Abel Endowed Lecture Series Guest Speakers
The advisory committee for the Dr. Harold Abel Endowed Lecture Series in the Study of Dictatorship, Democracy and Genocide will invite to campus distinguished scholars to discuss the past, present and future of worldwide genocide. The series focuses on the impact of historical events such as the Holocaust and mass murders in Africa, Southeast Asia and Central America.
Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong
Executive Order 9066 and Japanese American Concentration Camps
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
6:30 - 7:30 p.m.
Park Library, Sarah & Daniel Opperman Auditorium
Open map
Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong is the Executive Director of the Japanese American Museum of Oregon. She is a public historian, political scientist, and museologist. She previously worked for state and federal agencies including the Idaho State Historical Society, the U.S. Navy, the National Park Service, and the White House Office of the Chief of Staff. In 2021, she received the Esto Perpetua Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Idaho State Historical Society for her work in preservation of Japanese American incarceration history in Idaho. She holds a BA in History and BS in Political Science from Boise State University, as well as an MA in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University, where she serves as an adjunct faculty member for their Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Museum Studies and Cultural Heritage Management Programs.
This talk is sponsored by the Dr. Harold Abel Endowed Lecture Series in the Study of Dictatorship, Democracy and Genocide within the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at CMU.
Student Discussion
Thursday, April 17
9:00 a.m.
CLASS Hub – Anspach 144
Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong and Stacey Camp, archaeologist at Michigan State University, will be in the CLASS Hub for a student-centered discussion about chasing their dreams and finding jobs in non-profits, museums, history and more.
Past speakers
Amy Simon
Thursday, November 14, 2024
Emotions in Ghettos during the Holocaust
Panel Discussion
Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Learning Beyond Borders: Voices of Displaced Students
Jeffrey Veidlinger
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Jews and Ukraine in Times of War: Lessons from the Past
Yascha Mounk
Tuesday, April 18, 2023
Video: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure
Dara Horn
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
Discussion of her book, People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present (Norton 2021)
Ian Urbina
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Video: Migrants and Mercenaries on the Outlaw Ocean: A Discussion of EU Efforts to Build a Virtual Wall Across the Mediterranean
Judy Batalion
Monday, November 1, 2021
Author of The Light of Days: The Untold Story of Women Resistance Fighters in Hitler's Ghettos
Art Spiegelman
February 18, 2021
Virtual conversation with author and illustrator Art Spiegelman
Claudia Montero Miranda
April 24, 2019
Video: "Violence Against Women's Resistance Under Pinochet's Dictatorship"
Martin Lowenberg
November 7, 2018
Video: Holocaust Survivor Martin Lowenberg
Megan Bradley
March 21, 2018
"Ending Exile: The Meaning and Making of Solutions to Refugee Crises"
Laura Jockusch
November 9, 2017
"Jewish Honor Courts in the Aftermath of the Holocaust"
Jennifer Trahan
April 7, 2017
"From Rwanda to the Present: The Prosecution of Atrocity Crimes"
Debórah Dwork
November 17, 2016
You Too Can Make a Difference: Rescue and Rescuers during the Holocaust
Christine Ahn
April 7, 2016
Video: "Women's Leadership in the Korean Peace Process"
Steven E. Aschheim
November 17, 2015
"Why the Germans? Why the Jews? The Perennial Holocaust Question"
Allida Black
April 1, 2015
"Can a Declaration Combat Genocide?"
Steve Hochstadt
November 17, 2014
"Seeing the Holocaust from Shanghai"
Zoltan Tibori Szabo
March 24, 2014
"Right Wing Extremism in Central and Eastern Europe"
Murry Sidlin
November 19, 2013
"Terezín, 1941-1945: The Most Unlikely, Curious, Accidental, Enigmatic, and Inspiring ‘Improvised University’ in History"
Vera Meisels
April 7, 2013
Reading by Holocaust survivor Vera Meisels
Robert Melson
March 21, 2012
"The Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust Through the Extraordinary Experiences of Two Survivors Who Outwitted Their Killers"
Guy Stern
November 9, 2011
"Kristallnacht: A Night of Broken Glass, Broken Bodies, Broken Hearts"
Gérard Prunier
March 28, 2011
"The Partition of Sudan and the Crisis in the Arab World"
Claudia Koonz
November 9, 2010
"Genocide and the Moral Order in a Globalized World"
Gerhard Weinberg
November 9, 2009
"A New Look at Hitler and the Beginning of the Holocaust"