FACING HISTORY - Key Persons
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- Smith Family Senior Vice President and Chief Officer, Program & Thought Leadership
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- CEO and Senior Managing Director, GCP Chairman, Global Investment Committee, GLP
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- Member of the Board of Directors
- Amos Key
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- Managing Director, Charlesbank Capital Partners
Managing Director, Charlesbank Capital Partners; Member, Board of Trustees, Dana Farber Cancer Institute; Co-Founder, Pediatric Low Grade Astrocytoma Foundation; Chair, Compensation Committee & Member, Executive Committee, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Member of the Board of Directors
- Vice President and Chief Officer, Operations & Advancement
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- Chief Officer of Technology & Digital Strategy
April Osheroff-Lambert has served as Chief Officer of Technology & Digital Strategy since 2021. She joined Facing History in 2010 as an assistant in the Print & Publishing department. In 2013 April moved into the nascent Technology department as Web Operations Manager tackling Facing History's first major platform redesign and integration project. Most recently April held the title of Senior Director of Digital Operations where she was critical to the growth and development of the digital teams and processes.
As Chief Officer of Technology & Digital Strategy, April is responsible for delivering the organization's digital strategy and operations, IT infrastructure, and data architecture. She has recently led the organization's digital platform transformation, a major initiative that has equipped Facing History with a state-of-the-art digital experience that expands our reach and impact while ensuring security, privacy, and accessibility for our users.
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- Professor of History, University of Memphis
Journalist; Founding Partner, International Media Development Advisers
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- Professor of History, Hunter College & Graduate Center, City University of New York
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- Secretary of the Board of Directors
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- Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence in Urban Education, University of Memphis
Beverly Cross
Lillian and Morrie Moss Chair of Excellence in Urban Education, University of Memphis
Karine Duhamel
Independent Historian, Curator, and Consultant
Debórah Dwork
Director, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity, Graduate Center, City University of New York
Howard E. Gardner
John H. and Elisabeth A. Hobbs Professor of Cognition and Education, Graduate School of Education & Adjunct Professor of Psychology, Harvard University; Senior Director, Harvard Project Zero
Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Alphonse Fletcher University Professor & Director, Hutchins Center for African & African American Research, Harvard University; Co-founder and Chairman, TheRoot.com
Jay Geller
Samuel Rosenthal Professor of Judaic Studies, Case Western Reserve University
Carol Gilligan
Professor, School of Law & Professor of Humanities and Applied Psychology, Steinhardt School, New York University
James F. Gilligan
Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Grossman School of Medicine & Adjunct Professor of Law, School of Law, New York University
Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor & Department Chair of African American Studies, Princeton University
Annette Gordon-Reed
Carl M. Loeb University Professor, Law School & Professor of History Arts & Sciences, Harvard University
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- President Emerita, Spelman College
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- Co - Founder
- Senior Partner
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- Professor, School of Law & Professor of Humanities and Applied Psychology, Steinhardt School, New York University
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- Founder & CEO, Decisive Adjunct Professor, Columbia Business School
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- Associate Professor of Journalism, Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, Northwestern University
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- Lucie Stern Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Stanford University
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- Peabody Family Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History, Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, Duke University
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- Board Member, Circuit Playhouse
Board Member, Circuit Playhouse; Board Member, St. Mary's Episcopal School; Former Chair, Memphis Advisory Board, Co-Chair, Memphis Benefit (2010, 2013), Chair, Governance Committee, & Member, Executive Committee, Facing History & Ourselves
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- English and Urban Education, the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools, Steinhardt School, New York University
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- Principal Consultant, D.L. Plummer & Associates
Principal Consultant, D.L. Plummer & Associates; Board Member, Grub Street Center for Creative Writing; Board Member, Positive Education Program; Board Member, Reflection Point; Board Member, Nana's Tribe Foundation; Member, DEI Task Force & Development Committees, Facing History & Ourselves,
Former Senior Vice President of Corporate Service, 3Com; Board Member, Accion Opportunity Fund; Leadership Council, YWCA; Member, San Francisco Bay Area Advisory Board & Member, Governance, DEI Task Force, and Development Committees, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Director, Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity, Graduate Center, City University of New York
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- Chief Executive Officer
- President
Desmond K. Blackburn, PhD began serving as President and CEO of Facing History & Ourselves in April, 2023.
Desmond is committed to bringing Facing History's resources to more teachers, schools and districts than ever. He is also dedicated to nurturing a workplace culture where staff are highly engaged and excited to help teachers and their students stand up to bigotry and hate.
