Israeli university begins work on Diller building

Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev laid the cornerstone for the Helen Diller Family Building for the Humanities, made posible by a Woodside family, Monday, Dec. 1.

The new building will alleviate the overcrowding in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences by providing a home to the departments in the humanities. It will also create space for academic research centers, and expand the available archive space for two of Israel’s most celebrated writers, Amos Oz and Aharon Appelfeld.

The Helen Diller Family Foundation, which donated $5 million for the new center last year, has also established the Helen and Sanford Family Diller chair in chemical physics and provided funds for student scholarships over the last three years.

The fund is administered by the Jewish Community Endowment Fund.

Marin cancer researcher wins national award

Dr. Calvin Zippin, a professor emeritus of epidemiology at UCSF, recently received a lifetime achievement award from the National Cancer Institute.

Besides teaching biostatistics and epidemiology, Zippin has conducted research on cancer risk factors, survival, treatment and effects of radiation. His work also includes studying breast cancer rates in Marin County and comparing cancer incidence among Israeli Jews and Arabs on the West Bank.

A Tiburon resident, Zippin is co-president of San Francisco’s B’nai B’rith unit 21 and a committee member of the Jewish Community Relations Council.

Zippin was recently honored by the NCI in Bethesda, Md., on the 30th anniversary of a program measuring the nation’s progress against cancer.

Literacy project needs tutors to help ‘Jump In’

The Jewish Coalition for Literacy has placed close to 200 tutors in East Bay elementary schools this year.

And kindergartners at Berkeley’s Emerson and Concord’s Cambridge elementary schools have received several hundred dollars worth of educational games, books and puzzles.

As part of Project Jump In, a pilot program funded through the David B. Gold Foundation, tutors will go through a special training to use these educational materials with the kindergartners.

JCL is recruiting volunteers for Project Jump In as well as other ongoing programs. For more information, contact Shirley Feldman at (510) 839-2900 ext. 272.

Local teens sought for youth-run charity

Twenty local high school students will soon have a chance to form their own charity, raising funds, selecting worthy programs and making actual cash grants.

The Community Youth Foundation is a pilot project of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund along with the East Bay and S.F.-based federations. The effort will be headed by Rabbi Serena Eisenberg and is modeled after similar programs in Washington, D.C., and San Diego.

Youth foundation members will participate in monthly meetings and make site visits in the East Bay starting in February.

Students in ninth through 11th grades interested in participating should contact [email protected] or call (510) 541-6726 for an application.