BGU will recognize eight remarkable individuals with honorary doctorates on Tuesday evening May 20, 2014 at 7:30 PM in the Cummings Plaza on the Marcus Family Campus in Beer-Sheva. The ceremony will be held during the 44th Annual Board of Governors Meeting.
The recipients include:
Dr. Linda S. Birnbaum, USA
Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and National Toxicology Program Division. As NIEHS and NTP director, Dr. Birnbaum oversees a budget that funds multidisciplinary biomedical research programs, prevention and intervention efforts that encompass training, education, technology transfer and community outreach. The NIEHS supports more than 1,000 research grants.
James M. Breslauer, USA
One of the major proponents of the Advanced Technologies Park adjacent to the University. He has been a guiding force for 17 years since its original inception until today, when the first building is fully occupied and construction of the second building is proceeding apace.
Photo Credit: Scott Smeltzer
Prof. Linda B. Buck, USA 
A Nobel Laureate in 2004 and internationally recognized scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. She was the first scientist to identify the family of genes that control the olfactory system, a complex network that governs our sense of smell. Uncovering how this system works has been fundamental to understanding the machinery that controls the relay of sensory signals from the world around us to the central nervous system.
Prof. Saul Friedlander, USA
One of the foremost historians of the Holocaust. He has won both a Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction and the Israel Prize. A child survivor, he has fearlessly probed the Nazis and those who opposed them, delving into the Catholic Church and its leadership, among many other topics.
Nahum Guzik, USA
Founder of Guzik Technical Enterprises, which provides test solutions to the disk drive industry, as well as waveform acquisition tools for demanding ATE and OEM applications in avionics, signal intelligence, military electronics, physics, astronomy, semiconductors and a variety of other disciplines. He is also a patron of the arts, and he and his foundation have enabled hundreds of young Russian and Armenian musicians to realize their potential by providing training, and in some cases international tours. His Jewish philanthropic interests include Chabad, The Technion and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Prof. Andrew D. Hamilton, UK
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford. A former Provost of Yale University and professor of Chemistry at Princeton University and the University of Pittsburgh. He is a fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the International Izatt Christiansen Award in Macrocyclic Chemistry in 2011.
Photo Credit: Philip Sayer
Evgeny Kissin, UK
A world renowned classical pianist. He made his professional debut at age 10 and gave his first solo recital at age 11. He was awarded a Grammy in 2006 in the category of Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without Orchestra) for his recording of piano works by Scriabin, Medtner, and Stravinsky.
Cheryl Saban, PhD, USA
Philanthropist and woman's advocate. She created the Women’s Self-Worth Foundation to provide micro-financing programs to women in the U.S. and in Israel. Saban has a doctorate in psychology and is the author of What is Your Self-Worth? A Woman’s Guide to Validation, drawing on her own life experiences.
Photo Credit: Michael Segal
Additional Board highlights :
The Presentation of the Ben-Gurion Leadership Award to Shimon Peres, President of the State of Israel. It will be his last speech as president.
Lecture under the auspices of the Robert St. John Chair in Objective Middle East Reporting "In the Eye of the Storm: Reflections on Being Jerusalem Bureau Chief for The New York Times" Ethan Bronner, Deputy National Editor of The New York Times
Nobel Laureate Prof. Buck will give the Annual Zlotowski Lecture "Unraveling Smell"
A piano concert by Evgeny Kissin
Irene and Hyman Kreitman Annual Memorial Lecture "Innovation, Openness and the 21st Century University" to be given by Prof. Hamilton
For more information: www.bgu.ac.il/board
