News from SUNY Cortland

For more information contact: Jean Palmer, 607-753-2232

SUNY Cortland Faculty To Attend National Holocaust Institute In June

CORTLAND, NY (05/01/2008; 1158)(readMedia)-- Two SUNY Cortland faculty members were recently selected to attend the second national Holocaust Institute for Teacher Educators (HITE) in Washington, D.C., from June 2-6.

Judy Bentley, assistant professor of foundations and social advocacy; and Lin Lin, assistant professor of childhood and early childhood education, will meet at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) with 19 other teacher educators throughout the country to share ideas and collaborate on ways to better equip teacher candidates with the content and skills for teaching this material.

“We are very excited and pleased that Judy and Lin are two out of 21 educators attending this institute,” said Marley Barduhn, associate dean of the School of Education at SUNY Cortland. “The fact that they were selected is a testament to SUNY Cortland being the ninth largest teacher preparation institution in the United States. Their attendance is incredibly important because it has the potential to add a new dimension and depth to our academic preparation for teacher candidates at the College. It is a great beginning step.”

The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) hosts the event in cooperation with the USHMM and allows teacher educators to explore the content, methods and rationales for teaching about the Holocaust and genocide.

The institute includes sessions on teaching about the Holocaust in secondary methods classrooms, ethical implications of teaching about the Holocaust, uses of literature, primary sources and technology in teaching about the Holocaust and broader genocide issues.

“I hope to learn more information, strategies and content about the Holocaust from a disabilities studies perspective,” said Bentley, who joined the SUNY Cortland faculty in 2005 and holds a doctorate from Texas State University.

“I want to see how to accommodate curriculum for younger learners in fifth grade,” said Lin, who joined the SUNY Cortland faculty in 2005 after teaching at Beijing Foreign Studies University in Beijing, China. “I want to be better equipped with skills and knowledge and go more in depth in my classes to be able to better prepare teachers the right way to engage their students into thinking about the Holocaust and genocide.”

Those who were chosen to attend the institute are expected to participate in pre- and post-institute online discussions and serve in a leadership role within the teacher education community in preparing candidates to appropriately teach about the Holocaust and genocide.

“In the fall, I plan to initiate a campus-wide awareness of the political and social injustice represented by the Holocaust,” said Bentley.

For more information about the Holocaust Institute for Teacher Educators, visit the AACTE Web site at www.aacte.org, or contact Bentley at (607) 753-5415 or Lin at (607) 753-4234.

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