The Ray Wolpow Institute

The Ray Wolpow Institute Global education rooted in the liberal arts that investigates the Holocaust, genocide, and crimes ag

The Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity was created to provide Western students with a global education rooted in the liberal arts that investigates the Holocaust, genocide, and crimes against humanity from various perspectives and academic disciplines. The institute also will address the state’s recommendation to teach the Holocaust in state

public schools by giving future teachers in training at Western this much-needed background. And new courses will be created at Western as part of an anticipated academic minor in Holocaust and Genocide Studies. While the Institute will focus, first and foremost, on the Holocaust and genocide, broadening the scope of the institute to include crimes against humanity will enable the university to take advantage of additional expertise among Western faculty. Through teaching, research, and outreach, the institute will complement and add to already existing programs and entities on campus – for example. the Center for Education, Equity and Diversity at Woodring College, the Center for Law, Diversity and Justice at Fairhaven College, and the Institute for Global Engagement. The institute is named after retired Western Professor Ray Wolpow, faculty emeritus at WWU’s Woodring College of Education and founder of the Northwest Center for Holocaust, Genocide, and Ethnocide Education (NWCHGEE) at Western. The NWCHGEE originally was established in 1998 to assist educators in the design, and implementation of Holocaust, genocide, and ethnocide-related studies.

“I am honored to have the institute bear my name. However, it is important to remember that our seminal work here at Western was possible only with the guidance of Holocaust survivors Noémi Ban, Fred Fragner, and Magda Dorman. It was their courage, their willingness to bear witness to unfathomable events, their dedication to the pursuit of painful truths that inspired faculty and students alike. I trust that our institute will continue to grow the knowledge, compassion and willingness to use the lessons of the past to advocate for the human rights of all people,” Wolpow said.

05/08/2026
We're pretty excited about our new institute signs. What do you think?
05/06/2026

We're pretty excited about our new institute signs. What do you think?

Consider taking a class this summer led by RWI's Director, Professor Akinrinade. No pre-requisites required!
05/04/2026

Consider taking a class this summer led by RWI's Director, Professor Akinrinade. No pre-requisites required!

This summer, open to all students - no prereqs needed!
04/29/2026

This summer, open to all students - no prereqs needed!

Today, April 24 marks Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. We honor the lives lost, uplift survivor voices, and commit to ...
04/24/2026

Today, April 24 marks Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. We honor the lives lost, uplift survivor voices, and commit to truth, education, and prevention.

The Ray Wolpow Institute stands in remembrance and solidarity.

Join us on Tuesday, April 28, at 12:30pm EDT for our co-sponsored event with the Kupferberg Holocaust Center, "Varian Fr...
04/21/2026

Join us on Tuesday, April 28, at 12:30pm EDT for our co-sponsored event with the Kupferberg Holocaust Center, "Varian Fry: The Audacious American Journalist Who Saved Europe's Artists from the N***s"
Register to watch online: https://ow.ly/GivO50YBXpT

Since the end of World War II Holocaust memorial monuments have been made in scores of shapes, sizes, forms, and with text in many languages. Initially designed for Jewish audiences, and then in more recent decades for a wider public, they are often intended to teach broader lessons or meet political objectives. Given the breadth of these memorials, what roles do and/or should they play in art, history, commemoration, and education? Using the expansive data from the International Holocaust Memorial Monument Database, to which he has been a lead contributor, Dr. Samuel Gruber, President of the International Survey of Jewish Monuments, reveals how these memorials both reflect and shape Jewish and other collective memories over the past 80 years.

This Friday, April 24 - 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm EST Join Brooklyn-based playwright and producer Kendell Pinkney for a faculty...
04/20/2026

This Friday, April 24 - 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm EST
Join Brooklyn-based playwright and producer Kendell Pinkney for a faculty training workshop that is part of What Would You Bring?, a Fall 2026 interdisciplinary writing initiative.
What Would You Bring? invites students to narrate personal and familial histories of forced migration and to imagine the objects they might bring with them if they had to flee their homes. Drawing from his background in theatre, Pinkney will discuss how educators can create safe spaces for difficult conversations in the classroom and share techniques for facilitating deep listening among participants. Pinkney serves as Director of Jewish Learning and Artist-in-Residence for Reboot. He is also the founding Artistic Director of The Workshop, a New York-based arts and culture fellowship that supports the work of professional artists of BIPOC-Jewish heritage, including the online exhibition What Would You Bring?, a Reboot production which inspired this collaboration between the Kupferberg Holocaust Center & QCC’s English Department.
Register here: https://ow.ly/Rle650YMPCw

Join us on Thursday April 23, at 12:00pm EDT for our co-sponsored event with the Kupferberg Holocaust Center, "Finding R...
04/17/2026

Join us on Thursday April 23, at 12:00pm EDT for our co-sponsored event with the Kupferberg Holocaust Center, "Finding Refuge at Bryn Mawr: The Exiled Mathematician Emmy Noether"
Register to watch online: https://ow.ly/roqZ50YBXkk

On November 7, 1933, Emmy Noether, the most eminent woman mathematician in Europe, arrived in New York after she was dismissed from the University of Göttingen. Dr. Qinna Shen, Associate Professor of German at Bryn Mawr College and author of A Refugee Scholar from N**i Germany: Emmy Noether and Bryn Mawr College (2019), will reconstruct the story of how Noether found refuge in the U.S. and share ongoing efforts by mathematicians and physicists to honor her.

Today on April 17, we remember the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975, a moment that marked the beginning of the Cambodian Genoc...
04/17/2026

Today on April 17, we remember the fall of Phnom Penh in 1975, a moment that marked the beginning of the Cambodian Genocide under the Khmer Rouge regime.

Today, we honor the lives lost, the resilience of survivors, and the importance of bearing witness to history. Remembering is not only about the past—it is a commitment to justice, education, and preventing future atrocities.

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516 High Street, MS 9182
Bellingham, WA
98225

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+13606507737

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