(PDF) (DOC) (JPG)March 26, 2014

(MAHWAH, NJ) – On May 14, 2014, the Gross Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies will sponsor a Gumpert Teachers’ Workshop, “The U.N. Convention on Genocide as a Living Text: A Case Study for the Classroom.” Supported by the New Jersey State Commission on Holocaust Education, the workshop will held be at the Ramapo College Trustees Pavilion (PAV1&2), 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Acclaimed author and scholar Dr. Donna-Lee Frieze, editor of Totally Unofficial: The Autobiography of Raphael Lemkin (Yale University Press, 2013), will deliver the keynote lecture. She will trace the development of the original text of the Convention as a living document from when Lemkin drafted it in the late 1940s to the present day.

Donna-Lee Frieze is a Research Fellow in the School of History, Heritage and Society at Deakin University in Victoria, Australia.  She received her B.A. in Philosophy and Literary Studies from Deakin University in 1994 and her Ph.D. in Genocide Studies, Philosophy and Film from Deakin University in 2006.

Dr. Frieze received the Australian Postgraduate Scholarship in 2003, the Naomi and Isi Leibler prize for the best M.A. or Ph.D. thesis approved during 2005 in the area of Social Sciences at Deakin University in 2006. She also earned the Myer Burston Scholarship from the Jewish Holocaust and Research Centre in Melbourne in 2008. Currently, Dr. Frieze is the Prins Foundation Senior Scholar at the Center for Jewish History in New York City.

Jill McCracken, a teacher of Social Studies at Holmdel High School and an instructor at the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Center of Brookdale Community College in Lincroft, New Jersey, will deliver an interactive presentation on how to bring the study of the evolution of the Genocide Convention into the classroom.

Ms. McCracken holds a B.A. from the College of New Jersey and an M.A. from Norwich University in Vermont.  She has been a member of the Board of Directors at the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education Center (HGHREC) at Brookdale Community College for more than 30 years.

In 2000, on her way home from studying at Yad Vashem, Israel, McCracken visited Kosovo, which earlier had experienced ethnic cleansing and a NATO war with Serbia. She managed to get herself embedded with the Army’s 326th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment. It led her to work in the region, reconciling Albanian and Serbian students in the now independent Republic of Kosovo. From 2001-2009, she also worked with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), evaluating the quality of election in nations developing democracy and democratic institutions in Croatia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, and Ukraine.

The day’s program will conclude with a panel of genocide survivors interacting with workshop participants.

Educators wishing to attend the workshop may register online at: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/gumpert-teachers-workshop-the-un-convention-on-genocide-as-a-living-text-a-case-study-for-the-tickets-9390060925

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About Ramapo College

Ramapo College of New Jersey is the state’s premier public liberal arts college and is committed to academic excellence through interdisciplinary and experiential learning, and international and intercultural understanding. The comprehensive college is situated among the beautiful Ramapo Mountains, is within commuting distance to New York City, was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America by CondeNast Traveler, and boasts the best on-campus housing in New Jersey per Niche.com. Established in 1969, Ramapo College offers bachelor’s degrees in the arts, business, data science, humanities, social sciences and the sciences, as well as in professional studies, which include business, education, nursing and social work. In addition, the College offers courses leading to teacher certification at the elementary and secondary levels, and offers graduate programs leading to master’s degrees in Accounting, Applied Mathematics, Business Administration, Contemporary Instructional Design, Computer Science, Creative Music Technology, Data Science, Educational Leadership, Nursing, Social Work and Special Education, as well as a Doctor of Nursing Practice.

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