Donations, projects, and scholarships
Resource Development & External Relations Unit
Over the years, we here at RAC have been fortunate to have great collaborations and significant donations that have helped us continue to grow and develop our academic work and research. The following is a selection of projects and donations from recent times:
Malka and Amnon Lion Faculty of Marine Sciences Building
The Faculty of Marine Sciences building in Michmoret, inaugurated in 2019, was built thanks to a generous endowment by the Lion family. Malka and Amnon Lion shared our vision: “As far as we are concerned, the construction of the Marine Sciences Faculty building was the fulfillment of Ben-Gurion’s statement that all that matters is desire and vision to fulfil a dream. As someone whose career was at sea, I’m happy to have had an opportunity to invest in this most important natural resource, in the Ruppin Marine Sciences Faculty, which is a profound economic and educational resource for Israel”.
The new building was designed as a kind of reef, providing students with a unique study environment alongside a social atmosphere next to the sea, the breeze, sun and surrounding environment which fosters a true and deep understanding of the subject matter.
To the Marine Sciences Faculty page click here
Dror Aloni Center for Health Informatics
Dror (Imri) Aloni passed away at age 34 following a two-decade long struggle with an aggressive cancer. While undergoing treatment, he graduated with an engineering degree from the Technion, married Noa in an extraordinary love story, who stayed by his side for 13 years, and became a certified Qi Gong and meditation instructor. In his unique way, Dror Imri used his cancer as an opportunity for personal and spiritual growth, looking the deepest human fears in the eye. Throughout his journey, Dror Imri was blessed with a supportive family like no other, which proved to what extent the connection between body and mind is an empowering and crucial one.
The endowment will fund research at the Multidisciplinary Center for Health Informatics on topics combining technology and health, with an emphasis on mind-body connection, mindfulness and therapeutic practices, and will reflect the late Dror (Imri) Aloni's life as an engineer and intellectual
To The Dror (Imri) Aloni Center for Health Informatics Page click here
Lior Tsfaty Center for Suicide & Mental Pain Studies
The Lior Tsfaty Center for Suicide & Mental Pain Studies is the first of its kind in Israel. The center, led by Prof. Yossi Levi-Belz, serves as a research/applied knowledge powerhouse in the field of suicide prevention and provides a basis for national and international projects on suicide and mental pain. The vision of the center is to promote the understanding and awareness of suicide in Israel, in order to increase prevention, identification and treatment of suicide cases. The center works in collaboration with Bishvil Hahayim (Path to Life), a nonprofit whose objective is suicide prevention and support for families who’ve lost a loved-one to suicide.
The Tsfaty family made a very generous endowment to the center, and in addition established a scholarship fund at the center for research in the field of suicide and mental pain. The donated funds will be used for the center's activities, for the provision of research grants, scholarships for students, seminars and professional conferences and activities to promote awareness, prevent suicide and deepen scholarly knowledge in the field.
Nathan and Lily Silver Robotics Lab
Donated by the Silver family from Canada and Israel, who see making the sciences (STEM) accessible to youth at risk/from disadvantaged populations as a means of personal and social empowerment, and of providing equal opportunities. To the lab page click here
Nehemia Rubin Robotics for Youth Program
A unique program whose objective is to expose youth from diverse socio-economic backgrounds to STEM in general, and robotics, computer science and artificial intelligence in particular. The Rubin family chose to commemorate Nehemia by sponsoring and supporting activity in Robotics at the Ruppin Academic Center, to enable youth at risk to learn how to build robots, a complex and important task. Advanced technological literacy is a critical tool for successful integration into the labor market and shaping a better economic and social future for everyone, but especially for young people from challenging backgrounds.
Outdoor Sculpture of Neptune, God of The Sea
On International Earth Day, an outdoor sculpture of Neptune, God of the sea, was unveiled in the Marine Sciences Faculty - Ruppin. The sculpture was created and donated in memory of Shai Ben-Yitzhak, by his family and friends. Prof. Galia Zabar, president of RAC and Prof. Avraham Hefez, Dean of the Marine Sciences Faculty attended the unveiling ceremony, as well as members of the staff, family, friends and the sculptor David Zondelovich.
Scholarships
Scholarship for outstanding students in social work, in memory of Chen Langer OBM
Chen studied at the department of social work in 2019. Chen was an inspiring LGBTQ activist who acted relentlessly to sound the voice of those hurt in the attack on the Bar No’ar and to promote the rights of the LGBTQ community in Israel, especially as part of the LGBTQ fraternity at RAC.
His parents donated a study grant in his memory, to be granted to a social work student acting to promote the rights of the LGBTQ community.Read more about Chen Langer OBM
Excellence Scholarship in memory of Dr. Arie Sachish OBM
Ruppin Academic Center, in collaboration with the Sachish family and the Shipping Administration, will grant four scholarships to outstanding projects.
Two scholarships will be given for the Master thesis in Logistics and Global Supply Chain, and another two for final projects in Industry and Management Engineering.
These scholarships are handed out in memory of Dr. Arie Sachish OBM, who founded the Logistics and Global Supply Chain Program and headed the Industry and Management Engineering department at Ruppin. Arie passed away prematurely.
Board of Trustees Scholarship in Memory of Angwetch Malkomo OBM
RAC The Rupin Academic Center aims to promote research, social and community work on domestic violence and the ways to prevent it, and to be a center of knowledge on this important subject. The goal of this scholarship is to raise awareness for domestic violence, ways to prevent it and handle it.
The RAC board of trustees has handed out three scholarships for a thesis or final project dedicated to the topic of domestic violence prevention. The scholarship commemorates Angwetch Malkomo, a Ruppin graduate who was murdered by her husband.
