2018 Honorary Doctorate Recipients
Dr. Karnit Flug, Israel
Dr. Karnit Flug has been Governor of the Bank of Israel since October 2013, after previously serving as Deputy Governor and Director of the Bank of Israel’s Research Department. She was born in Poland and made Aliyah with her parents at age three. Dr. Flug earned an MA in Economics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a PhD in Economics from Columbia University in the US. She joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1984 and the Research Department of the Bank of Israel in 1988. From 1994 to 1996, Dr. Flug was a Senior Economist at the Inter-American Development Bank before returning to Israel in 1997. She has been ranked among the top 10 central bankers in the world by Global Finance magazine.
Ma Yun (Jack Ma), China
Jack Ma is lead founder and executive chairman of Alibaba Group. He is a member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum, an advocate of UN Sustainable Development Goals and special adviser to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development for Youth Entrepreneurship and Small Business. Ma graduated from Hangzhou Teacher's Institute with a major in English language education. Having spent six years as a teacher, he is strongly influenced by his past career. In his view, CEO means “Chief Education Officer.” In 1995, Ma founded China’s first online business directory, China Pages, and in 1999, he led a team to establish Alibaba.com with the goal of helping small businesses. Alibaba Group now serves tens of millions of small businesses and entrepreneurs around the globe through e-commerce, online financial services, cloud computing and smart logistics. Ma set up the Jack Ma Foundation, which focuses on philanthropic initiatives in the areas of education, environmental protection, poverty alleviation and entrepreneurship.
Dr. Ilana Dayan-Orbach, Israel
Ilana Dayan-Orbach is an Israeli TV journalist who has, since 1993, anchored the award-winning, weekly investigative-news program Uvda (“Fact”). A TAU law alumna and member of the Israeli Bar Association, Dayan-Orbach holds an LLM and JSD from Yale Law School and is a former Fulbright Fellow. She began her journalistic career as a radio correspondent for IDF Radio in 1982, and has hosted a weekly current affairs program there since 1997. Her TV career began as the first-ever female news anchor for the daily TV interview program, “New Evening,” in 1987. Dayan-Orbach has lectured at TAU’s Buchmann Faculty of Law since 1993, where she teaches a course on freedom of speech. She was born in Argentina and moved to Israel with her family at age six.
Dr. Dmitry B. Zimin, Russia
Dmitry Zimin is a professor of engineering at the State University – Higher School of Economics in Moscow. He holds a PhD in technical sciences from the Moscow Aviation Institute and, for over 35 years, held various leadership roles at the military-industrial Mintz Radio Technical Institute. Zimin is the former CEO and current Honorary President of mobile telecommunications company VimpelCom. For his extensive charitable endeavors, Zimin became the first Russian philanthropist to be awarded the Andrew Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2013. At Tel Aviv University, he recently established the Zimin Institute for Engineering Solutions Advancing Better Lives and previously launched a project at the Buchmann Faculty of Law in support of Israeli-Russian student exchange and the study of Russian law.
Luis Alberto Lacalle de Herrera, Uruguay
Dr. Luis Alberto Lacalle de Herrera was President of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay between 1990 and 1995. A former journalist and a graduate of the Law School of the University of the Republic, he served as member of parliament from 1971 until the 1973 military coup when
parliament was dissolved. After democracy was restored in 1984, Lacalle was elected Senator and later Vice President of the Senate. Over the years, he has actively spoken out and published in defense of the State of Israel. He is a founder and member of the Friends of Israel Initiative – a group of high-level individuals who promote Israel’s right to exist within secure borders and counteract the growing efforts to delegitimize it. He has received a string of prestigious accolades, among them a knighthood from the Queen of England, the Jerusalem Prize and national medals from Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Spain.
Professor László Lovász, Hungary
Born in Budapest in 1948, László Lovász is a mathematician best known for his work in combinatorics, graph theory and theoretical computer science. A math prodigy already in high school, he won gold medals in the International Mathematical Olympiad for three years running (1964-1966) and published his first scientific paper when he was just 17. Lovász is a member of the Department of Computer Science at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, and former director of its Mathematical Institute. He has been a visiting professor at leading institutions
including Yale, Princeton, Cornell and Berkeley, and a senior researcher at the Microsoft Research Center, Redmond. Among numerous awards and high honors, Lovász holds the Wolf Prize and the Kyoto Prize, and served as President of the International Mathematical Union between 2007-2010. He has published 4 textbooks and over 300 scientific papers.
Professor Knut W. Urban, Germany
Physicist Prof. Knut Urban gained his PhD from the University of Stuttgart in 1972 and subsequently joined the Max Planck Institute of Metals Research. He served as Director of the Institute of Microstructure Research at Jülich Research Center, one of the largest interdisciplinary research centers in Europe, from 1987 to 2010. He was also one of two founding directors of the Ernst Ruska Center for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons in 2004. Prof. Urban is former president of the German Physical Society and a current member of several advisory bodies, boards of trustees and scientific committees. His prestigious research awards include the MRS von Hippel Award, the HONDA Prize for Ecotechnology, and the Wolf Prize in Physics. He is the Yuval Neeman Distinguished Lecturer at Tel Aviv University.
