MEETING OF ACADEMIC ASSOCIATES May 18. 1989 PRESENT: Prof. John Bahcall. Prof. Marver Bernstein, Prof. Joshua Lederberg, Prof. Theodore Rabb, Prof. David Sidorsky. Dr. William Silen;: for the Office of Academic Affairs - Dr. Lawrence Besserman, Ms. Anne Tobias. Prof. Rabb opened the meeting by stating that the Academic Associates should not have to meet more than once a year. It should serve as a channel for conveying information. A discussion took place on establishing a visiting committee which the Hebrew University has not had until now. Since thev do not have experience with this type of a committee they would need advice on the number of people, from where. and the questions that would be dealt with. Members of the Associates may or may not wish toe participate in "permanent visiting committees. Prof. Marver Rernstein offered to put together a few documents about how some visiting committees have overated Dr. Silen, who served on the medical advsiory board of Hadassah Medical Organization, spoke about his experiences. In the course of his activiti the medical school of Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School was mainly responsible for the clinical side of the medical school and Hebrew university played a major role in the pre-clinical process of the medical school. There was very little dialogue between the two parties for a tong time until they tried to get them together. There is now some inter change between these two bodies. They are also setting upd an external review committee dealing with the quality of the appointments to the schoo1., john Walton of England has been asked to serve on this committee as well as Dr. Silen. The clinical people are much less hanpy about an external review committee than the pre-clinical peonle Prof. John Bahcall spoke about the work of the Academic Associates. He stated that the committee should not serve a ceremonial function but should solve specific problems if need be. He mentioned that the University has no idea as to the quality of their appointments in scienc and no method of assessing them. Prof. Baheall also stated that Rector pen Porath would like to meet with members of the committee when they visit Israel. ~ two - Mhe faculty advisory committee working with a particular faculty would be an instrument of that faculty and be designed to give advice. If the Rector of President wants to have a professional evaluation of the quality of the faculty and wants an independent inquiry made. the appropriate instrument would be the appointment of an external visiting committee. They would have a particular assignment. make a study. issue ,; report, and be available for consultation. The consensus of opinion was that it should be made of about 3 to 5 or 5 to 7 people They shouldn't all be Americans. An Israeli member of other universities should serve on the committee. One of the incentives for the faculty of the Hebrew University would be to get to know members of this committe well enough to use them as an important resource for help with placement of faculty when they go on sabbaticals. etc. Prof. Rabb spoke about selecting a date for the next meeting of the Associate well enough in advance to avoid the necessity of volling the group to select a date. The meeting was adjourned at 2:00 p.m. f on a A y ‘ é 4 hf froin tng