Before joining Facing History, Desmond was Deputy Chancellor of School Leadership for the New York City Department of Education, the largest school system in the nation. In this role, he oversaw executive superintendents in addition to all-district and high school superintendents. Prior to that, Desmond served as CEO of the New Teacher Center, a national nonprofit that works to disrupt the predictability of educational inequities for systemically underserved students by accelerating educator effectiveness.
His career in education began in 1996 as a high school math teacher. Desmond continued to follow his passion for education as he rose through the Broward County Public School system in Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Assistant Principal, Principal, Director of School Improvement, Area Superintendent, and finally Chief of School Performance & Accountability. In 2015 he became the Superintendent of Schools for Brevard Public Schools in Brevard County, where his guidance led to the 10th highest graduation rate in the state with three schools earning the distinguished National Blue Ribbon, and the State of Florida grading the system with an "A" for two consecutive years.
Desmond has served both state and national organizations including the Florida Association of District School Superintendents (FADSS) and Chiefs For Change. He sits on the Board of Educational Resource Strategies and is a fellow at the Broad Academy and Pahara Institute as well as an Advisory Committee Member for The Broad Center at the Yale School of Management. He received a BS in Mathematics from the University of Florida along with graduate degrees in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern University (MS) and Florida Atlantic University (PhD).
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- Charles Howard Candler Professor & Chair of African American Studies, Emory University
- Emory University Professor
Dr. Carol Anderson is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of African American Studies at Emory University and a member of Facing History's Board of Scholars. She has written several books, including young adult adaptations. Her work has been a New York Times bestseller, longlisted for the National Book Award in nonfiction, and been nominated for an NAACP Image Award.
Dr. Anderson has been elected into the Society of American Historians, named a W.E.B Du Bois fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, and elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Professor Anderson was a member of the US State Department's Historical Advisory Committee and earned her PhD in history from Ohio State University. Please join me in welcoming Eran DeSilva and Dr. Carol Anderson.
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- Member of the Board of Trustees
Member, Board of Trustees, City Year; Fellow, 2014 Cohort, Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative; Member, Memphis Teacher Residency Advisory Board; Board Member, Memphis Symphony Orchestra; Member, Board of Trustees, First 8 Memphis; Member, Memphis Advisory Board, Facing History & Ourselves
Learn about Dr. Sheldon Korones, founder of one of the oldest and largest neonatal intensive care units in the United States.
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- Chief Officer of Equity
- Chief Officer, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging ( COEIB )
Steve Becton has served as the Chief Officer of Equity, Inclusion & Belonging of Facing History & Ourselves since 2020. He joined Facing History in 2001 as a Program Associate.
Steve leads our Office for Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging and assures that our organization's programs, policies, and culture align with current diversity, equity, and inclusion best-practices. He leads a team of Facing History staff who are working deeply in schools to create whole school culture and transformational educational experiences that would equip educators, while also empowering students to overcome the systemic issues that have placed them at risk.
Steve writes and speaks for Facing History on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging issues in and beyond the classroom. He presents at national conferences, writes blogs, and conducts workshops and webinars for educators and for the larger community centered on having courageous conversations about race and education.
Before joining Facing History, Steve was an exemplary educator, teaching high school social studies for 11 years. He was nationally recognized as a leader among educators, earning Junior Achievement's State Teacher of the Year Award in 2005.
Becton has a BA in Economics from Rhodes College, a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership, and an advanced certificate in Urban Education. He has an earned doctorate from The University of Memphis with a focus on the historical construct of race and its impact on school equity.
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- Professor, School of Applied Social and Policy Sciences, Ulster University
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- Chairman
- Chairman of the Advisory Board
- Managing Director, Cogent Strategies
Managing Director, Cogent Strategies; Co-Founder; The All In Together Campaign; Advisory Board Member, Civic Eagle; Chair, San Francisco Advisory Board and Member, Governance Committee, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Claremont McKenna College
Journalist; Founding Partner, International Media Development Advisers
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- Co - Founder, Ebbets Field Capital LLC
Co-Founder, Ebbets Field Capital LLC; Board Member, Combined Jewish Philanthropies; Member, New England Advisory Board, Chair, Finance Committee, & Member, Executive, Audit, and Development Committees, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Director of Teaching and Learning at Notre Dame High School
Eran has been part of the Bay Area Teacher Leadership Team and also co-founded the Bay Area Facing History Student Leadership Network in 2014 with an Oakland educator. She was the recipient of the Margot Stern Strom Innovative Grant twice. Most recently, she co-authored a book, Leading in the Belly of the Beast: School Leadership in a System Designed to Fail, with three other Facing History educators and school leaders.
