About the Committee

The Jacksonville State University Holocaust Remembrance Committee was formed in order to facilitate the planning of a program to remember the Holocaust of World War II. This program is now an annual event known as the JSU Holocaust Remembrance. The JSU Holocaust Remembrance began in 1982 as a project of the JSU Wesley Foundation. Over the years, attendance at the remembrance program has grown from a short event attended by 25 people to the current annual programs which often have an attendance of several hundred from the campus and surrounding communities. The Committee's mission is to organize the annual remembrance of the Holocaust in view of the mandates of Public Law 96-388 (7 October 1980) in order to:

"provide for appropriate ways for the nation to commemorate the Days of Remembrance, as an annual, national, and civic commemoration of the Holocaust, and to encourage and sponsor appropriate observances of such Days of Remembrance throughout the United States."

Accordingly, the goals and objectives of the Committee are:

1. To plan and implement an annual remembrance for the victims of the Holocaust
2. To broaden understanding of the Holocaust in the University community and the community-at-large
3. To encourage participation in the commemoration by students, faculty, and members of the community-at-large
4. To expand scholarship and teaching about the Holocaust
5. To remember the Holocaust in order to assure that future generations will learn its lessons so that it will never happen again

The 2023/2024 Holocaust Remembrance Committee Members are:

Matthew Hill, Co-Chair
Senior Lead Advisor
JSU Student Success Center

Karlie Johnson, Co-Chair
Assistant Professor
Reference Librarian
Houston Cole Library

Allison Boswell
Assistant Professor
Electronic Resources/Documents Librarian
Houston Cole Library

Rev. Robert Fowler
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
Community Member Liaison

Dr. Benjamin Gross
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology and Political Science

Bethany Latham (ad hoc, Web Administrator)
Professor
Digital Assets and Special Collections Librarian
Houston Cole Library

Russel Lemmons
Distinguished Professor
Department of History and Foreign Language

April Mattox
Coordinator of Imagining the Holocaust Writing Contest
Instructor
Department of English

Breanna Williamson
Jacksonville State University Student

President
Student Government Association