Hertz-lazarowitz Rachel

Biography

Personal and professional background:  I was born in Haifa, Israel, the daughter of Herman (Zvi) and Batia Hertz. My current family includes my husband Prof. Reuven Lazarowitz and our three children Nurit and her husband Raz, Neer and his wife Shaun, and David. We have six wonderful grandchildren.  After finishing my studies at a religious high school in 1958, I entered Ephrata Teachers College in Jerusalem, graduating in 1960 with a teaching certificate. I was a schoolteacher and a counselor at an elementary school for children with special needs. Parallel to my teaching career, I pursued my university studies. In 1971, I completed my Bachelor of Arts in Counseling and Psychology from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem's in Haifa, that was in those years a branch of the Hebrew University.  In the fall of 1971,  I entered the graduate program at the University of Texas in Austin to study Educational Psychology. I specialized in social and developmental psychology and received my MA in 1973 and a Ph.D. in 1974. During my studies I held an assistant instructor position at the University of Texas in (1971-1974). I have been part of the faculty of Education at the University of Haifa since 1967, first as a student and from 1974 as a faculty member. I began as an Assistant Professor and reached the rank of Full Professor.

Research Interest

My areas of research and publications are based on theoretical and applied principals of cooperation on many levels: Cooperative learning in schools; Family- School-Community partnership, large system action research, and contact and cooperation between diverse groups within the framework of work on empowerment and change. In 1979 I was one of the founders of IASCE -International Association of the Study of Cooperation in Education which is still an active and growing international association.