion University is part of the global community, with researchers sharing their expertise internationally in such fields as hi-tech, bio-tech, medicine, arid zone agriculture, solar energy, water resource management, nanotechnology and more. The University welcomes exciting challenges in innovative fields of research and strives to bring new opportunities to Beer-Sheva and the Negev while continuing its pursuit of academic excellence and expanding its contribution to the community.

Campuses

Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology (#51)

Campus

Zalman Aranne Central Library (#22)

The Cukier, Goldstein-Goren Building (#72)

There are five campuses: the Marcus Family Campus, Beer-Sheva; the David Bergmann Campus, Beer-Sheva; the David Tuviyahu Campus, Beer-Sheva; Sede Boqer Campus and Eilat Campus.

Faculties

Ben-Gurion University has five faculties with 51 academic departments and units: Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management.

Schools

Ben-Gurion University has six schools: The Kreitman School of Advanced Graduate Studies, the Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School, the Leon and Mathilde Recanati School for Community Health Professions, the School of Pharmacy, the School for Medical Laboratory Sciences and the School of Continuing Medical Education.

Research Institutes

Ben-Gurion University has eight world class research institutes including: The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, the Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, the Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism, and Heksherim - The Research Institute for Jewish and Israeli Literature and Culture.

Interdisciplinary Research Centers

There are sixty one interdisciplinary research centers at Ben-Gurion University including: the S. Daniel Abraham International Center for Health and Nutrition, the Robert H. Arnow Center for Bedouin Studies and Development, the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center, the Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought, the Esther and Sidney Rabb Center for Holocaust and Redemption Studies, the Edmond J. Safra Center for the Design and Engineering of Functional Biopolymers, the Reimund Stadler Minerva Center for Mesoscale Macromolecular Engineering and the Zlotowski Center for Neurosciences.

International Programs

Ten unique international programs are available at Ben-Gurion University including: the Albert Katz International School of Desert Studies, the Medical School for International Health, the Ginsburg-Ingerman Overseas Student Program, the Israel Studies International Program, the Master of Arts Program in Middle East Studies and the Honors MBA Program.

Ben-Gurion University used to have links with the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. Following an academic petition supported by more than 250 academics, including Breyten Breytenbach, John Dugard, Antjie Krog, Mahmood Mamdani and Achille Mbembe, the Senate of the University of Johannesburg decided to end its ties with Ben-Gurion University in March 2011. The University denied that the decision amounted to an academic boycott of Israel. Others have claimed it as a “a landmark moment in the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.” Zionist and Israeli groups have criticised the decision.

Presidents

Prof. Moshe Prywes 1973-1975

Moshe Prywes resigned from his position at the Hebrew University – Hadassah Medical School in order to become the 1st President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He served as president from 1973 to 1975, at which point he resigned in order to devote his energies to creating a unique medical institution at BGU, which he dubbed "The Beer-Sheva Experiment." He became the Founding Dean of the Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School. Prof. Moshe Prywes passed away in 1998.

Ambassador Yosef Tekoah 1975-1981

Ambassador Yosef Tekoah studied at the University l’Aurure in Shanghai, China, graduating as a Licensie en Droit (LL.B.). He received his MA at Harvard University, and in 1947-1948 he was an instructor at Harvard in International Relations. A long time Israeli diplomat, he held a number of political positions in Israel and around the world, including numerous posts as Legal Advisor, Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He left politics in order to serve as President of BGU from 1975 to 1981, after which he served as Chancellor of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, until his death in 1991.

Maj-Gen (Res.) Shlomo Gazit 1982-1985

Maj-Gen. Shlomo Gazit was an officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and director of Military Intelligence from 1974 to 1978. He served as the head of assessment in IDF intelligence before the Six Day War and in 1967 was appointed to lead "The Unit for the Coordination of Operations in the Territories." In 1979-1980, he was a Fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and in 1983 he received his Master’s Degree in History from Tel Aviv University.After his retirement from active military duty, Gen. Gazit was elected President of BGU and served from 1982 to 1985.

Prof. Chaim Elata 1985-1990

Prof. Chaim Elata graduated from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, receiving his Master’s Degree in 1957 and his Doctorate of Science in 1961. He began his Academic career in 1961, as an Associate Professor at the Technion and joined BGU in 1974, serving as the Head of the Mechanical Engineering Dept. and the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences. He left BGU for a short period in order to serve as the Chief Scientist for the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure. In 1984 he returned to BGU to serve as Rector, before being elected President in 1985.

MK Prof. Avishay Braverman 1990-2006

MK Prof. Avishay Braverman received his B.A. from Tel Aviv University and his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University. He has served as a Senior Economist and Division Chief for the World Bank, where he led research, policy work and project evaluation worldwide, focusing on balanced economic development and justice. He was elected BGU President in 1990 and served in this capacity until 2006, at which point he resigned to pursue a political career. During his tenure, the nearly insolvent University that he found upon arrival was transformed into a fiscally-sound institute that has more than tripled in size as it transformed into an internationally-recognized research institute. In March 2006, he was elected as a member of the Israeli Parliament representing the Labor Party.

