Tel Aviv Univ. Taps Galil for Presidency

Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science Zvi Galil has been unanimously selected as the new president of Tel Aviv University in Israel, officials from the school confirmed to the Jerusalem Post Saturday.

Though the presidential search committee announced its nomination Saturday night, Galil must be approved by the university's senate on Wednesday and by its board of directors before he is formally offered the post.

"The bottom line is that the fat lady has not sung," Galil wrote in an e-mail.

If approved, he will replace former Israeli ambassador to the United States and Tel Aviv University professor Itamar Rabinovich in June.

Though Columbia University has not commented on Galil's potential departure since Saturday, University President Lee Bollinger said at last week's Fireside Chat that he would wish Galil the best if he accepted the position.

"I would work with him as the president of an institution. I think it would be good for the world," Bollinger said.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the Tel Aviv University search committee chose Galil because of his "proven record of years of academic leadership and administrative abilities."

Galil was one of seven candidates considered for the position, the Post reported. He earned his undergraduate degree at Tel Aviv University and began his teaching career there in 1976. Even after accepting a teaching position at Columbia, he continued to commute between Israel and the United States, teaching computer science both at Columbia and at Tel Aviv University.