Montville Resident and College of Saint Elizabeth Professor Harriet Sepinwall Receives Service Award

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CSE Professor Harriet Sepinwall was recently honored by the Middle States Council.

MORRISTOWN, NJ (04/18/2011)(readMedia)-- Dr. Harriet Lipman Sepinwall, College of Saint Elizabeth professor of Holocaust Studies and co-director of its Holocaust Education Resource Center, received the 2011 Distinguished Service Award from the Middle States Council for the Social Studies. The College is located at 2 Convent Road, Morristown, N.J.

The Middle States Council for the Social Studies is the regional organization for social studies educators representing Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey. The award is presented to those who have lent significant service and support in the advancement of Social Studies in the Middle States area. Dr. Sepinwall was given the Award at the Annual Awards Luncheon on March 18 at Rutgers University by the Council for her most recent work in Holocaust education.

Dr. Sepinwall has been the recipient of numerous awards including the CSE Caritas Award, Sister Rose Thering Award presented by the N.J. Commission on Holocaust Education, Axelrod Award for teaching about the Holocaust and genocide given by NJ-Anti-Defamation League and the N.J. Commission on Holocaust Education, and the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education Community Service Award. In addition, she was honored by the Boy Scouts Council of America at the "Tribute to Women Award" Centennial Luncheon, and was invited to speak at Yad Vashem, about the work being done in Holocaust education for diverse groups at CSE.

Having taught thousands of teachers and undergraduates as well as the community about what took place during the Holocaust, and having brought so many survivors to share their testimonies on campus, Dr. Sepinwall states "I am proud to be a professor at the College of Saint Elizabeth whereremembrance and education about the Holocaust is valued and important. Our students and teachers want to use what they learn to end racism, intolerance, and anti-Semitism so that that we can ensure 'never again...to anyone.'"

Dr. Sepinwall is involved in Holocaust and genocide education on the CSE campus, statewide, nationally, and internationally, and has developed conferences, commemorations, and workshops to help educators learn and teach about the Holocaust and contemporary genocides to diverse students and to the community. She also has organized programs for teachers of public, Catholic, Jewish, and independent schools, and has taken students and Catholic educators to Poland. She works with faculty at the CSE who present programs for the campus and community at no charge for the annual Week of Holocaust Remembrance, the College's Kristallnacht Commemoration.

Dr. Sepinwall is founding co-director, with Sr. Kathleen Flanagan, of CSE HERC. She has been involved in teacher education for many years, for both undergraduates and in-service teachers, and in education about the Holocaust for more than 20 years at the College. Dr. Sepinwall received her doctorate in educational foundations including study of history, sociology, anthropology and philosophy of education from Rutgers University. Her teaching has included multicultural, human rights and Holocaust and genocide education, and she has focused on education to end prejudice and discrimination.

Sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth, Convent Station, New Jersey, the College of Saint Elizabeth enrolls more than 2,100 full- and part-time students in more than 25 undergraduate, 10 graduate and one doctoral degree programs. For information on other activities or programs, visit the College of Saint Elizabeth web site at www.cse.edu.