PRESIDENT'S REPORT 2020 | OUR FIRST 50

Danny  Something that characterizes academia is the special relationship between a professor and the students. A lecturer can be someone inspiring, or a mentor, or just someone there to relay material. How do you preserve that special relationship with so many students?

Prof. Daniel Chamovitz and Prof. Chaim Hames

Prof. Daniel Chamovitz is originally from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania and came to Israel when he was 21. He has a PhD in plant genetics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Before coming to BGU to serve as President in 2019, he was Dean of the George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences at Tel Aviv University. Prof. Chaim Hames was born in England and came to Israel at the age of 12. He has a PhD in medieval history from the University of Cambridge. He joined BGU in 1995, founding the Center for the Study of Conversion and Inter-Religious Encounters. He became Rector of the University in 2018. Photos: 1 - Professors Chamovitz (L) and Hames (R) 2 - Chamovitz and Hames on the Double Helix Bridge to the Advanced Technologies Park 3 - The David Tuviyahu (Beit HIAS) Campus in the 1980s

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Chaim  One of the great things about coming to the coffee shop is that you can see students talking to their teachers and this is precisely the environment we want to encourage, to create a feeling of accessibility. For the lecturers too, this approach leads to new ideas, and these are practices we should encourage. I really think there should be an emphasis on the interpersonal relationship between students and teachers. After all, the information and materials are available online, but the relationship isn’t.

Watch the full video online at bit.ly/SBG-C-H

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