Prof. Rivka Carmi 2006-

Prof. Rivka Carmi was elected to serve as President of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev by the University’s Board of Governors in May 2006. She is the first woman to serve as president of an Israeli university. She was born in Israel and is a graduate of Hadassah Medical School of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She completed a residency in pediatrics, a fellowship in neonatology at the Soroka University Medical Center and an additional two-year fellowship in medical genetics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard University Medical School. Prof. Carmi served as Director of the Genetics Institute at the Soroka University Medical Center and held several important academic administrative positions in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Promoted to full professor in 1995, she is the incumbent of the Kreitman Foundation Chair in Pediatric Genetics. In 2000, she was elected Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences at BGU – also the first woman to hold this position in Israel – and served in that position for five years. Between 2002 – 2005, she also served as the Chairperson of the Israeli Association of Medical Deans. Prior to her entry into the administrative arena of the University, Professor Carmi’s research focused mainly on the delineation of the clinical manifestations and molecular basis of genetic diseases in the Negev Arab-Bedouin population. Author of over 100 publications in medical genetics, her research included the Identification of 12 new genes and the delineation of 3 new syndromes, one of which is known as the Carmi Syndrome. Her community projects were aimed at preventing hereditary diseases in the Bedouin community. She was deeply involved with the establishment of major biotechnology initiatives at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, primarily serving as the Acting Director of the nascent National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev. In addition to her duties as President, Prof. Carmi remains a member and serves as a consultant of national, professional and public committees and organizations, is a scientific reviewer for various international journals and funding agencies and serves on the editorial board of prestigious scientific journals. Recent noteworthy honors she has received include: the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Yated organization for children with Downs Syndrome; the Achievement in Medicine Award by the Municipality of Beer-Sheva; the 2002 Award for Peace from the Canada International Scientific Exchange Program (CISEPO), to which she served as representative of the Israeli Medical Deans; the 2008 Women of Distinction Award of the Hadassah Women’s Zionist Organization of America; and in 2009, an award in excellence from the Israel Ambulatory Pediatric Association (IAPA). In August 2010, Carmi also became the first woman to serve as the Chairperson of the Committee of University Heads in Israel.

Notable faculty members

Rivka Carmi

Etgar Keret

• Aaron Antonovsky, sociologist
• Aharon Appelfeld, author
• Haim Be'er, author
• Gerald Blidstein, Jewish Thought and History – Israel Prize Recipient
• Rivka Carmi, pediatrician
• Shlomi Dolev, computer scientist
• David Faiman, solar engineer
• Tikva Frymer-Kensky, biblical scholar
• Neve Gordon, political scientist
• Samuel Hollander, economist
• Etgar Keret, author
• Dan Meyerstein, chemist
• Benny Morris, historian
• David Newman, political geographer
• Amos Oz, author
• Renee Poznanski, political scientist and historian of the Holocaust in France
• Joshua Prawer, historian
• Elisha Qimron, Hebrew scholar
• Aviad Raz, sociologist
• Danny Rubinstein, journalist
• Alice Shalvi, educator
• Richard Shusterman, philosopher
• Carsten Peter Thiede, biblical scholar
• Jacob Turkel, Israeli Supreme Court Justice
• Oren Yiftachel, geographer

Notable alumni

• Isaac Berzin (born 1967), chemical engineer who founded GreenFuel Technologies Corporation
• Charles Blattberg, professor of political philosophy at the Université de Montréal
• Amira Dotan
• Gila Gamliel (born 1974), member of the Knesset for Likud and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office
• Anastasia Gloushkov (born 1985), Olympic synchronized swimmer
• Arieh Iserles (born 1947), computational mathematician, Professor of the Numerical Analysis of Differential Equations at the University of Cambridge
• Ofer Lahav (born 1959), Perren Chair of Astronomy and Head of Astrophysics at University College London
• Gonen Segev
• Silvan Shalom
• Eliezer Shkedi
• Yaakov Turner
• Mordechai Vanunu
• Shelly Yachimovich

Notable awards

Professor Gerald Blidstein of the Department of Jewish Thought and Philosophy is the only faculty member of Ben-Gurion University to have received the prestigious Israel Prize.

See also

• List of universities in Israel

External links

• Ben-Gurion University of the Negev website
• Faculty of Engineering Sciences at BGU
• Faculty of Health Sciences at BGU
• Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at BGU
• Faculty of Natural Sciences at BGU
• Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management at BGU
• The Kreitman School for Advanced Graduate Studies
• The Joyce and Irving Goldman Medical School
• The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research
• The Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology
• The Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel and Zionism
• Heksherim - The Research Institute for Jewish and Israeli Literature and Culture
• The Albert Katz International School of Desert Studies (AKIS)
• The Medical School for International Health in collaboration with Columbia University Medical Center (MSIH)
• The Ginsburg-Ingerman Overseas Student Program (OSP)
• The Israel Studies International Program (ISIP)
• The Masters Of Arts Program in Middle East Studies (MAPMES)
• Honors MBA Program