FAU’s Gutterman Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education Dinner Honors Educators

More than 175 people attended Florida Atlantic University’s Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education (CHHRE) annual Educator Awards Dinner at the Boca Raton Marriott at Boca Center.  The dinner celebrated the exceptional work of K-12 teachers supported by FAU’s Gutterman Family CHHRE and honored the 2022 Gutterman Family Outstanding Holocaust Educators. The highly competitive award is funded by Arthur Gutterman, a benefactor whose generous contributions help sustain the Gutterman Family’s CHHRE’s community and professional learning programs.  This year’s award recipients were:

• Broward County Public Schools: Candace Blake, Coral Spring High School
• School District of Palm Beach County: Jackelyn Powali, H. L. Johnson Elementary School
• Lucie Public Schools: Robert Grundstrom, Treasure Coast High School

“Research has demonstrated that students who learn about the Holocaust in school demonstrate higher critical thinking skills, a greater sense of social responsibility as well as civic engagement,” said Michael Horswell, Ph.D., dean of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters.  “FAU is on a journey to become the nation’s leader in creating and assuring peace, justice and human rights – for all. Holocaust education, with its concomitant fight against antisemitism and other forms of hate, will always be central to that mission.”

This was the 14th year of the award, which recognizes educators who have demonstrated a positive impact on their schools and the wider community within the field of Holocaust, genocide and human rights education.  It honors individuals who actively, by their example and through teaching these difficult subjects, strengthen South Florida students’ world-citizenship and capacity to uphold the dignity of all persons.

The Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education (CHHRE) is a 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote respect for all people through the study of Holocaust, genocide and human rights, and is an integral unit of FAU’s Peace, Justice and Human Rights Initiative.  The Center relies exclusively on private donations to provide professional learning programs and classroom resources for teachers and students, and community programs to support the mandated FL.ST 1003.42: Required Instruction of the Holocaust.  Programs include professional learning for educators, Holocaust Summer Institute, and an annual trip to the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C., as well as programs open to the community. The Gutterman Family CHHRE serves K-12 educators in public, private, charter, parochial and Jewish Day Schools throughout Broward, Palm Beach, St. Lucie, Martin, and Indian River counties.

For additional information, contact Linda Medvin at 561-297-2929 or lmedvin@fau.edu.