news update archives 2000

Atlanta Resource Center
Alice Herman Named Executive Director
Global ORT Briefs
1999 Articles

Resource Center Opens in Atlanta

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held recently for the ORT Atlanta Computer Technology Resource Center housed in the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta. The center is a joint effort of Women's American ORT, American ORT and ORT Operations USA.

Women's American ORT is starting the new century with Alice Herman as the organization's new National Executive Director.

For the past three years, Ms. Herman was Executive Director of Congregation Rodeph Sholom, a major Reform synagogue and day school on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Before that, she was employed by The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, holding numerous senior management positions including Director, General Services Department; Secretary of the Port Authority; Assistant Director of Aviation, and General Manager of Aviation Marketing / Economics.

WAO National President Pepi Dunay of Boca Raton, Fla., described Ms. Herman as "bringing a strong business and management background as well as a demonstrated commitment to Jewish life both as a professional and as a lay leader."

Ms. Herman has been active as a high-ranking volunteer and fund raiser for UJA-Federation of New York, Berkshire Hills-Emanuel Camps and Douglass College Alumnae Association. She holds a B.A. in Sociology from Douglass College, Rutgers University, and a Master of Public Administration from Baruch College, City University of New York.

Ms. Herman said, "Women's American ORT is an organization with a rich history and a wonderful product. I look forward to helping the organization make the transition into a new century."

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Global ORT Briefs

ORT and JDC Training Kosovars

ORT Training Textile Machinists in Kosovo

ORT Student Mission Planned to Poland and Israel

Coca-Cola Increases Funding to ORT Chile

ORT Leader to Chair Kosovo Inquiry

ORT Braude Applies for Recognition of Higher Degree

ORT and JDC Training Kosovars

The World ORT Union, in cooperation with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, has launched a program to train local workers in Prizren, Kosovo, as textile machinists to work in the clothing and textile manufacturing industry.

The three-month course, open to 25 students, will be offered three times a year. Training will be conducted with the help of local professionals. Facilities for the vocational training center have been provided by the owner of a textile factory in the city. And new parts were acquired to repair equipment on the premises that had not been in working condition.

Computer laboratories have been established in two Pristina schools and plans are in place to upgrade an existing lab in a third school, allowing more than 1,600 students to enroll.

To meet the demand for English instruction, ORT has been asked to add more classes to the six courses it is currently conducting in two Pristina schools. Each course enrolls 25 students. About 2,000 people have registered. Local English teachers are being sought to staff the program.

A course using basic bookkeeping and accounting software has been introduced in Prizren. Programs to retrain unemployed adults in much-needed skills to repair the country's infrastructure – carpentry, metal work, welding, roof repair, glazing and construction – will soon be offered.

Read previous articles about ORT's efforts in Kosovo.

ORT Training Textile Machinists in Kosovo

The World ORT Union, in cooperation with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), has launched a program to train local workers in Prizren, Kosovo, as textile machinists to work in the clothing and textile manufacturing industry.

Coca-Cola Increases Funding to ORT Chile

The Coca-Cola Foundation has increased its funding of ORT Chile's Science Education Program, enabling it to serve an additional 25 schools throughout the country.

Coca-Cola has been funding the ORT Chile Science Education Program since 1996. The project, which teaches science using computers, aims to improve science education in Chile's public schools. Each school is fully equipped with a computer and science laboratory enabling students to measure scientific variables. ORT runs a two-year training program with each school and then continues to support the schools via distance learning using the Internet.

ORT Leader to Chair Kosovo Inquiry

Justice Richard Goldstone, President of the World ORT Union, has been formally appointed by the Swedish Government to chair of the newly-created Independent International Commission of Inquiry into Kosovo. Previously, Justice Goldstone received international recognition as Chief Prosecutor of the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, as well as for his role as the head of the Board of the Human Rights Institute of South Africa, where he is a Justice for the Constitutional Court of South Africa.

The Deputy Chair will be Carl Tham, former head of SIDA (Swedish International Development Agency). There will be an additional 12 members of the commission.

ORT Braude Applies for Recognition of Higher Engineering Degree

ORT Braude International Institute of Technology in Karmiel became the first college in Israel to apply for recognition by the Council for Higher Education for a system engineering master's. The request came after the CHE recently decided to allow academic colleges to grant such degrees. ORT Braude also applied for recognition for its master's degree in business administration and a new bachelor's in technology in environmental engineering.

ORT Braude is Israel's leading college of engineering. With more than 3,500 students in 9 departments and 600 to 700 graduates annually, it has earned in recent years a place of honor among engineering schools and universities and plays a major role in the development of northern Israel. In their senior year, many students combine school with work in the Galilee's high-tech industry.

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