AUGUST 4 • 2022 | 29

serving as its first woman 
president. About 10 years 
ago, she started a Detroit-area 
Women of American Society 
of Technion stock group to “try 
and build ambassadors” for 
Technion. Most of the stocks 
purchased have a Technion 
connection and profits are 
donated to the university. 
Wolfe, who joined Kovan’s 
Technion stock group, was 
already familiar with Technion. 
Her late father — D. Dan 
Kahn — became involved with 
Technion decades ago and 
donated funds for a robotics 
laboratory and other facilities 
on its campus.
Deutchman’s grandfather, 
the late Samuel Brody, attend-
ed an early Technion support 
meeting in Detroit and con-
tributed for an agricultural and 

engineering building during 
the 1950s. Since then, Cathy 
Deutchman, her late father 
and her husband have served 
on the national board of the 
American Technion Society.
The 2022 WATS Mission 
was the result of more than 
three years of planning, says 
Kovan, who was its co-chair 
with Janey Sweet of California. 
Cathy Deutchman was the 
National Program and Mission 
Sub-Committee co-chair. 
According to Kovan, the 
group got along well and was 
enthusiastic about what they 
saw and learned. The only 
downside was an outbreak of 
COVID — six participants 
came down with the virus 
and were tested, treated and 
quarantined in keeping with 
Israeli protocols. 

About Technion 
The Israel Institute of Technology, known as Technion, 
is Israel’s oldest university. Technion opened its doors 
to students at its Haifa campus in 1924. Today, Technion 
has more than 15,000 students and is considered a 
“powerhouse of science, engineering and medicine.”
The Detroit Chapter of the American Technion 
Society, which assists Technion primarily through 
philanthropy, was established in 1940. Most supporters 
were engineers, scientists or businesspeople, but 
other civic leaders, including Philip Slomovitz, the 
first publisher of the Detroit Jewish News, were early 
members.

Sources: Technion website and a history of the Detroit chapter of the 

American Society of Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, 1989.

Cooking class: Janey Sweet, 
Barbara Cohn, Janis Wetsman, 
Cathy Deutchman, Linda Kovan 
and Neta Blum, instructor, 
participate in a cooking 
demonstration with information 
about food sustainability.

Mission participant 
Gayle Moyer in Arielle 
Fischer’s Biomechanics 
and Wearable Tech Lab 
with equipment that helps 
people correct their gait to 
avoid joint replacement. 

Mission participant Andi Wolfe with Alon 
Wolf, vice president/external relations and 
resource development at Technion, in front 
of the engineering building endowed by her 
parents, D. Dan and Betty Kahn.