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- Regents Professor of History
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- Psychology & Founding Director, the Psychology of Peace and Violence Program, University of Massachusetts Amherst
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- Senior Vice President & COO of Studio Operations, Call of Duty Development, Activision Member, Los Angeles Advisory Board, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project
Senior Fellow, Future of Diplomacy Project, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School of Government; Adjunct Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
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- Executive Director
- Member of the Leadership Team
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- Executive Director
- Member of the Leadership Team
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- Associate Professor of History, the Ohio State University
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- African American Journalist
Learn about Ida B. Wells, an African American journalist and early civil rights activist.
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- Author Associate, Mahindra Humanities Center, Harvard University
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- Adjunct Professor of Law
- Clinical Professor
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- Department Chair of African American Studies, Princeton University
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- Professor, American Studies, Asian American Studies, Government and Politics, College of Behavioral & Social Sciences, University of Maryland
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- Member of the Board of Directors
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- Samuel Rosenthal Professor of Judaic Studies, Case Western Reserve University
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- Distinguished McKnight University Professor of History, University of Minnesota
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- Member of the Board of Directors
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- General Partner, Flybridge Capital Partners Senior Lecturer of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
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- Vice Chair, Nantucket Film Festival
Vice Chair, Nantucket Film Festival; Board Member, Nantucket Book Festival; Board Member, Boston Youth Sanctuary; Member, Advisory Board, Ploughshares at Emerson College; Founding Member, The Nantucket Project; Member, New England Advisory Board, Co-Chair, New England Benefit (2006) & Member, Development Committee, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Chairman of the Board
- Incoming Chair
Incoming Chair Jill Garling has served on the Facing History Board of Directors for many years. Garling concurrently served on the Chicago Advisory Board for two decades, including two terms as the Chair of the Chicago Advisory Board.
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- Professor of Practice in Diplomacy, Fletcher Sc
Professor of Practice in Diplomacy, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; Senior Fellow, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
Learn about John T. Fisher II, a community leader and organizer who helped united Memphis after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
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- Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Catholic Theological Union
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- Education, University of Stellenbosch
Learn about Jose Guerrero, a grassroots activist instrumental in the founding of Latino Memphis.
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- Board Member, Restore Justice Illinois
Board Member, Restore Justice Illinois; Board Member, Chicago Media Project; Chair, Mother Jones Magazine; Founder, London Office, Co-Founder, Chicago Office & Member, Development Committee, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Chairman
- Board Member, Ramapo for Children
Board Member, Ramapo for Children; Board Member, New York City Center; Former Chair, Board of Directors; Chair, Leadership Council; & Member, Executive, Governance, DEI Task Force, Development, and Compensation Committees, Facing History & Ourselves
Justin Levitt, a law professor out of California, did a study. He found that from 2000 to 2014, there were 1 billion-- that's Carl Sagan-ish-- billion votes cast in the United States. There were 31 cases of voter impersonation fraud. 31 out of 1 billion.
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- Independent Historian, Curator, and Consultant
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- Professor & Chair of the Clara Luper Department of African
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- Director, Crimson Summer Academy, Harvard University
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- Chairman
- Chairman of the Advisory Board
- Member of the Leadership Team
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- Board of Scholars Chair
- Chairman / Professor of Philosophy and Law, New York University
Kwame Anthony Appiah was born in London (while his Ghanaian father was completing his law degree). When still an infant his family moved to Kumasi, Ghana, where he grew up. Appiah took BA and PhD degrees in philosophy at Cambridge University and has taught philosophy in Ghana, France, Britain, and the United States. His books include In My Father's House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture, an exploration around questions of African and African American identity; Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, in which cultural dimensions of global citizenship are examined; and The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity, an investigation of the social and individual importance of self. In 2012 Appiah received the National Humanities Medal from President Obama.
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- Chief Officer, Marketing & Communications
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- Alumnae Chair Emeritus Professor of English, Simmons College ( Now Smith University )
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- Retired Partner, Brown Rudnick LLP
Retired Partner, Brown Rudnick LLP; Member, Board of Trustees, Linda Loring Nature Foundation; Member, London Advisory Board & Member, Governance and Compensation Committees, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Member of the Board of Directors
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- Chairman
- Chairman of the Advisory Board
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Co - Founder & COO, Gatheround Chair, Los Angeles Advisory Board, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Chairman
- Chairman of the Advisory Board
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Retired Senior Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges
Retired Senior Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP; Member, Trustees' Council of Penn Women & Board Member, Penn Hillel, University of Pennsylvania; Member, Next Generation Council, USC Shoah Foundation; Co-Chair, Funding Committee, UJA Federation of New York; Chair, New York Advisory Board, Co-Chair, New York Benefit (1996, 2014), & Member, Executive and Development Committees, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Lucie Stern Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Stanford University
Learn about Lucy Tibbs, survivor of the Memphis Massacre whose courageous testimony led to the passage of the 14th amendment.
