Sam Bell is the Director of Advocacy for the Genocide Intervention Network. He graduated with honors from Swarthmore College in 2005. Sam has been featured in the Washington Post, New York Times, Houston Chronicle, The New Republic, and MSNBC. He has been a guest on CNBC. Sam also serves on the Board of Directors of the Save Darfur Coalition.

 

Dr. Samuel M. Edelman is the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the American Jewish University (formerly the University of Judaism) in Los Angeles. He teaches courses on Anti-Semitism, Zionism, and Genocide. He was a professor of Jewish and Holocaust Studies as well as rhetoric and Communication Studies for 28 years at CSU, Chico. He was the founder of the program in Modern Jewish and Israel Studies at the California State University Chico in Northern California. Edelman was also the coordinator of the California State University Statewide Modern Jewish Studies BA Degree. He was Scholar-in-Residence at Haifa University in Jewish Education as well as Lehrhause Judaica visiting distinguished lecturer. Edelman is also the co-Director of the California State Center of Excellence in Holocaust, Genocide, Human Rights and Tolerance Education and chief liaison to the State Taskforce on Holocaust, Genocide, Human Rights and Tolerance Education.

 

William R. Fernekes is social studies supervisor at Hunterdon Central Regional HS in Flemington NJ. He has taught social studies and Spanish at Hunterdon Central since 1974, and has supervised the social studies department since 1987. In 1997, the Hunterdon Central Regional HS Social Studies department was designated as a Program of Excellence by the National Council for the Social Studies. William R. Fernekes has published widely in the fields of social studies education, human rights education, Holocaust/genocide education, and New Jersey history. He is the author of two books: Children’s Rights: A Reference Handbook (ABC-CLIO Press, 1996) and The Oryx Holocaust Sourcebook (Greenwood Press, 2003), which was selected as an outstanding reference book by Choice magazine. For the past 21 years, he has advised a high school chapter of Amnesty International, and served in the late 1980s and early 1990s on the national human rights education steering committee of Amnesty International USA. Dr. Fernekes received his B.A., M. A. and Ed. D. degrees from Rutgers University-New Brunswick.

Michael Hartoonian, Professor Emeritus, retired in 2005 as Professor and Senior Fellow in the Department of Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota. Prior to this position, Michael served as a Professor and Director of Elementary Education in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction. His Ph.D is in Curriculum and Instruction-History and the Social Sciences and Administration. Professor Hartoonian was a classroom teacher, a Wisconsin content supervisor in social studies, a school administrator, and a policy advisor for Wisconsin’s State Superintendent. He has been a Fulbright scholar (Africa), member of The National (Humanities) Faculty, Director of the Danforth International Studies Program on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and co-coordinator of the Wisconsin Geographic Alliance. In 1995-1996 he served as president of the National Council for the Social Studies. Professor Hartoonian has authored over sixty articles in journals, and has authored and contributed to several books.

 

Karen Riley is a Professor of Education with an appointment in the Department of Foundations and Secondary Education. Her research interests include: Politics of Education; History of Education; Educational Technology; and Curriculum. Dr. Riley is a consultant to CBS television, Showtime, and Kidsnet on the topic of the Holocaust. She is also the former Director of Education at the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center in Maitland, Florida. Dr. Riley currently teaches courses in the philosophical and historical traditions of education at the graduate level, as well as social science methods of teaching. Dr. Riley is a Distinguished Research Professor and Distinguished Teaching Professor at Auburn University Montgomery and a Wieseman Distinguished Research Professor from the School of Education.

 

Dr. Carol Rittner RSM (USA), a Roman Catholic nun (Religious Sisters of Mercy), is Distinguished Professor of Holocaust & Genocide Studies at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of College Misericordia (USA), a member of the Executive of the Aegis Trust (UK), the Associate Editor of the bi-monthly publication, The Genocide Forum (USA), and Editor of the quarterly, Perspectives on Genocide (UK). She has published a number of books, including The Courage to Care: Non-Jews Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust (1986), Different Voices: Women and the Holocaust (1993), The Holocaust and the Christian World (2000), Pius XII and the Holocaust (2002), and Will Genocide Ever End? (2002). Her film, The Courage to Care, was nominated for a 1986 Academy Award in the Short Documentary category.

 

Marc Skvirsky is Vice President for programs at Facing History and Ourselves. He coordinates all school and community programs, both nationally and internationally, and has facilitated workshops and institutes throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Africa. Marc plays an active role in fostering educational partnerships, and in Facing History’s research which has resulted in the development of study guides and resource books for teachers. He is a frequent speaker at universities and national and international conferences on curriculum innovation, speaking on such issues as community service and education, models for citizenship education, teaching adolescents about racism, anti-Semitism and violence. He has worked with numerous filmmakers including the PBS Television Race Initiative. Between 1989 and 1996 Marc directed the National diffusion Network Project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education to disseminate Facing History across the country. Before joining Facing History and Ourselves, Marc participated in the design team for the Cambridge, Massachusetts magnet program for grades 6-8 and taught social studies, English and history. He received a B.A. in education and M.Ed. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

 

Samuel Totten, is a Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and a long-time scholar in the field of genocide studies. He is a co-editor of Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal (University of Toronto Press), and Managing Editor of Genocide: A Critical Bibliographical Series (Transaction Publishers). In 2004, he served as one of the 24 investigators with the U.S. State Department’s Atrocities Documentation Project, whose purpose was to collect data by interviewing refugees from Darfur, to enable State to assess whether the Government of Sudan had committed genocide against the black Africans of Darfur. Among his many publications are: Century of Genocide: Critical Issuse and Eyewitness Testimony (New York: Routledge, 2004) and Genocide in Darfur: Investigating Atrocities in the Sudan (New York: Routledge, 2006); and Dictionary of Genocide (Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishers, 2007).

 

Dr. Paul B. Winkler has been formally involved in Holocaust/genocide and prejudice reduction education since 1974. After completing his bachelor’s degree in education, Paul began his educational experience as an elementary school teacher. He also continued his own education, completing a doctorate degree in educational leadership in 1974. His educational activities of over 50 years have included teacher, principal, superintendent, Assistant Commissioner for Exceptional Education in the State of New Jersey, and Director of a Teacher Training Center. He has written many articles dealing with Holocaust and genocide and general educational curriculum development topics, including a recent article about “Darfur”. During this time Dr. Winkler coordinated Holocaust/genocide education in the State of New Jersey, sometimes as a volunteer, and lately as a part-time employee after retiring in 1995. The efforts have seen a council, and eventually a commission on Holocaust education established in New Jersey and the Holocaust/genocide mandate, which was signed into law in 1994. Dr. Winkler, while coordinating all Holocaust/genocide activities, also trains teachers and makes direct presentations to students.