Newly Accredited Sy Syms Bestows Inaugural Humanitarian Award on Mortimer Zuckerman at Gala

Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business celebrated its 26th anniversary and the graduating class of 2013 with a Gala Awards Dinner on April 23. The evening honored students and faculty who excelled within their fields and demonstrated exceptional character and included a presentation of the inaugural Sy Syms Humanitarian Award to Mortimer B. Zuckerman.

“We come tonight with a full heart to celebrate the arrival of the Sy Syms School of Business as an institution of the first ranks, newly accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, with the establishment of a new honors program and tremendous success on the parts of the students, deans and faculty,” said YU President Richard M. Joel, listing a few of the school’s most notable recent accomplishments. Read the rest of this entry…

Maccabees Win Skyline Sportsmanship Trophy for Third Time in Five-Year History of Award

Yeshiva University has captured the Skyline Conference’s Sportsmanship Trophy for displaying outstanding team sportsmanship during the 2011-12 academic year.

Yeshiva University has won the Sportsmanship Trophy for the third time in five years.

The Skyline Conference instituted the Sportsmanship Trophy in 2007-08 to gauge team sportsmanship among its member schools. The Maccabees compiled 531 points out of a possible 710 points (9 sports), for an overall rating of .748.

“This award is so important because it shows that our student-athletes know how to represent themselves, the University and the Jewish People in a fiercely competitive yet fair, honest and respectful manner,” said Joe Bednarsh, director of athletics, physical education and recreation. “This is the most valued award for our department. We place it above all-star honors.” Read the rest of this entry…

Athletic Banquet Honors Student-Athletes Across 14 Varsity Sports

The annual Athletic Awards Banquet was held Wednesday evening, May 9, in the Max Stern Athletic Center. More than 250 athletes, administrators and guests were present to celebrate the 14 2011-2012 athletic teams that Yeshiva sponsors. Attendees were treated to a night of special awards for their teammates along with the unveiling of a championship banner for the men’s cross country team, celebrating the school’s first ever back-to-back championship in any sport. Read the rest of this entry…

Mayor Bloomberg Addresses Students and Alumni at Syms Awards Ceremony

On May 3, graduating seniors of Yeshiva University’s Syms School of Business received heartfelt congratulations and career advice from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the 2012 Annual Syms School of Business Gala Awards Dinner.

The event, held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, celebrated the 25th anniversary of the business school, which now has over 3,000 alumni, and the graduating class of 2012. It also honored students and faculty who excelled within their fields and demonstrated exceptional character. Read the rest of this entry…

Women’s Basketball Team Places in WBCA Academic Top 25, Twelve Yeshiva Student-Athletes Named to All-Academic Teams

Each year, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) puts together a list of teams with the best GPA’s amongst the three NCAA divisions. Yeshiva’s 3.457 team GPA ranked them 19th in the country among all Division 3 women’s basketball programs. The top team in the country, Case Western Reserve University, had a 3.609 team GPA. This is the sixth time since the 2000-01 season that Yeshiva has made the Top 25, and the 4th time in the past 6 seasons. The YU Lady Macs ranked as high as 2nd in 2001 and have been in the top 10 three times.

The Hudson Valley Men’s (HVMAC) and Women’s Athletic Conferences (HVWAC) have announced the All-Academic Teams for the winter and spring semesters. To make the team, a student-athlete must be a sophomore or higher with an overall GPA of at least 3.5 (cumulative for their careers). The team recognizes those student-athletes that met that criteria and were participants on the basketball, swimming and softball teams (women) or basketball, tennis and volleyball teams (men).

Four women’s basketball players made the All-Academic team: Mercedes Cohen, Ayelet Friedman, Lauren Kempin and Malka Lebovic. That is the only YU team that competes in the HVWAC during the winter/spring semester.

On the men’s side, eight volleyball players made the team: Moshe Cohen, Eitan Finkelstein, Raphael Herskovits, Kevin Katz, Elchanan Margolis, Jared Rechnitz, David Wagner and Jonah Wilkof. The volleyball team is the only team for Yeshiva that competes in the HVMAC during the winter/spring semester.

Keep up with all the latest Yeshiva Athletics news at www.yumacs.com.

Argentinian native Martin Leibovich was named Skyline Conference Player of the Week and three other awards in the same week.

Dec 12, 2008 — Yeshiva University men’s basketball junior Martin Leibovich, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, has earned four major weekly awards after an outstanding week of play during which the guard/forward led the Maccabees to a 1-1 record.

For terrific play during a competitive loss to CUNY powerhouse Baruch College and a 74-71 overtime win of Maritime College on Dec. 11, Leibovich was named the Skyline Conference Player of the Week and ECAC-Metro Co-Player of the Week, and was named to the PrestoSports/Metropolitan Basketball Writer’s Association Honor Roll and D3Hoops.com Team of the Week. The honors were the first weekly awards of Leibovich’s career.

Against Baruch College, Leibovich scored a team-high 23 points after shooting 6 for 10 from the floor, and added six rebounds and three assists as Yeshiva battled back from a 24-point deficit and gave the host Bearcats all they could handle.

