2008 Woodie Awards
Remembering the Holocaust
Learning about the Holocaust Goes Beyond the Classroom
By Octavia Knight
Issue date: 10/1/07 Section: Campus News
Located on the second floor of the Nancy Thompson Library, the Holocaust Research Center lies quietly behind two closed, wooden doors, a place of silent reflection and reverence. A part of the Kean University campus since 1982, the Holocaust Research Center (HRC) is an institute shared between the University and the Holocaust Resource Foundation. A place of history and learning, the Center collects and publicizes documents in order to honor and recollect the Holocaust.
Its mission to spread and strengthen education about the Holocaust, the Center offers an annual free lecture series and tuition-free graduate course for teachers entitled "Teaching the Holocaust". The audience attending the lectures has constantly varied from high school, to undergraduate and graduate students, college faculty, and residents of the community. Their guest lecturers have included scholars, theologians, and dignitaries like Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, Sister Sarah Rose Thering, David Wyman, and Peter Hayes.
The class expanded outside the University and into numerous local school districts to amplify teacher preparation. Because of the programs success, the Center now also offers a follow-up course, "Teaching Prejudice Reduction," a project in which thousands of teachers have participated. HRC's educational programs serve as a resource for countless Kean University students and members of the community as well.
There are over 3000 books, various periodicals, pamphlets, posters, videocassettes, DVDs, and other assorted informative material in the HRC's collection. All printed and audio materials are continuously available to educators, scholars, students and other interested people either on or off campus. Also, the HRC has a calming space for reading and rooms for video screening.
The HRC's most recent goal has been presenting suitable features for various Holocaust memorial observances. Over the past several years, thousands of individuals have attended the Center's annual Yom Hashoah observances that are held at the University's Theatre for the Performing Arts.
The most attractive attribute of the HRC is that every document dealing with the history of the Holocaust and its survivors is available to any and every person wanting to learn about it, whether they be a student, faculty member, or a passing visitor. To learn more about the Holocaust Research Center, visit their office in the Nancy Thompson Library on the second floor, or contact Ms. Gerry Melnick, the organization's director.
Its mission to spread and strengthen education about the Holocaust, the Center offers an annual free lecture series and tuition-free graduate course for teachers entitled "Teaching the Holocaust". The audience attending the lectures has constantly varied from high school, to undergraduate and graduate students, college faculty, and residents of the community. Their guest lecturers have included scholars, theologians, and dignitaries like Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel, Sister Sarah Rose Thering, David Wyman, and Peter Hayes.
The class expanded outside the University and into numerous local school districts to amplify teacher preparation. Because of the programs success, the Center now also offers a follow-up course, "Teaching Prejudice Reduction," a project in which thousands of teachers have participated. HRC's educational programs serve as a resource for countless Kean University students and members of the community as well.
There are over 3000 books, various periodicals, pamphlets, posters, videocassettes, DVDs, and other assorted informative material in the HRC's collection. All printed and audio materials are continuously available to educators, scholars, students and other interested people either on or off campus. Also, the HRC has a calming space for reading and rooms for video screening.
The HRC's most recent goal has been presenting suitable features for various Holocaust memorial observances. Over the past several years, thousands of individuals have attended the Center's annual Yom Hashoah observances that are held at the University's Theatre for the Performing Arts.
The most attractive attribute of the HRC is that every document dealing with the history of the Holocaust and its survivors is available to any and every person wanting to learn about it, whether they be a student, faculty member, or a passing visitor. To learn more about the Holocaust Research Center, visit their office in the Nancy Thompson Library on the second floor, or contact Ms. Gerry Melnick, the organization's director.