{"id":5159,"date":"2026-08-03T16:45:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ramapo.edu\/holocaust\/?page_id=5159"},"modified":"2026-09-24T15:35:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T19:35:28","slug":"staff-board","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ramapo.edu\/holocaust\/about\/staff-board\/","title":{"rendered":"Staff & Board"},"content":{"rendered":"

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Staff<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Director<\/h3>\n

Jacob Ari Labendz, PhD<\/h4>\n

Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies<\/strong>
\nE-mail:<\/strong> jlabendz@ramapo.edu<\/a>
\nPhone:<\/strong> (201) 684-7409<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/i><\/i><\/span>About the Director<\/div>
\n

Jacob Ari Labendz directs the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. He teaches courses in related topics, as well as Jewish studies. Dr. Labendz holds a Ph.D. in history from Washington University in St. Louis. He writes about the history of Jews in and from Central Europe in the twentieth century and contributes to scholarly discussions of nationalism, the Cold War, contemporary antisemitism, Holocaust memory, and Jewish food cultures. In addition to a number of articles and reviews, he published two edited volumes, Jewish Veganism and Vegetarianism: Studies and New Directions<\/i>\u00a0with Shmuly Yanklowitz (SUNY, 2019) and\u00a0Jewish Property after 1945: Cultures and Economies of Ownership, Loss, Recovery, and Transfer\u00a0<\/i>(Routledge, 2017). He is currently collaborating with Rebekah Klein-Pej\u0161ov\u00e1 on an edited volume focused on the movement and meetings of Jewish people and artifacts across Cold-War boundaries. Dr. Labendz is passionate about integrating Holocaust and genocide studies into curricula and cocurricular activities across Ramapo, and to serving the northern New Jersey and southern New York region.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

\"Headshot<\/a>Pedagogy Programs Administrator<\/h3>\n

Colleen Tambuscio<\/h4>\n

Pedagogy Programs Administrator<\/strong>
\nE-mail: ctambusc@ramapo.edu<\/a>
\nPhone: (201) 684-7406<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/i><\/i><\/span>About the PPA<\/div>
\n

 <\/p>\n

Colleen Tambuscio comes to °®ÒºAƬ with thirty-eight years of teaching experience. She began her career teaching the deaf for Bergen County Special Services and first taught Holocaust education to her deaf students for seventeen years. She continued her career at New Milford High School in Bergen County, New Jersey for 22 years. During her teaching career, she developed a semester-long Holocaust course and annually travelled to the\u00a0U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum for a two-day seminar with students.\u00a0 Since 1998, she has taken students to Germany, Czech Republic, and Poland to study the Holocaust accomplishing twenty-one student trips.<\/p>\n

In 1998, Colleen was named as a Mandel Fellow at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (currently Museum Teacher Fellow) and has served as a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Regional Museum Educator since 2002. Since 2002, Colleen has been a board member of the RCNJ Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education. Colleen earned an MA in Jewish-Christian Studies and Holocaust Education from Seton Hall University in 2006.\u00a0 In 2010, she traveled to Nahariya, Israel with the UJA Federation\u2019s Partnership 2000 Program to develop a dialogue between Israeli and her own public high school students. She is the founder and President of the New Jersey Council of Holocaust Educators, a national professional-development organization for educators interested in teaching the Holocaust and genocide.\u00a0 In 2015, Colleen worked with Alexandra Zapruder, author of\u00a0Salvaged Pages: Young Writers\u2019 Diaries of the Holocaust<\/em>, to create a multimedia edition of the book and lessons associated with the diaries which are housed on the Facing History and Ourselves website. Colleen was honored by Princeton University in 2017 as a Distinguished New Jersey Secondary Teacher. In October of 2021, she was appointed by Governor Murphy to the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

\"°®ÒºAƬ\"<\/div>\n

CHGS Interns<\/h2>\n

CHGS offers two paid, for-credit internships to °®ÒºAƬ students every semester. Our interns contribute directly to our programs and exhibitions while deepening their knowledge of our subject matter and gaining skills for the future<\/p>\n

\"°®ÒºAƬ\"<\/div>\n

Advisory Board<\/h2>\n

We benefit from the wise counsel and networks of a diverse Advisory Board, chaired by Peter Safirstein, Esq.<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Peter Safirstein, Esq., Chair<\/em><\/li>\n
  • Arthur Barchenko<\/li>\n
  • Christina Connor, Assessment & Instruction Librarian at Ramapo<\/em><\/li>\n
  • Dr. Heather Monen, teacher at Pascack Hills High School<\/em><\/li>\n
  • Dwaine Perry, °®ÒºAƬugh Munsee Lunaape Nation<\/em><\/li>\n
  • Stanley Richmond, °®ÒºAƬ Volunteer<\/em><\/li>\n
  • Dr. Rebecca Root, Professor of Political Science<\/em><\/li>\n
  • Dr. Sharon Rubin, Professor Emerita of Ramapo<\/em><\/li>\n
  • Linda Sokolski<\/li>\n
  • Ani Tchaghlasian, Armenian National Committee of America<\/em><\/li>\n
  • David Terdiman, Assistant Vice President Institutional Advancement<\/em><\/li>\n
  • Sharlene Vichness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Ex Officio<\/em><\/strong>:\u00a0<\/strong>Dr. Michael Middleton, Provost; Dr. Susan Hangen, Dean of the School of Humanities and Global Studies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Staff Director Jacob Ari Labendz, PhD Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies E-mail: jlabendz@ramapo.edu Phone: (201) 684-7409 Pedagogy Programs Administrator Colleen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":938,"featured_media":0,"parent":5157,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5159","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nStaff & Board - Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) || Ramapo of New Jersey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ramapo.edu\/holocaust\/about\/staff-board\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Staff & Board\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies Staff Director Jacob Ari Labendz, PhD Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies E-mail: jlabendz@ramapo.edu Phone: (201) 684-7409 Pedagogy Programs Administrator Colleen […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ramapo.edu\/holocaust\/about\/staff-board\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/°®ÒºAƬCollege\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-24T19:35:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ramapo.edu\/holocaust\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/31\/2024\/09\/image000000.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ramapocollegenj\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ramapo.edu\\\/holocaust\\\/about\\\/staff-board\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ramapo.edu\\\/holocaust\\\/about\\\/staff-board\\\/\",\"name\":\"Staff & Board - Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (CHGS) || Ramapo of New Jersey\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ramapo.edu\\\/holocaust\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ramapo.edu\\\/holocaust\\\/about\\\/staff-board\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ramapo.edu\\\/holocaust\\\/about\\\/staff-board\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ramapo.edu\\\/holocaust\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/31\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/image000000-225x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-03T20:45:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-24T19:35:28+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ramapo.edu\\\/holocaust\\\/about\\\/staff-board\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ramapo.edu\\\/holocaust\\\/about\\\/staff-board\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ramapo.edu\\\/holocaust\\\/about\\\/staff-board\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ramapo.edu\\\/holocaust\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/31\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/image000000.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ramapo.edu\\\/holocaust\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/31\\\/2024\\\/09\\\/image000000.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":1600,\"caption\":\"A man with wavy dark hair, a beard, and glasses stands outdoors wearing a navy blue button-up shirt. 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