Meet Our 2026 Honorary Degree Recipients
UPCOMING HONOREES
JUNE 2026
Moran Samuel
MORAN SAMUEL is an exemplary public figure and Paralympic gold medalist whose impact spans elite sport, education, and social advocacy. A pediatric physiotherapist, she earned a BA in Physical Therapy and an MA in Child Development from the University of Haifa.
Originally a professional basketball player, Samuel turned to Paralympic sport after suffering a spinal stroke at age 24. She captained Israel’s national wheelchair basketball team (2009–2013) before rising to the top ranks of world rowing. Her achievements include a bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, a silver at Tokyo 2020, and a gold medal at the Paris 2024 Games in the women’s single sculls.
Beyond sport, Samuel is a leading social entrepreneur and motivational speaker dedicated to reshaping perceptions of disability and resilience. Driven to bridge the gap between perceived limitations and human potential, she equips audiences with tools to rediscover inner strength and reframe challenges into catalysts for growth. She founded “Warrior’s Gold,” supporting wounded veterans through sport, and serves on the boards of Access Israel and Beit Issie Shapiro, as well as the International Paralympic Committee’s Classification Committee and the World Rowing Athletes’ Commission.
Samuel is married and a mother of three.
Dr. Gideon Bickel
GIDEON BICKEL is a visionary entrepreneur whose leadership has strengthened Israel’s agricultural productivity and export capacity, while contributing to national security through economic development and regional cooperation. A native of the agricultural community of Kfar Malal, he holds a BSc in Agronomy from the Hebrew University, as well as an MBA and a PhD in National Security from the University of Haifa.
Beginning in 1962, he served in the Paratroop Brigade, rising to the rank of Colonel (Res.). During the Six-Day War, he commanded forces in the historic breakthrough to unify Jerusalem, where he was wounded in action. He later held senior roles in the War of Attrition, the Yom Kippur War, and the First Lebanon War.
Starting as a flower grower, he became a pioneer of Israel’s agricultural export sector, developing large-scale, technology-driven production and export models. He founded and led companies in the field, most notably acquiring the Flora Flower Auction in Belgium, significantly expanding Israel’s standing in global markets.
Bickel advanced regional agricultural cooperation and export policy through his role as Chair of the government-appointed Agricultural Strategy Committee, and his participation in regional peace conferences. His lifelong dedication is further reflected in his support for sustainable agriculture research, including a land donation to the University of Haifa’s Institute of Evolution. In 1989, he was awarded the Kaplan Prize and the Israeli Chambers of Commerce Award of Excellence.
OCTOBER 2026
Dr. Amos Gitai
AMOS GITAI is an internationally acclaimed artist and filmmaker. Born to Munio Weinraub, an architect trained at the Bauhaus, and Efratia Margalit, an intellectual and teacher, he studied Architecture at the Technion and earned a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley.
Over his career, Gitai has created more than ninety works across diverse formats, including feature-length and short films, fiction and documentaries, experimental work, television productions, installations, and theater pieces.
His work has been presented in major retrospectives worldwide. Eleven of his films have competed for the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival, and for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Among his many distinctions are the Leopard of Honor (Locarno, 2008), the Roberto Rossellini Prize (2005), the Robert Bresson Prize (2013), and the Paradjanov Prize (2014). He was named Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (2023) and received France’s Légion d’honneur (2017) and Italy’s Grande Ufficiale dell’Ordine della Stella d’Italia (2019). In 2018, Amos Gitai was elected to the Chair of Artistic Creation at the Collège de France, where he served as professor and delivered a series of nine lectures on cinema.
Upcoming Honorary Event
NOVEMBER 2026
Prof. Thomas E. Levy
THOMAS E. LEVY is a Distinguished Professor and the inaugural holder of the Norma Kershaw Chair in the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Levy helped launch the Scripps Center of Marine Archaeology, emphasizing field work in Israel with the University of Haifa and the University of Patras (Greece) to explore climate, environmental and social change in the eastern Mediterranean.
Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and recipient of an honorary doctorate from Charles University in the Czech Republic, Levy has published 17 books and monographs and over 250 articles. His research focuses on the role of technology, especially early mining and metallurgy, in the evolution of societies. Levi is the founder and co-director of the Center for Cyber-Archaeology and Sustainability at the Qualcomm Institute UCSD.
Levy has received multi-million-dollar grants from the National Science Foundation and University of California Office of the President for digital cultural heritage, as well as support from the Koret (San Francisco) and Irwin Jacobs Family Foundations (La Jolla) for the UC San Diego – University of Haifa partnership focused on marine and Cyber-Archaeology.