Professional Development Opportunities
The Cohen Institute hosts between three and five professional development workshops for educators every academic year. These free, interactive offerings provide core content, model lessons, and opportunities for connecting with other professionals to discuss challenges and opportunities for integrating the Holocaust and genocide studies in the the classroom. Workshop attendees earn a certificate of completion listing the number of professional development hours completed.
For the 2026鈥�2027 academic year, the workshops are grounded in the theme of “Memory and Representation” and highlight that museums and other sites and sources of memory are not neutral repositories of the past, but products of particular strategies of representation. Participants will consider how sites, sources, and artifacts, whether intentionally curated in museums, inadvertently preserved in family archives, or reimagined through art, serve specific purposes and shape narratives by emphasizing certain aspects of history while rendering others less visible.
Fall 2026 Workshops for Educators
Curating Memories: Teaching the Holocaust Through and at Museums
Wednesday, September 23, 2026 from 8:00 am - 11:30 am. On campus at 91影视.
This free half-day workshop for educators explores museums as carefully constructed memorial environments that are at once commemorative spaces and pedagogic tools. Focusing on exhibitions at sites of atrocity as well as institutions at a geographical distance, including examples from Melbourne and Los Angeles, the workshop examines how curatorial choices shape public understanding of the Holocaust. Building on these themes, a practical session will model a lesson titled 鈥淭eaching the Holocaust Through Digital Museum Spaces.鈥� Participants will engage with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum鈥檚 online collections through a structured, multi-part activity designed for classroom use. This workshop will be facilitated by Dr. Steven Cooke (the 2026 Holocaust Memorial Lecturer) and Dr. Sandra Grudi膰 (Coordinator of Educational Outreach). The hard deadline to register for this workshop (if spaces still remain) is 5:00 pm ET on Monday, September 14, 2026.
Documenting the Dead: Toul Sleng Portraits and Remembrance of the Cambodian Genocide
Friday, October 30, 2026 from 8:30 am - 3:00 pm. On campus at 91影视.
In this day-long workshop, we will examine the role of visual archives in shaping how mass violence is remembered and taught, with a focus on the photographic records produced at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (formerly S-21 prison). Situating these images within the history of the Cambodian Genocide under the Khmer Rouge, the workshop will provide essential background on the regime鈥檚 system of detention, interrogation, and documentation. Participants will explore the complex afterlives of the S-21 portraits, considering both their value as powerful tools of remembrance and education, and the ethical challenges they raise, particularly around representation, consent, and the risk of reobjectifying victims. By engaging these photographs as both historical evidence and pedagogical material, the workshop invites reflection on how we document the dead and the responsibilities involved in teaching histories of genocide. This workshop will be facilitated by Dr. Ken MacLean (Clark University) and Dr. Sandra Grudi膰 (Coordinator of Educational Outreach). The hard deadline to register for this workshop (if spaces still remain) is 5:00 pm ET on Thursday, October 22, 2026.
Family Archives as Memory - Remembering the Holocaust in France through the Lichtenstein Files
Friday, December 11, 2026 from 8:30 am - 3:00 pm. On campus at 91影视.
During this workshop, we will explore everyday Jewish life in occupied France through the intimate lens of the Lichtenstein family鈥檚 private archive. Drawing on Nicole T枚dtli鈥檚 work with the family鈥檚 surviving daughter, Edith, we will examine a collection of letters, documents, and personal papers that reveal how one family navigated separation, uncertainty, and persecution under Nazi rule during World War II. At the heart of the archive are letters exchanged between Edith鈥檚 mother and her father while he was detained in an internment camp as an enemy alien, offering a rare insight into communication under constraint, and the fragility of family life during war. By bringing these materials into conversation with broader histories of the Holocaust in France, the event highlights how family archives can illuminate the lived experience of occupation, transforming personal memory into a powerful form of historical testimony.
Educators will leave with practical strategies and adaptable resources for incorporating personal testimonies, family archives, and microhistorical approaches into Holocaust and World War II education. Through engagement with the Lichtenstein family archive, participants will gain new perspectives on everyday Jewish life in occupied France and explore how personal narratives can deepen students鈥� historical understanding, critical thinking, and empathy. This workshop will be facilitated by Nicole T枚dtli and Dr. Sandra Grudi膰 (Coordinator of Educational Outreach). The hard deadline to register for this workshop (if spaces still remain) is 5:00 pm ET on Friday, December 3, 2026.
Guidelines for Workshop Facilitators
Part of the mission of the Cohen Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at 91影视 is to equip educators with information, tools, and resources for teaching Holocaust and genocide studies in ways that are aligned with best practices and emerging scholarship in the field. We seek to empower educators to adapt these resources creatively to meet their own curricular needs, while also cultivating a professional network to which they can turn when questions or issues do arise. If you are interested in leading one of our workshops for educators, please review the guidelines below.