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PAGE 10<br />
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY<br />
<strong>AFHU</strong> NEWS VOL. 30 PAGE 11<br />
Susan Lawi: A Family History of<br />
Supporting Disadvantaged Students<br />
wanted to find the best university to support,<br />
and he was told that HU was the best university<br />
in Israel.”<br />
Susan is deeply satisfied with the good things<br />
that her family’s tradition of generous support<br />
has brought forth. She said: “I am delighted to<br />
meet the scholarship recipients and I am always<br />
touched by the graduation ceremony for the<br />
Ph.D. candidates, held during the annual Board<br />
of Governors meeting in Jerusalem. The young<br />
people are inspiring—especially the many young<br />
women who are graduating with doctorates. It is<br />
very gratifying.”<br />
Region Board of Directors. On her board<br />
experience, Susan said, “You get to meet other<br />
board members, plan events, suggest worthy<br />
honorees, review HU progress and <strong>AFHU</strong> financial<br />
reports. It’s interesting and rewarding—a great<br />
way to meet interesting, important people and a<br />
great way to help HU and Israel.”<br />
For her service to the university and to Israeli<br />
higher education, HU awarded Susan with an<br />
Honorary Fellowship. Unfortunately, she was<br />
unable to visit Jerusalem to receive the honor<br />
at the Mount Scopus campus. Undaunted<br />
by the challenge, Hebrew University and the<br />
American Friends of the Hebrew University<br />
held a presentation event in September 2022 at<br />
Susan’s home. “(Hebrew University of Jerusalem<br />
Vice President for University Advancement and<br />
External Relations) Amb. Yossi Gal came. My<br />
children were there, and Prof. Magdassi attended<br />
via Zoom, as did a student I help support. It was a<br />
special moment. I felt I shared the award with my<br />
father, and I hope to pass the torch of generosity<br />
to my children.”<br />
Susan is not planning to rest on her laurels,<br />
however. She said, “You see, my father really<br />
believed in the power of education to improve<br />
people’s lives. In the future, I’d like to support<br />
students from Ethiopia—there’s a real need<br />
there. Supporting education for disadvantaged<br />
people is just the way I was raised.”<br />
Susan Lawi’s father left her with an important<br />
legacy, one she hopes to pass down to her<br />
children: support for those who are struggling<br />
to better themselves through education. Susan<br />
shared: “My father, Saleh Masri (z”l), was born<br />
in Iraq, and he knew that many of his Jewish<br />
contemporaries had been uprooted from their<br />
homes in Arab countries. He also knew that<br />
those who sought to build new lives in Israel often<br />
faced discrimination. To fight this discrimination<br />
and help them build better futures, my father<br />
started a Hebrew University scholarship fund for<br />
disadvantaged students of Iraqi descent in 1970.<br />
I was proud of my father’s contribution to Israeli<br />
education and, in 2005, decided to continue<br />
his legacy of providing support to students of<br />
Iraqi descent.” As for why Saleh Masri chose<br />
to support HU, Susan commented, “My father<br />
One particularly significant event occurred at a<br />
Board of Governors meeting when Susan asked<br />
to meet a professor of Iraqi descent. She was<br />
introduced to Prof. Shlomo Magdassi. Prof.<br />
Magdassi’s research group focuses on applied<br />
research, with a focus on nanotechnology.<br />
The group formulates inorganic and organic<br />
nanomaterials for application in a variety of<br />
fields including 3D printing, solar energy, and<br />
bio-medical systems, with current projects<br />
including transparent conductive electrodes,<br />
coatings and inks for solar energy applications,<br />
and nanoparticles for bio-imaging and drug<br />
delivery. Speaking of Prof. Magdassi, Susan<br />
added, “I was very impressed and began<br />
supporting his lab—and was delighted to discover<br />
that support from my father had helped Prof.<br />
Magdassi to pursue his studies when he was a<br />
student at HU!”<br />
In addition to her generosity, Susan has served<br />
the university through her membership on the<br />
<strong>AFHU</strong> Board of Regents and the <strong>AFHU</strong> Northeast<br />
Amb. Yossi Gal, Vice President for University Advancement<br />
and External Relations together with Susan Lawi during<br />
the presentation of her Honorary Fellowship.