Two nights later, Leibovich enjoyed perhaps his finest all-around game in the Yeshiva uniform, scoring 26 points (on 11 for 19 shooting) and added 13 rebounds and four steals as Yeshiva overcame a 16-point first-half deficit to stun Maritime College 74-71 in an overtime Skyline Conference thriller.

During the week, Leibovich averaged 24.5 points, 9.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 3.0 steals while shooting 58.6 percent from the floor (17-for-29) and 80 percent from the free throw line (12-for-15).

The Skyline Conference Player of the Week is awarded every Monday through a nomination and selection process among the 10 Skyline Conference programs. A year ago, now-junior Alex Claster earned the honor, and since the 2004-05 season, YU alums Harel Vatavu and Shuki Merlis earned Skyline Conference Player of the Week honors.

The ECAC Player of the Week honor is a regional award chosen among the dozens of Division III men’s basketball programs in the metropolitan area.

The PrestoSports/MBWA Honor Roll is a regional award chosen by members of the media covering New York City college basketball and is chosen from a group of nominees that includes Division I, II, and III Basketball players.

The D3Hoops.com Team of the Week is a weekly national award chosen from a group of nominees spanning more than 350 NCAA Division III men’s basketball programs.

For the 2008-09 season, Leibovich leads Yeshiva in scoring (16.8 points per game), rebounding (7.2 per game), blocked shots (five), and steals (12). He also has both of Yeshiva’s double-doubles this season, and has scored double digits in eight games, and scored 20 points or more five times.

Jun 26, 2008 — For recent Yeshiva University High School for Boys (YUHSB) graduate, Elie Bochner, the awards keep coming. After being designated as semi-finalists in the 2007-2008 Intel Science Talent Search, Elie and fellow classmate, Shai Chester, took first place in several categories at this year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), the world’s largest pre-college science competition. The YUHSB duo won ISEF’s grand awards for Best of Category and First Award (both for Team Projects), as well a special Sigma Xi first place award for their research centered on improving medical x-ray scans. The awards came along with cash prizes of five, three, and one thousand dollars, in addition to an Intel notebook computer.

The award-winning research, entitled “Improving the Feasibility of Avalanche Gain X-Ray Detectors,” was conducted over the summer at SUNY-Stony Brook’s Department of Material Science and Engineering as part of their Simons Summer Research Program. The program gives select academically talented and motivated high school students the chance to engage in hands-on research in science, math or engineering. Under the guidance of Dr. Miriam Rafailovich, Elie was charged with improving a new x-ray detector, developed and patented by Dr. Wei Zhao of Stony Brook.

Elie’s additional achievements include the Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award, New York City Science and Engineering Fair winner, the National Society for Professional Engineers Award, and the YUHS Award for Excellence in Physics, among others.

Bochner, a Springfield, NJ native who recently graduated from The Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy / YUHSB, singled out his AP calculus and physics teacher, Dr. Edward Berliner, for his accomplishments. “More significant than helping me prepare for the competitions, Dr. Berliner convinced me to conduct research at the Simons Summer Research Program. Without the combination of him at YUHSB and my mentors at Stony Brook I would be nowhere near where I am today in terms of scientific accomplishments.”

Dr. Berliner, who served as Elie’s faculty advisor for most of his competitions, has lofty aspirations for the former student. “We expect Elie to make fundamental contributions to civilization’s knowledgebase over the course of his professional career and we are proud to have been a small part of his preparation toward his anticipated success.”

The educational mission of the Yeshiva University High Schools is to teach and perpetuate the values of Torah U’madda, the synthesis of Jewish law and life and Western civilization. The YU High Schools provide a platform for Jewish leadership through a challenging academic program in an atmosphere that encourages adherence to the traditional beliefs and practices of Modern Orthodoxy.
###
Visit the YUHSB website at www.yuhsb.org.

Jan 30, 2008 — In the combative, spirited world of high school competitions, Yeshiva University is well known for its basketball tournaments and model United Nations debates. A new program under the aegis of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) is now encouraging students to show their intellectual prowess in learning Talmud.

Some 250 students from grades nine through 12 at yeshivot across North America are participating in the Bronka Weintraub Bekius Program, which involves students in fast-paced study aimed at mastering significant amounts of Gemara (Talmud).

“Participating students have an opportunity to broaden their Torah horizons and forge a lifelong love of learning,” says Rabbi Ezra Schwartz, who created the program. Rabbi Schwartz is associate bochein (examiner of incoming students) at RIETS, and teaches Talmud in the Irving I. Stone Beit Midrash Program. “We’re hoping that they will come to see YU as the home for this kind of serious Gemara learning.”

Students take five exams a year, for which they will be given cash prizes, based on their performance. A grand prize of $5,000 will be awarded to the student from each division with the highest scores. At the end of the year, a siyum (a celebration of the completion of a Talmudic tractate) will be held on YU’s campus. Students completing the program will receive a certificate outlining their accomplishments that will be sent to the yeshiva they choose to attend in Israel.