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- Member of the Board of Directors
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- Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Boston
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- Retired Manager, MFS Investment Management
Retired Manager, MFS Investment Management; Board Member, MSCI Inc.; Board Member, First Industrial Realty Trust; Member, Board of Trustees, Core Knowledge Foundation; Member, Advisory Council on Education, Harvard Medical School; Member, Finance Committee, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Treasurer of the Board of Directors
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- Member of the Board of Directors
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- Chief Officer, Finance & Talent
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- Professor of Spanish, Wellesley College
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- Retired Founder, MSF Capital, LLC Member, New York Advisory Board, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Executive Director
- Member of the Leadership Team
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- Executive Director
- Member of the Leadership Team
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- Member of the Board of Directors
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- Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute
Director of the Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust & Professor of Jewish Studies, American Jewish University
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- Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History, Harvard Law School
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- Professor, Harvard Law School
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- Member of the Board of Directors
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- Executive Director
- Member of the Leadership Team
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- Board Member, Promax Member, Los Angeles Advisory Board & Chair, Development Committee & Member, Executive Committee, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Member of the Board of Directors
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- Executive Director
- Member of the Leadership Team
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- Associate Professor of History, College of Liberal Arts, University of Massachusetts Boston
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- Retired Chair, Highland Capital
Retired Chair, Highland Capital Management; Advisor Emeritus, Boston Symphony Orchestra; Co-Chair, Memphis Benefit (1997, 1998, 2002), Former Chair, Memphis Advisory Board, & Member, Audit and Development Committees, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean, Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California
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- Professor Emeritus of History and German & Theodore Zev Weiss Holocaust Educational Foundation, Northwestern University
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- Chairman of the Board of Directors
- President, RCB Capital Corporation Chair, Canada Board of Directors, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Chairman
- Chairman of the Advisory Board
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Principal, Crenshaw and Associates
Principal, Crenshaw and Associates Consulting Group; Former Captain, United States Army; Chair, Memphis Advisory Board, Co-Chair, 25th Anniversary Benefit, & Member, Finance Committee, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Armenian Educational Foundation Professor Emeritus of Modern Armenian History, University of California, Los Angeles
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- Senior Lecturer on Education & Faculty Director, Human Development and Psychology, Harvard Graduate School of Education & Kennedy School of Government
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- Vice President of Research, Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning ( CASEL )
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- Roy Edward Larsen Research Professor of Education and Human Development, Harvard Graduate School of Education & Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School
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- Member of the Board of Directors
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- Roy Edward Larsen Research Professor of Education and Human Development, Harvard Graduate School of Education & Professor of Psychology, Harvard Medical School
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- Professor, Harvard Law School
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- Retired Partner, Wellington Management Company
Retired Partner, Wellington Management Company; Vice Chair, Marine Biological Laboratory; Board Member, Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston; Board Member, Analysis Group; Co-Chair, New England Benefit (2014) & Chair, Audit Committee, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Member of the Board of Directors
99% of teachers surveyed would recommend Facing History professional to their colleagues.
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- Chairman
- Chairman of the Advisory Board
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Founder, Citizens Leadership Middle School
Founder, Citizens Leadership Middle Schools; Board Member, Teach for America - Ohio; Editor, The Borgen Project; Cofounder and Coalition Member, Honesty for Ohio Education; Chair, Cleveland Advisory Board, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Senior Vice President, Corporate Brand, the Allstate Corporation
Senior Vice President, Corporate Brand, The Allstate Corporation; Board Member, Chicago Urban League; Member, Board of Trustees, Arthur W. Page Society; Chair, Chicago Advisory Board & Member, Executive and DEI Task Force Committees, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Member of the San Francisco Bay Area Advisory Board & Development Committee, Facing History & Ourselves
Learn about T.O. Jones, a sanitation worker who led the Memphis Sanitation Workers' Strike in 1968.
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- Chairman
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Chairman, New England Advisory Board
- Research Director, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Research Director, Project Zero, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Vice President, Board of Trustees, Beaver Country Day School; Chair, New England Advisory Board & Member, Development Committee, Facing History & Ourselves
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- Professor Emeritus of History and Holocaust Studies, Avraham Harman Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Academic Advisor, Yad Vashem