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Institute alumni

The Institute was created in June 2011 thanks to a donation from the Azrieli Foundation.  From the beginning, we have had hundreds of students take courses in our Minor in Israel Studies and/or graduate with a completed Minor, give lectures, join us in Israel for our summer program, and/or worked in an internship with or thanks to the Institute.

Here is a highlight of some of our Alumni

Noa Ogilvy graduated with Bachelor in Fine Arts and a Minor in Israel Studies in 2018.  She participated in our Summer School program in Jerusalem, Israel in the Summers of 2017 and 2018.  She began to volunteer in the Institute office in 2017 and created a massive mosaic that is seen on our website and is still available to see in person at the Institute on Israel at 70 for the Institute's conference. 

"I am currently in my second year of my MA in International Affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA) at Carleton University. This year, I am focusing on completing my Masters’ Research Paper where I ask the question: Why is the Holocaust excluded from chemical weapons history and what are the implications of this exclusion on the chemical weapons taboo?

I am hoping to continue my education after my MA either in the form of another MA or a PhD. My research interests include the history and politics of Israel and the Middle East, Jewish history, the relationship between feminism and the military, and the historical and contemporary issues surrounding chemical weapons."

Gamal Mansour graduated with Bachelor degree in Political Science and a Minor in Israel Studies (2017).  He was an integral part of the Institute by doing an internship with one of our academic affiliated scholars.  He worked on translation from Arabic to English.  He also helped the Institute with various events and conferences.  He is currently in his third year at the University of Toronto working on his Master degree in Political Science and is planning to keep on going until he completes his PhD.  He credits the Institute for his pursued interest in travelling to Israel in 2019 to participate in seminar at the Hebrew University.

Isabelle Wilms was a participant of our 2018 Summer School program in Jerusalem.  She completed her BA with a Major in Political Science and a Minor in Modern Arabic Culture and Language.  She attributes her path to the Institute for her experience in Israel.

"I will be attending American University in Washington D.C. in the fall to complete a Masters in United States Foreign Policy and National Security. My main academic interests are Middle Eastern affairs as well as intelligence gathering and analyzing. My goal is to work for the U.S. government in either the Department of State in an overseas embassy or the Department of Defense." 

"I am presently enrolled at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where I am taking an MA in International Relations with a specialization in Diplomacy and Security Studies. My current research falls in the realm of diplomatic history, where I am researching the relationship between Italy and Israel following the Six Day War. As a graduate student, I divide my time between the Mount Scopus Library and the Israel National Archives, where I am compiling material for my upcoming work that will focus on Israeli economic relations within the Mediterranean community. While I was first exposed to Israeli political history during an exchange program at Ben Gurion university of the Negev, it was Dr. Nikolenyi of the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies that first introduced me to the world of academic research. During the summer of 2018 I took an advanced reading course instructed by Dr. Nikolenyi titled: Israel’s Wartime Foreign Policy, where I wrote three research papers on three separate events of Israeli foreign policy history. The most enduring aspect of this course was the detailed (and occasionally strenuous) guidance and feedback offered by Dr. Nikolenyi, which I have applied to all my academic pursuits ever since, including to my current research!" -  Davide Cymbalist 

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