Schools are customizing the program to fit their needs. “At a yeshiva in Toronto, the principal is teaching a bekius class before and after shacharit (morning prayers) and during lunch,” Rabbi Schwartz says. “Some schools in the New York area are devoting class time to this program.” At most schools, however, the material is studied on an extracurricular basis, supplementing regular Gemara classes.

Rabbi Schwartz is confident the number of yeshivot participating in the program—now being piloted in 21 schools—will at least double in the near future.

The goal of the program is to instill an appreciation of knowledge for its own sake. “This creative program, under the knowing guidance of Rabbi Schwartz, continues our original and ongoing thrust to intensify Torah learning in our Yeshiva and everywhere,” said Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, the Max and Marion Grill dean of RIETS. “We aspire to bring the best and brightest to our beit midrash (study hall).”

The program has been named for Bronka Weintraub, z”l, a generous donor to Yeshiva University who endowed the Bronka Weintraub Chair in Talmud at RIETS, which is currently occupied by Rabbi Hershel Reichman. She was also a founder and benefactor of YU’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Jan 16, 2008 — Albert Einstein College of Medicine recently received a $1 million grant for stem cell research from the Empire State Stem Cell Board. This is one of the largest of the $14.5 million in initial grants allocated from the $600-million multi-year stem cell research program announced this afternoon by New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and Lieutenant Governor David Paterson. The funding affirms the Spitzer administration’s support of stem cell research and training in New York State and positions New York as a leader in the field.

Since its founding in 1955, Einstein has become widely known for its innovative medical research programs. Recently, Einstein opened its Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. In addition, stem cell and related research have been ongoing within the multidisciplinary Einstein Centers in Liver Diseases, Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Sickle Cell Disease, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases, and Developmental Disabilities.

“We are extremely pleased to receive one of the initial major grants for stem cell research from New York State. In view of recent advances in stem cell science, the funding could not have come at a better time,” said Allen M. Spiegel, MD, The Marilyn and Stanley M. Katz Dean. “At Einstein, we will use this opportunity to further our efforts in translational medicine, taking discoveries in our laboratories and applying them toward developing cures for a wide range of devastating diseases.”

Einstein’s Research Strategic Plan, developed under the guidance of Dean Spiegel, emphasizes significantly expanding the college’s capacity to carry out stem cell and regenerative medicine research. Dr. Spiegel has sought substantial funding to expand both faculty recruitment and resources in stem cell research.

Furthermore, Einstein investigators have been instrumental in establishing the experimental basis for liver-directed cell and gene therapy. The earliest studies of such therapies in humans, targeting high cholesterol, were based on translational work in animals performed at Einstein.

More recently, the institution’s investments in stem cell research resulted in the award of an NIH-supported Center for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research in 2005, one of the first such centers in the US. In addition, the college’s faculty includes members renowned internationally for their work in the bioethics of stem cell research.

Einstein’s Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine will provide a central “home” for stem cell research that supports individual investigators, facilitates the assembly of multi-disciplinary teams through increased communication and collaboration, provides shared resources and technologies, and develops educational and training opportunities.

It will be located in the Michael F. Price Center for Genetic and Translational Medicine/Harold and Muriel Block Research Pavilion, which will offer 201,000 square feet of total research space when it opens later this month, thus positioning the Einstein at the forefront of 21st century regenerative medicine.

In addition to the grant received by the college, Einstein investigators conducting stem cell research will benefit from collaborations with colleagues at the medical school’s university hospital, Montefiore Medical Center, which will be supported through a $160,000 grant.

YU's Women's Tennis team, who won the Skyline Conference Sportsmanship Award for Women’s Tennis.

Nov 16, 2007 — A successful first season of Skyline Conference competition for the Yeshiva University Women’s Tennis team has resulted in significant post-season recognition as sophomore Stephanie Kimmel, from Allentown, PA, was voted First Team All-Conference, and YU was awarded the Skyline Conference Sportsmanship Award for Women’s Tennis.

Both awards were based solely on the votes of the Head Women’s Tennis Coaches within the Skyline Conference.

“This is one of the most exciting announcements we have had this season for our women’s athletics program,” said Joseph Bednarsh, director of athletics. “To have a student-athlete recognized as one of the best in the Skyline Conference, and for our team to be rewarded for displaying the highest level of sportsmanship is the perfect example of what we are aspiring for department-wide.”

Kimmel, a biology major who studied in Israel during her freshman year, emerged as one of the best rookies in the Skyline Conference during the 2007 season. While competing at first singles, Kimmel finished the fall season with a 7-3 record, including a 6-1 record during her last seven matches as she squared off with the best individual player each opponent had to offer.

She also compiled a 7-3 record as a member of YU’s first doubles team. Twice during the fall season, Kimmel was named to the Skyline Conference Honor Roll for our outstanding play during the year.

As a team, YU finished the fall season with a 2-8 overall record, including a 1-7 mark in Skyline Conference competition under the guidance of first year head coach Roger Crawford. However, the season was YU’s first in the Skyline Conference, and four of the conference matches could have gone either way. The university will continue competition early in 2008 when they compete during a spring women’s tennis season for the first time.