Dear friends of Facing History and Ourselves,
We are pleased to inform you that Roger Brooks has been chosen as Facing History and Ourselves' next President and CEO, effective December 1, 2014. Roger is a renowned educator, scholar, and leader. He joins Facing History following a long and distinguished tenure at Connecticut College where he served as the Dean of the Faculty and Chief Academic Officer. He has held the Elie Wiesel Professorship in the department of Religious Studies there for 23 years. Roger is currently a Fellow at the Center for Institutional and Social Change at Columbia University Law School.
Roger has a compelling array of strategic skills and experiences that make him uniquely qualified to guide the organization. He has a fierce passion for, and profound understanding of Facing History's mission, and he has devoted his life to helping students develop their moral compass.
"I am deeply moved by the mission of Facing History and Ourselves, and even more by the impact our teachers have on their students' lives, as they develop into critical thinkers who are driven to improve their communities, both locally and globally," said Brooks.
We are confident that Roger will provide the intellectual leadership necessary for the ongoing evolution and wider implementation of Facing History's content and pedagogy by teachers and educators in our growing network, while continuing to strengthen the organization's culture and business model. Roger has a longstanding commitment to Holocaust education through the Holocaust Educational Foundation of Northwestern University, which provides professional development to college educators who teach the study of the Holocaust. As Dean of the Faculty at Connecticut College, Roger worked collaboratively in every aspect of the institution's work: leading the academic program, advancing the school's information technology program, developing capital projects, and expanding fundraising. Roger also led Connecticut College in substantially increasing faculty diversity. His deeply caring, thoughtful, results-oriented leadership style is an excellent match for Facing History's needs. Brooks' outstanding contributions to the classroom were recognized when he received the John S. King Memorial Award, the highest teaching honor Connecticut College confers on faculty.
On December 1, Margot Stern Strom will transition to the role of President Emerita and Senior Scholar. She will focus her efforts on research and special projects relating to the revision of Facing History's seminal resource: Facing History and Ourselves: Holocaust and Human Behavior. We are tremendously grateful for her visionary leadership, and are fortunate that she is continuing on in this capacity.
The Facing History Board of Directors is delighted to appoint Roger and to introduce him at the upcoming Board convening on November 16, 2014. We want to thank the members of the Search Committee for their tireless efforts in designing and conducting a robust process that has concluded so successfully.
We look forward to introducing you to Roger Brooks in the next few months, and to working together with Roger to continue the pioneering work of Facing History and Ourselves: to offer future generations of educators and students the intellectual tools and essential skills necessary to link historical events to the moral and ethical choices they will encounter in their lives.
With all best wishes,
Julie A. Leff and Tracy Palandjian, Co-Chairs, Board of Directors
Seth A. Klarman, Chair, Board of Trustees
