Technion president Peretz Lavie shaped the university for a decade using his signature wisdom, grace, and humor to accomplish big goals. With his tenure coming to an end, American Technion Society’s CEO, Michael Waxman-Lenz, sat down with him to reflect on the past and look forward to the future.
Michael Waxman-Lenz (MWL): What was your top priority when you started as president? And how did priorities change?
Professor Peretz Lavie (PL): The number-one priority when I started was recruitment of faculty members. Baby boomers were retiring — in Israel, there’s a retirement age of 68. I knew that in order to keep the Technion an excellent institution, we should put all our resources into attracting the best faculty. Over the last 10 years, about 275 faculty members were recruited. The quality is mind-boggling. We recruited assistant professors at the entry level but also full professors at the senior level.
Another priority of utmost importance was to place the Technion on a global scale. Part of that was taking advantage of the unique opportunities, which occurred during that period, like opening branches in New York and China — with both opportunities financed by other sources than the Technion. This put the Technion on a global scale in a way that’s never been done before.
We’ve also sought to improve the quality of student life on campus. Israel’s national student union conducts a student satisfaction survey each year. When I started my presidency, we were ranked last or near the bottom. For the past three years, we’ve been number one. This is a dramatic change in the way students perceive the Technion.
Finally, a major priority has been our emphasis on interdisciplinary research. Science moves at a very fast pace. To stay ahead of the pack, you must combine knowledge and expertise from different fields in order to reach the next breakthrough. During my presidency, we opened interdisciplinary research centers in energy, autonomous systems, life sciences and engineering, integrated cancer research, quantum science, and quantum engineering. Now we’re in the planning stage of a center in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
MWL: What has surprised you most during your tenure?
PL: I was surprised how much the Technion is appreciated worldwide and is looked on as a model university — how I was invited by so many countries to speak about the secret of our success.
The second surprise is that a sense of mission — of serving society and mankind — is not shared by many universities. It took me a while to realize that indeed, this is something very unique to the Technion. It’s been part of the DNA of the Technion since its first class started in 1924.
The third surprise was the dedication, admiration, and love of our friends around the world, particularly in the U.S. This is quite amazing, to see a university 5,000 miles away from its base of supporters that enjoys such dedication.
PL: The Technion has changed the Israeli economy. When you look at our influence on so many of the startups and R&D centers in Israel, or the fact that 90% of the Iron Dome engineers came from the Technion, it’s a source of tremendous pride. I don’t think there’s a single university in the world that has had an impact on its country or environment like the Technion.”