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Board of Directors

Chairperson
Michael Gyory

Vice Chair
Daniel P. Weinreb

Treasurer
Andrew R. Benerofe

Secretary
Barbara Berger Tartell

Board Members
Elie Abemayor
David A. Alpert
Yonat Assayag
Leah Eisenberg
Paul Elliot
Frances Ginsberg
Rachel Greenspan
Ziporah Janowski
Dan Joseph
Joseph Kaidanow
Harris Markhoff, Esq.
Karin Meyers, M.A.
Mitchell Wm. Ostrove
Leah Rozenfeld Sills
Debby Ziering

Honorary Board Member
Gary Joseph

Advisory Board
Grace Bennett
Richard A. Berman
Hon. Noam Bramson
Melissa Cates, Esq.
Michele Rees Finn
Marcia Gordon, Ph.D.
David Imamura
Barbara Lewis Kaplan
Naomi Koller
Haina Just-Michael
Rika Levin
Audrey Reich
Susan Rothschild
Tamar Sadeh
Caryn Stafford
Kathy Zaltas

Executive Director
Millie Jasper

Chairperson Emeritus

Joseph Kaidanow
Hon. Valerie M. O’Keeffe
David A. Alpert
Richard Laster*
Eugene M. Grant *
Michael Margulies*
Irwin Weiner *

*Deceased

Our Staff

Millie Jasper
Executive Director

Steven Goldberg
Director of Education

Jeanne Claire Cotnoir
Coordinator of Student Programming

Daniel P. Browne
Librarian

Deborah Boxer Minchin
Coordinator of Student Programming

Debra Cerbini - Assistant to Executive Director dcerbini@hhrecny.org

Catherine McGrath - Bookkeeper cmcgrath@hhrecny.org

Bette Sparago - Speakers Bureau Liaison bsparago@hhrecny.org

Millie Jasper

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Millie can be reached at mjasper@hhrecny.org or at 914.696.0738

Executive Director

Millie is the Executive Director of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC).   She is elected to the Board of Association of Holocaust Organizations (AHO). She is a past president of Temple Israel of Northern Westchester in Croton-on-Hudson where she oversaw infrastructure changes both in administration and programming.  She also served as the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) Community Vice-Chair and was a member of the Board of Westchester Jewish Council (WJC). She was co-chair for the AJC Thanksgiving Diversity Breakfast.

Additionally, she has been a volunteer in Westchester County for many years in a variety of capacities. Among her accomplishments are leading members of the local interfaith community to the "Save Darfur" rally in Washington, D.C. and chairing the committee that delivered over $54,000 of needed supplies to victims of Katrina.  Millie served on the Executive Board at Temple Beth Abraham.  Millie was a member of the Board of Trustees at Soundview Preparatory School.

Previously Millie worked in the administrative offices at the JCC of Mid-Westchester, at the real estate department at Lifetime Television Network and was the Public Relations Project Coordinator at Soundview Preparatory School.

She earned her B.A. at the University of Rochester and lives with her husband, Richard in Westchester County where they raised their two children.

Steve Goldberg

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Director of Education

Steven A. Goldberg is the Director of Education of the Holocaust & Human Rights Education Center (HHREC) in White Plains.  After teaching global history and geography at Edgemont HS for sixteen years, he taught and served as social studies department chairman for the City School District of New Rochelle for 30 years.  He also was an adjunct professor at Manhatanville College where he taught a course on Holocaust films.

A past president of both the New York State Council for the Social Studies and the National Council for the Social Studies, he has also served as a consultant to the New York State Department of Education   Among his responsibilities for the HHREC is the planning and implementation of professional development activities for teachers, including organizing and leading biennial educational trips to Germany and Poland.   He also coordinated the writing of an extensive on-line curriculum on teaching the Holocaust and other genocides.  He has made presentations and conducted workshops and seminars on a wide range of curricular and pedagogical topics, including teaching the Holocaust, the history of antisemitism, and the symbols and language of hate.

