UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — An important initiative that started in Pennsylvania has attracted ongoing success and support across the country based on the program itself and a groundswell of support from alumni and friends.
Faculty member Boaz Dvir leads the interdisciplinary Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative at Penn State and its overarching entity, the Hammel Family Human Rights Initiative. This nonpartisan, research-based effort helps K-12 educators teach difficult or often controversial topics through a partitioner inquiry approach equipped with trauma-informed and asset-based lenses.
“We encourage educators to shift from being a sage on the stage who delivers answers to being a facilitator who sets the stage for students’ experiential learning and helps them come up with their own compelling questions,” said Dvir, associate professor of journalism at Penn State and an award-winning documentary filmmaker. “Through the effective instruction of difficult topics, educators can aim higher. They can instill insight in their students about how society works and fails and enable them to develop critical thinking, active learning and empathy.”
Along with the pilot program in Pennsylvania, Dvir has regularly shared his vision for the effort with alumni and friends across the country during in-person and virtual presentations. The response has been overwhelmingly positive.
For example, a session in mid-June in Aspen, Colorado, raised $150,000 from an anonymous donor. The event, made possible by Penn State alumnus Jordan Rednor, intrigued several potential supporters and prompted a potential partnership. Dvir plans to return to Colorado in mid-August to continue the conversations.
“We sincerely appreciate Jordan’s support,” Dvir said. “The success we’ve had, in a very large part, has been thanks to those who have opened doors and made those kinds of events and opportunities possible.”
Rednor earned his Penn State bachelor's degree in 1975 and sees a need for the initiative supporting teachers. He's a partner in the Roaring Fork Broadcasting Co., which owns Hot 100.5, Thunder 93.5 and Cat Country radio stations in Aspen.
Rednor, who also serves as chief operating officer for New York- and Los Angeles-based Decoded Advertising, which is part of the Media Monks global agency group, moderated the June event.
Dvir’s vision for scaling the program has been an important part of his message, too.
“As adults, if the students of our participants find themselves in a world where most children had a teacher who’d gone through this program, they’d be part of a better society,” he said. “They’d not just judge and dismiss, but really listen to other people. They’d transform society.”
The Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications serves as the home for the initiative and Dean Marie Hardin fully supports the effort.
“It’s a truly unique program that we are incredibly excited to have brought to life,” Hardin said. “Boaz’s vision, the hard work he has invested, and the commitment he expects of those associated with the initiative, have the potential to make a transformational impact and many people recognize that.”