TAU Launches Visiting Professors Fund to Foster Academic Exchange and Excellence

19 July 2023

The new Lowy Distinguished Guest Professor framework supports Tel Aviv University (TAU) faculty in bringing world-leading scholars to the University from a variety of academic fields.

“This new source of financial support for inviting internationally renowned scholars to TAU is a significant boon to TAU’s vibrant intellectual environment and our commitment to global academic collaboration,” says Prof. Milette Shamir, TAU’s Vice President International. “Of course, it wouldn’t have been possible without the generous financial contribution of Sir Frank Lowy, who is a firm believer in the role that internationalism plays in academic excellence.”

Lowy Distinguished Guest Professors can be invited for a period of either approximately one-to-two weeks or one-to-three months. Supported by the Lowy International School, in collaboration with the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies, the framework covers travel expenses and accommodation for each professor and offers a per diem for each working day.

About the Lowy Distinguished Guest Professor Framework

Through this new fund, TAU aims to enhance academic collaboration, promote knowledge exchange, and provide an enriching educational and research environment for students and faculty at the University. As part of the framework, each guest professor is encouraged to pursue their own research at TAU, collaborate with other researchers, and actively engage with the University community. Each guest professor is additionally expected to deliver lectures during the stay.

Candidates must be put forward by a TAU host professor and are reviewed based on their prominence in their field as well as the innovation of their research; they are selected by Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) board members.

The First Lowy Distinguished Guest Professors

Through the framework, TAU has already lined up eight Lowy Distinguished Guest Professors for the 2023-24 academic year. The professors, all eminent experts in their field, come from a range of disciplines: computer science, medicine, Jewish studies, ecology and biology, film and media, and English literature.

For TAU Assistant Prof. Spencer Morrison, the fund has made it possible to bring one of the most influential figures of American literary criticism, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Prof. Gordon N. Hutner, to campus next academic year.

“Hutner has helped to shape what American literary criticism is, and his visit is going to provide students and researchers in American studies with an opportunity to really understand how the field has evolved and where it stands today,” says Morrison.