Prof. Guedi Capeluto, the Dean of Students.

When most of us hear the name Professor Guedi Capeluto, we almost immediately think of the Dean of Students at the Technion, perhaps the former Dean of Architecture and Town Planning. However, beyond the titles and office doors, he is a family man: the lifelong partner of his wife Dina, and the father of Noam, Eden, and to his adorable dog, Bobby.

He is an optimist at heart who loves working with his hands. Few people know that he loves baking bread, and occasionally he’ll bring a fresh batch of baked goods to the office as well. He also loves to draw, especially cartoons! He feels it’s a way he can draw the world through a humorous lens. Now, you may be starting to think to yourselves, “Wow, Guedi is pretty talented!” Well, let’s quickly add that, while this is true, he admitted to not being the best of dancers. But hey, I definitely want to try one of his baked breads!

For those of you who have heard Guedi speak, you may have realized that he wasn’t born in Israel. Guedi was actually born in Montevideo, Uruguay, and made aliyah in 1988. Upon coming to Israel, he tried to lose his accent; however, it didn’t take long for him to realize that the accent is part of who he is. Ever since, Guedi has embraced it. Although it’s been almost 40 years since he made aliyah, Uruguay still holds a place in his heart, whether it’s by cheering Uruguay on in soccer matches or going on a trip with his daughter to retrace family roots.

So how did Guedi end up at the Technion? Well, upon completing his first degree in architecture in Uruguay, Guedi arrived in Israel. He subsequently continued his studies and earned his master’s and then his Ph.D. at the Technion, and even conducted research abroad in the United States before eventually returning to us as a faculty member.

But what does an architect research? Guedi’s research focuses on energy use of in buildings and their environmental performance, with an emphasis on energy efficiency, daylighting, and sustainable design in accordance with green architecture principles. Indeed, Guedi advocates for the building process to incorporate climate-conscious design from the outset of projects. For example, even the initial positioning of a building and its facades on a plot is a determining factor in its performance and energy usage. He even took part in the formulation of Israel’s energy rating system for buildings and, despite all the work as Dean of Students, he continues to teach courses on light in architecture.

Now, coming from the Faculty of Architecture, one can assume that he would say that the Faculty of Architecture is the best, because, obviously, we are ;) (for those of you who don’t know, the two people interviewing him, Homere Bar El and myself, just happen to be from the Faculty of Architecture as well). However, when Guedi answered this question, he chuckled and said that had we asked him this question two years ago, before stepping into the role of Dean of Students, his answer would have been architecture without hesitation. Yet this role gave him a fresh vantage point. Guedi successfully managed to escape our journalistic inquiries.

When asked about his prior role as Dean of the Faculty of Architecture, he explained that as faculty dean, your focus is primarily academic. In contrast, serving as Dean of Students offers perhaps the only opportunity to work alongside a dedicated team whose everyday efforts are devoted entirely to the students themselves. Through the work of the Dean of Students Office, from psychological and academic counseling to financial aid, dormitories, career development, student exchange, and campus culture and community life, the team supports students throughout their Technion journey.

He told us that this role allows him to rediscover the Technion as a collection of “points of light” and that the students represent the Technion’s greatest potential.

When asked what makes him different from all the previous deans, Guedi kept returning to a single word: home. He’s working hard to make the students feel like this is their home. As he stated, “…and I’m not just randomly choosing the word ‘home.’” In all the activities that he does as part of his role as Dean of Students, he always tries to add that aspect to them. He doesn’t want the Technion to just be a place to study, but also a place to live, and for some, the dorms here are actually the students’ home. Shoutout to the international program.

One of the first things he did as the Dean was to take a tour of the dorms in order to understand what they’re like from the inside. The Technion houses about 5,000 students: singles, couples, families, undergraduates, graduates, etc. He described the Technion as a mini city and to maintain a mini city isn’t simple at all, since there is so much to manage. After completing the tour, he saw the need to invest in the dorms, not only to expand them but also to maintain the existing buildings.

As a result of this, a plan for maintaining the dorms over the coming years was devised with the Technion administration. They decided to start with the Canada dorms, and Guedi invited us all to come at the end of this academic year and see the first few renovated buildings. So, who’s joining me to see if the plan was fully executed?

Now, those of you who aren’t new at the Technion are probably asking, “Well, what about the Rifkin dorms, perhaps better known to you as the Gaza dorms?” It’s not for nothing that those dorms earned the nickname. Guedi told us that indeed the issue of the Rifkin dorms is one the Technion has discussed. He told us that while those dorms were also put on the table for renovation, the subject is trickier because those dorms were the first to be built here at the Technion, in the 1950s. They are discussing what to preserve and what to renovate. But let us hear your opinion. What dorms do you think should be renovated first? Let us know in the comments!

Guedi admitted that the maintenance of student housing is a challenge as Dean. With this topic very dear to him and resources limited, he finds it difficult not to be able to help everyone, as helping everyone is something he constantly strives for. However, at the end of the day, the budget and resources are limited, so priorities need to be set, and decisions are made based on fairness, even if that means some students won’t get dorms.

Finally, Guedi reminded us that the Dean of Students’ message is to help walk this path together with its students. He wanted to reassure, “It’s safe to assume that every student here falls down or perhaps fails at some point. Real success, however, is not never to fail. It’s that when you fail, when there is hardship, you know to get back up and to start anew. That continuation is the real measure of success.”