Seton Hill University’s (SHU) National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) is one of the only Universities to recognize the holocaust and promote necessary historical and religious studies. The organization also has opportunities for students to travel and study the causes of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.
By Anne Williams
Staff Writer
Seton Hill University’s (SHU) National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) is one of the only Universities to recognize the holocaust and promote necessary historical and religious studies. The organization also has opportunities for students to travel and study the causes of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.
SHU new program in genocide and holocaust studies promotes and supports scholarship in the causes of the holocaust and other related genocides. Students can earn either a graduate level certificate or an undergraduate minor in these studies.
While many related programs, organizations and people have noticed the same qualities of the NCCHE and have given to the program in hopes that it will keep growing, one family stands out in particular. Ethel LeFrak, a regular contributor and follower of the NCCHE, donated $750,000 to endow the Ethel LeFrak Holocaust Education Conference and create the Ethel LeFrak Student Scholars of the Holocaust Fund.
This donation will allow the program to grow as well as receive some recognition.
The grant will also help fund events such as the Nostra Aetate Awards Ceremony and SHU’s Kristallnacht Service.
The triennial Holocaust Education Conference of the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education, now known as The Ethel LeFrak Holocaust Education Conference, seeks to enhance Catholic-Jewish understanding by “educating the educators” in the hope of reaching the whole of humanity. The conference will equip teachers and faculty members to seriously discuss anti-Semitism issues and the causes of the Holocaust as well as write and deliver papers that will bring responses and further discussions.
The amount of money came as a surprise to many people working with the NCCHE. Laura Gonnella, a sophomore and work-study student for the NCCHE, said, that “it was very generous and will benefit the University’s program by making it more well known to the students and possibly the Greensburg area.”
Concerning this contribution, Ethel LeFrak stated, “I consider myself so lucky to be part of this great endeavor initiated by Seton Hill. Together, with increased research towards understanding, we will make the world a better place.”