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a job. The Career Counseling Center, the first of its kind in Israel, has served as a model
for career centers at other institutions of higher education across Israel.

A fifth achievement is the promotion of research among our faculty members. It was
important for me that the faculty engage in research because they can’t be effective
preparing students for a profession in their field if they are not well-versed and updated
themselves. As a college, we are unfortunately not eligible to receive government funding for
research, so I led the establishment of a special Authority for Research and Development
which is responsible for helping the faculty to identify and obtain research grants. Also
under my leadership, we created an International Unit that promotes student exchanges
and international collaborations, such as joint research projects between HAC faculty and
faculty members of universities and colleges abroad.

“It is important that we show our students that we are not
only going to help them graduate, but we are also going to
help them find a job. The Career Counseling Center, the first
of its kind in Israel, has served as a model for career centers
at other institutions of higher education across Israel.”

A diverse student body can give rise to tensions, especially in times of conflict. During
your term, there were quite a few difficult periods, for example, the 2014 Gaza War,
Operation Guardian of the Walls in 2021, and now the events of October 7th and the
Swords of Iron War. How do you deal with these tensions?

This is not an easy task. In my view, social media is a dreadful thing, because you can’t
control what happens when you write something online. During the 2014 War in Gaza,
we decided that if we saw posts that should be addressed, we wouldn’t respond to them
in writing; rather, we called the students in to talk together. This has been our policy
throughout. The main tensions until now have been between Jewish and Arab students - in
which cases we brought the students battling online into a room to talk in person. And,
we have organized activities such as workshops and other programs to bring different
groups of students together. Since October 7th, we have kept tensions down through
constant dialogue and workshops. These programs are also intended for our faculty and
administrative staff who oftentimes experience difficult feelings. Our Arab-Israeli staff and
faculty members have been extremely helpful in this process.

A word of advice to your successor, Prof. Ariela Gordon-Shaag?

First of all, as I know her well, I am sure she will do an excellent job. My word of advice is
to work cooperatively with everyone, bring everyone on board.

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