Yom HaShoah Commemoration

Holocaust Remembrance Day
April 22, 2012
Sponsored by the Holocaust Museum and Study Center, Spring Valley
Welcome Remarks
by Cliff L. Wood

On behalf of the entire Rockland Community College family, I want to welcome you all here today. At RCC, we take the word “community” in our title very seriously, and you are an important part of our community. We are honored to be the hosting venue for this important Yom Hashoah Commemoration.

This remembrance is an important occasion for all of us, not just for those who are Jewish. For the subjugation and persecution and genocide of any group during the Holocaust, and even in modern times, is, or should be, abhorrent to all people. In commemorating Yom Hashoah, we remember what happened. In remembering what happened, we are reminded that such a thing can happen. By that reminder, we are encouraged and hopefully inspired to be sure to do our part, both as individuals and as a community, to prevent such a thing from ever happening again.

We have to educate ourselves about what happened and how it happened so that we can be alert to the signs of hate and prejudice that foster crimes against humanity like the Holocaust. In coming together to commemorate what was terrible, we become a critical mass that is standing up for goodness, for right, and for humanity itself. Our remembrance here today gives us hope that we, by our example, by our never forgetting, will teach others why they, too, should always remember. The remembrance and recognition can lead to prevention.

Hanna Szenes, a writer and heroic paratrooper and undercover operative who fought against the Nazis wrote the following words to her mother in 1940. She said:

“There are stars whose radiance is visible on earth long after they themselves are gone. There are people whose glorious memory continues to light the world though they are no longer among the living. These lights are particularly bright when the night is dark. They light the way.”

And so we are here this evening to remember the stars who continue to light our way. As we remember the Holocaust, we must also acknowledge what is happening in our own time. All these years later, incidents of hate, intolerance and discrimination continue to flare against those who are different in race, religion, lifestyle, creed or practice. We must all, as individuals and communities, commit ourselves to the practice of acts of kindness, tolerance and respect for the dignity and humanity of all human beings.

Welcome to Rockland Community College, where we are truly one community.

Comments

In Celebration of Scholarship

While I have always believed that community colleges are primarily teaching institutions and teaching is at the center of all we do, I also believe after almost fifty years in community college education that our best teachers are also actively involved in some kind of scholarship/professional activities. This engagement can be traditional research, creativity in the visual, performing or textual arts or active involvement in social, community or business activities. It is because of this belief that one of the first projects I initiated when I came to RCC was the establishment of The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) . I will forever be grateful to the extraordinary Libby Bay, former English Professor and Humanities Division Chair, who chaired the committee that developed the guidelines for CETL. The amazing work Professor Bay began continues today under the leadership of CETL Co-Directors, Professor Lynn Aaron and Dr. Elaine Padilla. These committed f

A Special Holiday Gift from the Riversville Foundation

On Tuesday, December 6, RCC and BOCES administrators gathered for a luncheon with this year's student recipients of the Riversville Foundation scholarship awards. The Riversville Foundation was founded in 2006 by Barton Biggs, a former partner at Morgan Stanley and founder of Traxis Partners, a hedge-fund based in Greenwich, CT. Biggs, who died in 2012, believed in the power of education, and particularly the importance of a college degree. While Riversville has primarily worked with four-year institutions, beginning in 2014, the Riversville Foundation began a collaboration with Rockland Community College. This year, full one-year scholarships were awarded to 21 RCC students, a commitment of more than $95,000. Under the direction of the Riversville Foundation's Executive Director, Bruno Casolari, a former Director of Resource Development at RCC , the Foundation has awarded more than $135,000 in need-based scholarships to more than 25 Rockland Community College s

Goals and Gold

My goal when I came to RCC in May of 2004 was to create a student-centered environment that put students and their learning and success at the center of the institution. I knew that for that to happen, there had to be transformation and change. And, since teaching and learning are the primary mission of the College, I knew that first we had to look at how we teach and how our students learn. Early in my tenure, I established the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) , and now, after more than ten years, CETL has thrived, and each year it has provided an array of programs to help and encourage our faculty. In addition to CETL, over the last several years, the State University of New York (SUNY) has charged its community colleges with looking at how they teach, especially in the areas of English and math, and to re-think remediation. RCC has emerged as a leader in both of these areas, and SUNY cites RCC as a model for its new math program called QUANTWAY and our develop

This Month from Cliff

Search This Blog