His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco
H.S.H. Prince Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre, Sovereign Prince of Monaco, was born in 1958. He is the son of Prince Rainier III (1923–2005) and Princess Grace, formerly American actress Grace Kelly (1929–1982). He acceded to the throne on July 12, 2005. In 1981, the Prince graduated from Amherst College MA and, in the following year, completed a military training period with the French Navy on board the helicopter carrier “Jeanne d’Arc.” The Prince is highly active as an international statesman; as of today, close to 140 countries maintain diplomatic relations with the Principality of Monaco. Since 2001, he has chaired the Mediterranean Science Commission (CIESM) which was created at the beginning of the century at the initiative of his great-great grandfather and pioneer of modern oceanography, Prince Albert I. CIESM is an intergovernmental body with 23 member states, 20 of which are located along the Mediterranean coast. Cooperating with 500 specialized institutes, its goals are to promote multilateral international research and facilitate the exchange of information. In 2006, the Prince launched the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, which is dedicated to combating climate change, preserving water and safeguarding biodiversity. Within Monaco, and under his leadership, the government has promoted the development of public transport, ecological vehicles and renewable energies. The Principality aims to be carbon neutral by 2050. The Prince is committed to the ethical and transparent economic development of the Principality, and Monaco complies with all recognized international standards in these areas. A sports advocate, the Prince is a former Olympian, having participated in five Winter Games in the bobsleigh competition, and serves as President of the Monaco Olympic Committee, member of the International Olympic Committee and Chairman of the IOC Sustainability and Legacy Commission. For his accomplishments and engagement in the protection of our planet, Prince Albert II has received numerous distinctions from universities and international organizations around the world. In 2011, Prince Albert II married Ms. Charlene Wittstock, a South African national. In December 2014, H.S.H. Princess Charlene gave birth to twins, Crown Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella.
The Hon. Irwin Cotler
Professor Irwin Cotler is the Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, an Emeritus Professor of Law at McGill University, a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, longstanding Member of Canada’s Parliament, and an international human rights lawyer. A constitutional and comparative law scholar, Professor Cotler is the author of numerous publications and seminal legal articles. He has also written about and intervened in the landmark Charter of Rights cases in the areas of free speech, freedom of religion, minority rights, peace law and war crimes justice. As Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Irwin Cotler initiated the first-ever comprehensive reform of the Supreme Court appointment process, and helped make Canada’s the most gender-representative Supreme Court in the world. Professor Cotler appointed the first-ever aboriginal and visible minority justice on the Ontario Court of Appeal; he also initiated the first-ever law on human trafficking; crafted the Civil Marriage Act, the first-ever legislation to grant marriage equality to gays and lesbians; issued Canada’s first National Justice Initiative Against Racism and Hate; quashed more wrongful convictions in a single year than any prior Minister; and, most importantly, made the pursuit of international justice a government priority. A leading Parliamentarian on the global stage, Professor Cotler has been Chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Group for Human Rights in Iran; Chair of the Inter-Parliamentary Group of Justice for Sergei Magnitsky; Chair of the All-Party Save Darfur Parliamentary Coalition; Chair, Canadian section, of the Parliamentarians for Global Action; and Member of its International Council. As an international human rights lawyer, Professor Cotler has served as counsel to prisoners of conscience including Andrei Sakharov and Nathan Sharansky (former Soviet Union), Nelson Mandela (South Africa), Jacobo Timmerman (Latin America), and Professor Saad Eddin Ibrahim (Egypt). He was Chair of the International Commission of Inquiry into the Fate and Whereabouts of Raoul Wallenberg. He served on the International Legal Team of Chinese Nobel Peace Laureate, Liu Xiaobo, and, more recently, became international legal counsel to imprisoned Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi; Venezuelan political prisoner, Leopoldo López, and Shi’ite Cleric, Ayatollah Boroujerdi, in Iran. A feature article in Canada’s national magazine – Maclean’s – referred to Professor Cotler as “Counsel for the Oppressed,” while the Oslo Freedom Forum characterized him as “Freedom’s Counsel.” Professor Cotler’s 13 honourary doctorates recognized him as “a scholar and advocate of international stature.” He has been named an Officer of the Order of Canada, an Officer of the National Order of Quebec, and is the recipient, as well, of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. He was awarded the Canadian Bar Association’s President’s Award; was the first Canadian recipient of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation’s Centennial Medal; and the first to be granted the Romeo Dallaire Award for Human Rights Leadership. He has also received the Sir Zafrullah Khan Award for Distinguished Public Service; Dalhousie University’s 2015 Ethical Leadership Award; and the 2015 Sergei Magnitsky Human Rights Award. In 2014, he was elected Canadian Parliamentarian of the Year. In 2015, Professor Cotler received the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Inaugural Human Rights Award. In its citation, the Law Society recognized “The Honourable Irwin Cotler’s tireless efforts to ensure peace and justice for all. In his varied roles as law professor, constitutional and comparative law scholar, international human rights lawyer, counsel to prisoners of conscience, public intellectual, peace activist, Member of Parliament, and Minster of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Mr. Cotler has been a leader and role model. Through his advocacy work both in Canada and internationally, he has transformed the lives of many.”
