Haifa University
Haifa UniversityFlash 90

The University of Haifa on Monday announced that it has secured the first two buildings within the Lorry I. Lokey Downtown Campus, which will consist of at least four buildings located throughout the Port of Haifa and the city’s downtown area.

The University’s newly acquired building at Hanamal 16 Street will be known as The Dylan Tauber Educational complex. The downtown campus will also be home to the Tauber Bioinformations Research Center. Funded by a donation by the Laszlo N. Tauber Family Foundation, the center develops scalable high-performance computing hardware and software solutions for existing and future challenges of “big data” in biomedicine and agrobiology. The building’s facade is comprised of digitally printed glass depicting Israeli cultural heroes, underscoring the facility’s role as an educational hub.

Additionally, the Haifa City Council has allocated the use of the Palmer Street (#4) building to the University, designating it as part of the new University of Haifa School for Data Science, which will begin operating on Oct. 1, 2019. Once the renovation of the building is completed, it will feature classrooms and state-of-the-art research labs that will be part of downtown Haifa’s budding innovation community.

Funded by a $10 million gift from well-known American philanthropist and Business Wire founder Lorry I. Lokey, the new downtown campus, is a key manifestation of University of Haifa’s unique “multiversity" model: a multi-campus institution with locations around Haifa and throughout northern Israel, easing access for students and adding vitality to its city and region, while allowing a wide range of ideas and activities to flourish in a diverse community.

While the Haifa municipality is generously assisting the University with the acquisition of some of the new campus’s buildings, Lokey’s philanthropy will significantly offset the project’s renovation costs.

“University of Haifa is pioneering an important new paradigm for institutions of higher learning through its multiversity, and is infusing new energy into the city, region and entire country,” Lokey said in May, when his donation was announced.

“While my relationship to the University is relatively new, this gift is an affirmation of its mission to improve access to education and bring more jobs, stability and security to northern Israel by establishing a downtown campus. I invite others to join me in transforming what is becoming one of Israel’s most important universities.”

“We are thrilled by the acquisition of The Dylan Tauber Building and the allocation of the Palmer Street building, which are crucial first steps towards implementing the vision of a new downtown campus that will serve as a flourishing home base for the University's unique educational model and will cement the institution's status as a central force in the prosperity of Haifa and northern Israel,” said Karen Berman, CEO of the University of Haifa's American Society. “We are grateful for all those who have taken part in making this dream into a reality, including Mr. Lorry I. Lokey, Prof. Alfred Tauber, and the Haifa Municipality.”

“The creation of the University of Haifa School for Data Science and the establishment of a new home for the Tauber Bioinformatics Research Center will further promote the University as a leading research and educational institution of higher learning,” said University of Haifa President Prof. Ron Robin. “These are major components of our trailblazing multiversity vision, which is training people for jobs that don’t exist yet and preparing them to solve problems using technologies that don’t exist yet.”

“We are enabling our graduates to cope with today’s rapidly-changing world, while simultaneously enriching the society, economy, and lifestyle throughout the city of Haifa and northern Israel.”