News Article

Haifa, Israel, Mar 20, 2011—In a nod to ever-warming relations between the State of Massachusetts and the University of Haifa, Governor Deval Patrick led a delegation of business executives to campus last week to explore possible trade agreements and partnerships.

The primary goal of the visit was to foster business enterprise partnerships with some of the University’s leading areas of research, especially in national security, technology and information, alternative energy, marine sciences, and education. Governor Patrick (pictured with University President Aaron Ben-Ze'ev at left and Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development Amos Gaver at right) expressed particular interest in the University’s study and research programs in learning disabilities and marine sciences.

“The University of Haifa and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have a long history of collaboration in many areas, and I am glad that business executives have come here along with the governor, recognizing the University of Haifa’s prominence in the research areas that interest them,” said University of Haifa’s Vice President for External Relations and Resource Development Amos Gaver, who was responsible for the visit.

Partnerships between the University of Haifa and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts have been growing over many years, as seen in the numbers of faculty and student exchanges, as well as joint business enterprises where executives and philanthropists from Massachusetts sponsor research projects carried out at the University of Haifa, specifically in the social sciences. The visit at the University with Governor Patrick and his entourage was set to expand these collaborations into other areas, and the guests were very impressed by the presentations given by University of Haifa researchers on their outstanding achievements in the research of national security, alternative energy, information technology, and marine sciences.

Besides the 30 business executives, the group included Housing and Economic Development Secretary Greg Bialecki, Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Richard K. Sullivan Jr., Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Joanne F. Goldstein, the new president of the University of Massachusetts Prof. Robert Caret, and Massachusetts Life Sciences Center President & CEO Dr. Susan Windham-Bannister.

Governor Patrick, who has a Doctor of Philosophy, Honoris Causa from the University of Haifa, also met with students from Massachusetts who are studying in international programs at the University of Haifa, hearing from them about their time and experiences in Israel and in Haifa.