Prof. Mona Maron Appointed First Arab Rector of an Israeli University

Jerusalem, 11 April, 2024 (TPS) -- Haifa University appointed Professor Mona Maron as rector on Thursday, making her the first Israeli Arab to be appointed to the position in an Israeli university.

A world-renowned researcher in the field of neuroscience and post-trauma, Maron will replace Prof. Gur Alroey, who in October will become the university president.

“I am grateful for the trust I received from the members of the university senate and look forward to taking up the position. First and foremost, the University of Haifa is a home for me. A home that welcomed me into its ranks more than 30 years ago, as an undergraduate student, then as a faculty member in the neurobiology department and now with the rector’s role,” Maron said.

“I pledge to continue to invest my all in my academic home, to continue to promote first and foremost outstanding research and to continue to be a beacon of science and excellence in the heart of the north, promoting a common, genuine and daily existence between members of all religions and denominations in Israel.”

A Maronite Christian from the village of Isfiya, near Haifa, Maron has been a trailblazer for the integration and advancement of women in the sciences, particularly within the Arab community. She was the first Arab woman from her village to earn a doctoral degree and Israel’s first Arab professor of neuroscience.

She researches the neural and molecular basis of anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder, and is examining, among other things, the possibility of “erasing” memories of fear, through the silencing of the neural mechanisms responsible for forming fear memories in the brain. Maron completed her three degrees at the University of Haifa and did her post-doctorate in France at the University of Paris.

Maron has been currently serving as the university’s Vice President for Research.

“Mona was chosen because she is an outstanding researcher, because she is an excellent vice president for research who promoted academic excellence and that the members of the faculty believed that she was the right person to continue advancing the university towards our goals and objectives,” said Alroey. “And at our university, the right person can be a man or a woman, a Jew or an Arab — it really does not matter and is not important. This is the meaning of our shared existence.”

Around 18,000 students are enrolled in the public research institution.