Steve has authored several books, such as Brief Review in Global History and Geography (on-going since 1999) and the Goethe Institut’s Focus on Germany and Let’s Explore Modern Germany (2013) and has translated two books on the lives of immigrant children from German into English

Among his many honors, he received the Shapers of Destiny Award (1999) from the HHREC,  the Melvin Miller Outstanding Social Studies Leader Award from the National Social Studies Supervisors’ Association (2014), and the Lifetime Achievement Award (2017) from the New York State Council for the Social Studies.

Steve received his bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Rochester and a master’s degree from Yale University.  He was a Fulbright Fellow to the Netherlands.  He participated in two summer teacher academies of Centropa in Warsaw and Krakow, and in Prague, Vienna and Berlin.

He lives in Hastings-on-Hudson and has two sons and two grandchildren.

Steve can be reached at sgoldberg@hhrecny.org or at 914.696.0738.

Jeanne Claire Cotnoir

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Coordinator of Student Programming

Jeanne Claire Cotnoir taught social studies for 40 years in numerous parochial and public schools, completing her career at Briarcliff High School. She also has been an adjunct instructor at Iona University (world history). She is a recipient of National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants in Middle Eastern studies and Transatlantic Slave Trade and in 2017 was honored by Westchester Black Scholars as Teacher of the Year. She participated in 2019 in the Rwandan Genocide Study Tour run by Carl Wilkins.

Jeanne Claire joined the Educators’ Program Committee in 2018, and has worked on both the Middle School and High School Human Rights Leadership Institutes and the Living History project. Among her community volunteerism, she is on the Board of Directors of ENU (Empower, Network, Uplift) Builds in Ossining.

Jeanne Claire earned her BA and MA in History and Social Studies Education at the Iona University and lives with her husband, Glenn Haun in Ossining.

Jeanne Claire can be reached at jcotnoir@hhrecny.org or at 914.696.0738.

Deborah Boxer Minchin

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Coordinator of Student Programming

Deborah Boxer Minchin taught social studies and coordinated the Westchester Individual Senior Experience (WISE) program at New Rochelle High School for 28 years and has been an adjunct instructor at both Iona University (political science) and Manhattanville College (teacher education). At NRHS, she served as faculty advisor for the Junior Statesman of America (JSA), Mock Trial, and the National Honor Society She is a recipient of the New York State Council for the Social Studies Distinguished Educator award and was a finalist for the NYS Teacher of the Year.
Debbie is a board member of the New Rochelle High School Scholarship Committee, a National History Day Contest judge, and on the advisory committee for the Scarsdale Adult School. She received National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grants in Spanish influence on America and Punishment and Rehabilitation. She participated in the HHREC Educators’ trip to Germany and Poland in 2012 and then joined the Educators’ Program Committee. She has worked on both the Middle School and High School Human Rights Leadership Institutes, the Living History project, and the White Rose and the Genocide Awareness contests.

Debbie earned a BA in History at Vassar College and an MBA at Columbia University. After raising her three children in New Rochelle, she now resides in New Fairfield, Connecticut.

Debbie can be reached at dminchin@hhrecny.org or at 914.696.0738.

Daniel P. Browne

Daniel Browne
Librarian 

After working in regional theater, Daniel P. Browne taught world and European history, philosophy, acting and the history of musical theater in America courses at New Rochelle High School for 30 years. At NRHS, he was the advisor to Theaterworks and directed many student productions, including The Crucible and Cabaret.  Dan participated in the Hitachi America Teacher Exchange Program to Japan and the HHREC Educators’ trip to Germany in 1999.  After several years of volunteering, Dan joins the Education Department to coordinate the ever-expanding library, as well as curricular projects.

Dan earned a BA in History and Theater at SUNY Geneseo and Masters in Social Studies Education at Manhattanville College.

Dan can be reached at dbrowne@hhrecny.org or at 914.696.0738.