US ambassador to host Alumni Club of Israel

Prominent alums Forsan Hussein '00 and Galia Golan-Gild '60 also will speak

U.S. Amb. Daniel Shapiro '91 will host President Fred Lawrence and the Alumni Club of Israel.

More than 200 Brandeis alumni, parents and friends will gather this week to celebrate a unique connection between Israel and Brandeis when U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro ’91 and his wife, Julie Fisher ’90, host a reception on Wednesday, Nov. 21.

Due to overwhelming interest from the Brandeis community in Israel, organizers moved the Alumni Club of Israel’s event to a large tent outside the ambassador’s residence in Herzliya. Original plans called for it to be held inside. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. with a formal receiving line featuring Brandeis President Fred Lawrence; his wife, Kathy; Shapiro and Fisher.

“We are looking forward to welcoming President Lawrence back to Israel, and honored that Ambassador Shapiro and his wife are serving as our hosts for the evening,” says Glen Shear ’81, president of the Alumni Club of Israel. “We expect this event will serve as a kickoff for a series of exciting club programs for our more than 400 Brandeis alumni in Israel.”

Shapiro will welcome attendees and reflect on the professional journey that brought him from Brandeis student to one of the world’s key diplomatic posts. Lawrence will share news from campus and provide details about growing connections between Brandeis and Israel.

Other speakers include Forsan Hussein ’00, CEO of the Jerusalem YMCA, and Galia Golan-Gild ’60, a professor at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and academic director of the government program at the institution’s Raphael Recanati International School.

Shapiro moved to Israel as U.S. ambassador in July 2011 after serving as senior director for the Middle East and North Africa at the National Security Council in Washington. He previously was a senior adviser to President Barack Obama on Middle East policy.

Lawrence has visited Israel twice since becoming Brandeis president in January 2011. During those visits, he has participated in meetings with leaders of the country’s major research universities, spoken at conferences, spent time at Israeli high schools, and met with alumni at events in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Before the Lawrences traveled to Israel for this event, they stopped in London to help the Alumni Club of Great Britain celebrate the Nov. 18 25th anniversary of its signature event, the Alumni-Student Thanksgiving Day Tea.

Coordinated by club president Joan Givner Bovarnick, Ph.D. ’69, and hosted by Alberta Gotthardt Strage ’56 and her husband, Henry, the Thanksgiving Day Tea drew a big crowd of Brandeis alumni, students and friends who live in the London area.