Weekly Report January 31st - February 12th

I went to the United States to attend the FAI Executive Committee meeting in Atlanta and then participated in a number of events and meeting in Atlanta, New York and Boston. See the Trip Report. The following report was written for me by Tamar Norkin, my administrative assistant.

David Lehrer

Weekly Report January 31st – February 5th

• It was the first week of the academic break for the students, and most of them left for home or travels elsewhere therefore it was a quiet week at the Arava Institute.
• We had a visit from Robert Barker, who is a dean at the Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. The School has hosted several Arava Institute alumni as teaching fellows for its summer portals program in environmental studies, and is very interested in continuing its relationship with AIES. Two Arava alumni from the Middle East will travel to Hotchkiss to teach this summer and more will be invited in the future.

Weekly Report February 7th – February 12th

This week has been a very eventful one.

• We are continuing construction of the Research and Visitors Park, and proceeding at a fast pace to have the site ready for next week’s validation center opening ceremony.
• The Academic Program Department held a meeting to review the end of the semester and look ahead to the next one.
• The Arava Institute hosted Alan Weisman, journalist and author of the best-selling book ‘The World Without Us’. He is currently traveling the world conducting research and interviews for his new book, which will be about the carrying capacity of the world. He interviewed researchers at AIES and learned about the ecology of the area.
• The big story of the week is the 4th AAPEN alumni conference, which took place this week in Aqaba. Many people have been working hard to bring together this exciting event. Close to 80 people attended the conference, a number that reflects the significant growth and development of the alumni network.
• Key speakers at the conference included Professor Alon Tal, one of the founders of the Arava Institute, David Weisberg, Executive Director of Friends of the Arava Institute, and journalist Alan Weisman. Guest attendees included members of the local government in Aqaba.
• Arava Institute alumni Shira Kronich, Ilana Meallem, Yair Teller, Suleiman Halasah and Corey Mikami gave presentations about their environmental and transboundary projects, and Jamil Sarraj led a creative thinking workshop.
• Sharon Benheim, director of Alumni Projects Department presented plans for future developments in the alumni program, including an exclusive online networking site and the initiation of alumni network branches around the world.
• In all, it was a productive and positive program that allowed us to see how far we’ve come in the last 13 years and image how far we can go in the future.

Tamar Norkin

Weekly Report Jan 21st - 28th

Week ly Report January 21st – 29th

• This was the final week of the fall semester. The students spent the week, taking final exams, finishing papers, preparing for the final party and cleaning the campus.
• The students had their final party Tuesday night. Cecil Rimer handed out funny awards to each student – these were special achievement awards, with each student receiving recognition for some personal stand-out characteristic that has earned them fame (or notoriety) at AIES. Students also received a copy of the Yalla yearbook, full of memories and also a bit of gossip. There was dancing, karaoke, live music provided by the students and a full barbecue dinner. A good time was had by all.
• The students are now off for a three week break. Spring semester starts on February 24th. We expect once again to have over 40 students.
  

In addition to the Academic Program, a number of important meetings took place in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Ber Sheva.

• On Monday morning, Miriam, Elad and I met with our PR Consultants, Ben Or to discuss plans for the coming year. The calendar of events for 2010 looks packed and filled with opportunities for engaging the media.
• The next day, Elad and I met with the staff from the Heschel Center to discuss the new Sustainable Food Initiative that the Institute and Heschel are planning on launching this year in light of the very successful Food Conference held last November. The initiative will try to raise awareness about the need for a more sustainable, healthy, equitable and carbon reduced food supply in Israel. The team spent a lot of time discussing other partners for the inititative.
• On Wednesday, the Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (CREEC) Steering Committee met at Hebrew University to review last year's achievements and the current research. The committee discussed some of the challenges facing the proposed Energy and the Environment Masters Degree program and went over the committee's job description. The CREEC Steering Committee is chaired by Professor Yaakov Karni from the Weizmann Institute. Many of Israelis leading experts in renewable energy are members of the committee.
• Following the CREEC Steering Committee meeting, the Academic Advisory Board met to review the work plans of the Academic Department and the Research Department. Dr. Elli Groner, the Academic Director, went over plans for developing new programs and Dr. Clive Lipchin presented current research programs at the institute.
• Finally on Thursday, Jonathan Schiff, the Institute's lawyer, and I met with, Professor Jimmy Weinblatt, the Rector of BGU, Professor Shaul Krakover, the Dean of the Eilat campus and the university's lawyer to finalize financial and legal issues in the new agreement. All outstanding issues have been resolved opening up the door for implementing the new agreement as of next semester.
• Finally, through a connection with Dr. Donny Ornstein, one of our faculty, the Arava Alumni Peace and Environmental Network has been given the opportunity to host Alan Weissman, the author of the best selling book, "The World Without Us" at the February Alumni Conference in Aqaba.

David Lehrer