Murray Galinson Initiative Places 8 Israeli Professors at San Diego Universities

The Murray Galinson San Diego-Israel Initiative announced the eight Israeli professors who will participate in one-year teaching appointments at San Diego universities during the 2024-25 school year.

The eight professors will teach a variety of subjects, including: foreign policy, law, history, communications, economics, environmental health, and film.

Below is more information and background on the professors:

Ambassador Ido Aharoni will teach at the San Diego State University School of Business and the UCSD School of Global Policy. Aharoni is Senior Faculty at the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University, member of the university’s Board of Governors as well as a Global Distinguished Professor of Business at Touro University.

Judge Rachel Barkai will teach at Cal Western School of Law as well as the School of Law – University of San Diego. Barkai is the vice president of the Tel Aviv District Court of Appeal.

Giora Goodman will teach in the SDSU Department of History from Kinneret College. Goodman focuses on government-media relations in British-ruled Palestine as well as the state of Israel.

Nehama Lewis, from the University of Haifa, will teach in the Department of Communication at SDSU. She focuses on health-enhancing behaviors as well as reducing the prevalence of risky behaviors.

Asa Maron, also from the University of Haifa, will teach in the UC San Diego Departments of Sociology and Economics. Maron, a political and economic sociologist, is interested in the transformation of the state in the context of neoliberal capitalism.

Maya Negev will teach in the SDSU School of Public Health and Department of Geography from the School of Public Health, University of Haifa, Israel. Her research focuses on the science-policy interface of environmental health.

Dan Rabinowitz will make his return to teach in the UC San Diego Department of Anthropology from Tel Aviv University’s Department of Anthropology and Sociology. Rabinowitz’s fields of interest include the Israel-Palestinian conflict as well as the environment.

Tom Shoval will teach in the SDSU Department of English and Comparative Literature. Shoval teaches cinema at Sam Spiegel, Minshar, Open University, and Sapir College among others.

All visiting faculty will host lectures and film screenings for community members throughout the school year.

The MGSDII, an initiative of Impact Cubed, has partnered with San Diego campuses to bring 48 visiting professors from Israel to teach 150 classes, reaching over 4,000 students over the last eight years.