Northwestern Goes to the Middle East

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Northwestern University expanded the University’s ties with Tel Aviv University and welcomed nearly 100 Northwestern alumni to an event in that city during a recent trip to Israel by Northwestern leaders.

Northwestern already has partnerships with Tel Aviv University (TAU) through a joint executive MBA program offered by the Kellogg School of Management and TAU’s Recanati Graduate School of Business, as well as a joint executive LLM program offered by Northwestern University School of Law and TAU’s law school, the Buchmann Faculty of Law. In addition, new exchange programs for undergraduate students and medical school students began this year.

Last week, Northwestern Provost Dan Linzer and his TAU counterpart signed agreements calling for further cooperation between the two institutions, including student and faculty exchange programs, appointments of postdoctoral research fellows and other academic activities.

“Tel Aviv University has proven to be an excellent academic partner in several areas, so we are pleased to strengthen our ties with that institution,” Linzer said. “There are significant opportunities for our faculty and students to engage in research, as well as participate in academic programs there.”

This spring, seven undergraduate students from Northwestern are participating in a newly designed program at TAU. The program, led by Elie Rekhess, the Visiting Crown Chair in Middle East Studies at Northwestern, provides courses in public health and in political science and economics.

“We continue to expand our study abroad programs in countries around the world, and we think this one will be particularly interesting for our students,” said Devora Grynspan, assistant to the president for global initiatives and director of the office of international program development.

The delegation of senior academic and administrative leaders from Northwestern also visited the Weizmann Institute, one of Israel’s top scientific research institutions. Several of the scientists at the Weizmann Institute have collaborated with Northwestern faculty members or have done graduate work at Northwestern.

In addition to the academic meetings, Northwestern leaders also mingled with nearly 100 alumni and friends of the University during a Celebrate Northwestern event in Tel Aviv. Hosted by Northwestern trustee Robin Chemers Neustein, the event featured remarks by President Morton Schapiro and by Sally Blount, dean of Kellogg, and Dan Rodriguez, dean of the School of Law.

Many of those in attendance were graduates of the Kellogg-Recanati joint EMBA program, with positions in Israel’s finance and technology industries, as well as in international consulting firms. In his talk to the group, President Schapiro noted the success of the graduates as a factor in expanding Northwestern’s reputation internationally.

“Northwestern clearly is on an upward trajectory, and the fact that so many of our graduates hold positions of leadership, not just in the United States, but around the world, is evidence of the strength of our academic programs,” President Schapiro said. “As I travel around the world, whether it’s in Europe or Asia or here in the Middle East, I always run into Northwestern alumni who are leaders in their field.”