Meet Our 2025 Honorary Degree Recipients
UPCOMING HONOREES
SEPTEMBER 14, 2025
Dr. Neri Oxman
Hailed as Nature’s Architect, Neri Oxman is a designer, inventor, and researcher. Her design philosophy, Material Ecology, lies at the intersection of culture and nature, calling for the unification of the made and the grown across scales and species. A multidisciplinary designer, Oxman founded The Mediated Matter Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010, pioneering the field of Material Ecology by fusing technology and biology to advance ecological sustainability. She became a tenured professor at MIT in 2017. Oxman received her PhD in Design Computation at MIT. She holds a diploma from the Architectural Association in London, complemented by studies at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology and training at the Hebrew University’s Department of Medical Sciences. She was an architect and research consultant at Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates in London and served as Visiting Associate and Evaluator for the SmartGeometry Group. With over 150 scientific publications and inventions, her work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Centre Pompidou, MAK Museum of Applied Arts, FRAC Collection for Art and Architecture, and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. Recognitions include being named a Cultural Leader by the World Economic Forum (2016), the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award and London Design Innovation Medal (2018), and an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Institute of British Architects (2019). She is the Founder and CEO of OXMAN.
Bill Ackman
Bill Ackman has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. (“Pershing Square”) since its inception in 2003. He has served as Executive Chairman of the board of directors of Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. (“HHH”) since May 2025. Mr. Ackman also serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, Ltd. He is co-trustee of The Pershing Square Foundation, part of Pershing Square Philanthropies, which he founded in 2006 to bet on innovative leaders solving humanity’s big societal, environmental, and health challenges. Mr. Ackman previously served as Chairman of the Board of HHH, as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Pershing Square Tontine Holdings, Ltd and as a member of the board of directors of Universal Music Group N.V. In addition, he served as a member of the Investor Advisory Committee on Financial Markets of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Board of Dean’s Advisors of Harvard Business School. Prior to founding Pershing Square, Mr. Ackman co-founded and co-managed Gotham Partners Management Co., LLC, an investment adviser that managed public and private equity hedge fund portfolios, until 2003. Mr. Ackman received a Master in Business Administration from the Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude from Harvard College.
OCTOBER 19, 2025
Bradley M. Bloom
Bradley Bloom is the co-founder and former Managing Director of Berkshire Partners LLC, a leading private equity firm based in Boston.
A lifelong advocate for education and Jewish life, he has held prominent leadership roles including Chairman of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, co-founder of the Boston-Haifa Connection, President of the Board of Trustees at Milton Academy, and member of key strategic and financial oversight committees at Harvard University.
From 2019 to 2025, he served as Chairman of the University of Haifa’s Board of Governors. During his tenure, some of the most difficult years in the State of Israel’s history, the University established two transformative institutions—the Bloom School for Graduate Studies and the Herta and Paul Amir School of Medicine—strengthening its academic reach and global standing.
Brad received his AB and MBA degrees from Harvard University.
OCTOBER 30, 2025
Eugene V. Koonin
Dr. Eugene V. Koonin is a renowned evolutionary biologist and Distinguished Investigator at the US National Institute of Health (NIH), where he leads the Evolutionary Genomics Group at the National Library of Medicine. He is best known for introducing the foundational concept of Clusters of Orthologous Genes, a cornerstone of comparative and evolutionary genomics. His extensive research focuses on genome evolution in microbes and viruses, host-parasite coevolution, antiviral defense systems such as CRISPR-Cas, and mathematical models of evolutionary processes. Dr. Koonin has authored over 1,100 research and review articles, cited hundreds of thousands of times. He is the author of The Logic of Chance and a member of the US National Academies of Sciences and Medicine, and a foreign associate of the European Molecular Biology Organization and the Academy of Europe. Koonin holds honorary doctorates from leading universities across Europe and Israel, including Université Aix-Marseille, Wageningen University, the University of St Andrews, and the Weizmann Institute of Science.
NOVEMBER 4, 2025
Ronny Someck
Ronny Someck is one of Israel’s most celebrated contemporary poets, known for his vivid blend of street realism, literary elegance, humor, and social critique. Born in Baghdad in 1951 and raised in Israel, his work draws deeply on his Mizrahi heritage and explores themes of identity, memory, and justice.
His artistic reach extends from literature to visual and musical collaborations, including joint exhibitions with composer Elliott Sharp and five solo exhibitions at the Museum of Israeli Art in Ramat Gan. He has authored 11 poetry books, most recently Horse Power, and two children’s books co-written with his daughter Shirly. His poetry has been translated into over 40 languages and awarded honors in France, Poland, the Netherlands, and North Macedonia.
Beyond his writing, he is a longtime mentor to at-risk youth and young writers through creative writing workshops. Through poetry, art, and public advocacy, he gives voice to the diverse narratives of Israeli society.
RECENTLY HONORED
MARCH 2025
Linda and Michael Frieze
Michael Frieze
Michael Frieze is Chairman Emeritus of the board of directors at Gordon Brothers. Previously, Michael was Chairman and Chief Investment Officer and the firm’s Chief Executive Officer for more than 30 years.
Michael has a Bachelor of Arts from Bowdoin College and a Master of Business Administration from MIT Sloan School of Management.
He is a founder of the Boston-Haifa Partnership; chairman emeritus of Friends of Yemin Orde, past chair of New England region of American Technion Society. He has or currently serves on numerous Boards including Combined Jewish Philanthropies where he was past chair of the Exodus Campaign, Boston Children’s Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Our Generation Speaks, Brandeis University and many others.
Linda Frieze
Linda Frieze has been involved with a variety of local and International organizations. She graduated from Skidmore College and earned a Masters Degree from Simmons College School of Social Work.
She has served on the boards of Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Jewish Family and Children’s Service, The Heller School at Brandeis University, Shalom Hartman Institute and AIPAC. Presently she is a longtime member of the board of CAMERA (Committee for Accurate Middle East Reporting and Analysis) and NATAL (Trauma and Resiliency Center in Israel).
She made her first of many trips to Israel in 1962 and participated in the City of David Archeology Dig in the summer of 1978 and 1980. She also participated along with her husband in the initial founding of the Boston Haifa Sister Relationship.
June, 2025
Jules and Eddie Trump
(l-r): Stephanie Trump (who performed the hooding for her husband Jules Trump), Jules Trump, President Gur Alroey, Mark Hirsch (who performed the hooding for Eddie Trump), and Eddie Trump at the conferment ceremony in New York.
Jules and Eddie Trump were awarded the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy, Honoris Causa in recognition of their visionary leadership and steadfast belief in the transformative power of quality education – especially in mathematics and the sciences – as a catalyst for social mobility. Their long-standing dedication to the people of Israel, their transformative philanthropic contributions to the academic landscape, and their investment in human capital as a vital national resource have left a profound impact. University of Haifa also celebrates their enduring friendship with the University, its students, and faculty.