2016 Honorary Doctorate Recipients
Boaz Dotan
Born and raised in Israel, Boaz Dotan was among Israel’s first software pioneers. In the 1980s he co-founded Amdocs, the first Israeli software company to branch out into international markets on a large scale, and successfully headed it for over ten years. Today, Amdocs has 25,000 employees around the world. When his son was diagnosed with leukemia 25 years ago, Dotan initiated and funded a research that validated a new therapy, which later became the standard treatment for similar situations. Thanks to the treatment, Dotan’s son made a full recovery and is today the father of three. Ever since, the Dotan family has donated substantial sums to the Israeli medical system, most recently establishing the Varda and Boaz Dotan Research Center in Hemato-Oncology at Tel Aviv University. Today, the Dotan family are devoted philanthropists and active participants in several NGOs. Mr. Dotan is a Tel Aviv University alumnus of Mathematics and Statistics, and has three children and 10 grandchildren.
Dr. Segenet Kelemu
Dr. Segenet Kelemu is a molecular plant pathologist who currently serves as Director General of the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya. A native of Ethiopia, she has experienced the challenges and successes of African agriculture first-hand, from tending the field to directing world-class laboratories. Among her many honors are the 2014 L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award and the prestigious Friendship Award bestowed by the People’s Republic of China. An elected Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, Dr. Kelemu featured among the Forbes Africa top 100 most influential African women. She completed her post-doctoral research at Cornell University in 1992, and filled a range of scientific leadership positions before her return to Africa in 2007. Dr. Kelemu is a member of the International Scientific Committee of TAU’s Manna Center Program for Food Safety & Security.
Michal Rovner
Michal Rovner is an internationally acclaimed Israeli multimedia artist working in video, digital media, sculpture, drawing, photography, sound and architectural installations. Her works have been exhibited at the Louvre, Jeu de Paume, Tate Britain, Whitney Museum of Art and the Israeli Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, among other venues. Rovner holds a BFA from the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem and degrees in both philosophy and film studies from Tel Aviv University. In 1978 she co-founded the Camera Obscura School of Art as an educational center for photography, cinema and television. In 2006, Rovner began a series of monumental structures entitled Makom (“Place”) re-using stones from destroyed Israeli and Palestinian houses. In 2013, she created the installation Traces of Life at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, commemorating the 1.5 million Jewish children murdered in the Holocaust. She divides her time between New York and Israel.
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991-2013. Recognized as an influential moral thinker and a proponent of interfait dialogue, he was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen in 2005 and made a Life Peer in 2009. He has been influential in raising the profile not only of the Anglo Jewish community, but also of Judaism throughout the world. Rabbi Lord Sacks has authored 25 books, and holds academic positions including the Ingeborg and Ira Rennert Global Distinguished Professor of Judaic Thought at New York University, and Professor of Law, Ethics and the Bible at King’s College London. He holds 16 honorary degrees and a plethora of international awards, among them the Jerusalem Prize in 1995 for his contribution to Diaspora Jewish Life and, most recently, the Templeton Prize in 2016.
Steve Tisch
Steve Tisch is an American businessman and Oscar-winning producer of films including Forrest Gump, Risky Business and American History X. He is co-owner, Chairman and Executive Vice President of the New York Giants and is the only person in the world to have won both an Academy Award and a Super Bowl ring. Mr. Tisch is a committed philanthropist who contributes his time and resources to diverse organizations, serving on the boards of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Cancer Center at Duke University, among others. He is the naming benefactor of the sports and fitness center at his alma mater, Tufts University, as well as of the transformative UCLA Steve Tisch BrainSPORT Program, the world’s most advanced diagnostic and treatment program for athletes and young people who have suffered brain injuries.
