Speaker Bio's

Paul Benhamou
Professor Emeritus of French, Purdue University

Paul Benhamou received his Licence from the University of Dijon and an MA and PhD from the University of Iowa before proceeding on to a long and successful career in the French Department at Purdue University. He has published extensively on the pre-revolutionary French periodical press, on the reading trade in Lyons, and on the Anti-Philosophes (particularly Elie-Catherine Freron), and has recently presented a paper in a symposium on the Societe Typographique de Neuchatel, the Swiss publishing firm that has been the focus of much of Robert Darnton's work.

Benhamou, who grew up in French Algeria, attended the University of Dijon, France, and received a Licence-es-Lettres, with a major in English and American literature. Returning to Algeria, he taught English in high school until the political situation forced his family to relocate to France. He then moved to the United States and studied at the University of Iowa where he received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in French literature. In 1969, Benhamou accepted an academic position at Purdue University where he teaches 18th century French literature and French civilization.

During the past 31 years, Benhamou has twice chaired the French section, was founder of the Association of the Friends of French, an organization that supports undergraduate and graduate French students in study abroad programs and attendance at professional conferences. In 2001, along with his nephew Eric, Benhamou was instrumental in establishing the Juliette S. Benhamou Scholarship for Francophone Studies.

In November 2001, Benhamou was honored by the French Government with the prestigious Palmes Academiques Award for his service in promoting French culture and language in the United States. The award, established in 1808 by Napoleon, is considered the most prestigious award a scholar can receive from the French government.

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Juliette S. Benhamou Memorial Scholarship for Francophone Studies

Steven Carr
Professor of Communication, Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne

Steven Alan Carr is an Associate Professor of Communication at Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne and a 2002-03 Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies Postdoctoral Fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC. He received his M.A. from Northwestern University in 1987 and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1994, both in Radio-Television-Film. Reviews of his first book, Hollywood and Anti-Semitism: A Cultural History up to World War II (Cambridge U P, 2001), have appeared in Commentary, The Forward, The London Review of Books, The New Republic, and The Washington Post. His present project, which explores the response of the American film industry to the growing public awareness of the Holocaust, received an award from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2002.

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Geoffrey Giles
Professor of History, University of Florida

Dr. Geoffrey Giles is a member of the History Department at the University of Florida. He was educated at the University of London and Cambridge University, and has held fellowships at Yale, Munich, and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is the author of Students and National Socialism in Germany (Princeton University Press, 1985.)

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Toby Parcel
Dean, College of Liberal Arts, Purdue University

Dr. Toby Parcel is Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Professor of Sociology at Purdue University. She earned the Ph.D. at the University of Washington and came to Purdue from the Ohio State University in 2002.

Claudia Stevens
Pianist, Singer, Actress and Professor Emeritus of French, Purdue University

California native and daughter of Holocaust survivors, Stevens holds the BA summa cum laude from Vassar College, a MA in musicology from the University of California at Berkeley and the Doctor of Musical Arts from Boston University. She has held academic, conducting and performing arts positions at Williams College, the University of Richmond and the College of William and Mary. As a pianist and composer she was presented in concert at Carnegie Recital Hall, was the featured artist on several "Performance Today on NPR" broadcasts, and has recorded for, and published compositions in, Perspectives of New Music. She is a recognized scholar of Robert Schumann, as well as twentieth century American music. Manuscripts and documents relating to her career as pianist and new music advocate are now in the collections of the Aaron Copland House, New York and Special Collections at Swem Library, College of William and Mary.

Claudia Stevens amazed audiences when she crossed over from an established career as a concert pianist, scholar and recording artist to become one of the most innovative and noteworthy multidisciplinary performers and speakers before the public. In recent years she has created a unique, rich and varied body of works - several produced by Public Television and National Public Radio (NPR Playhouse) and in current publication - which she performs at major venues nationwide, utilizing a magnificent singing voice and dramatic skills to complement her keyboard mastery.

As an interdisciplinary artist, Stevens is the recipient of grants from the International Theater Institute, from the Virginia Commission for the Arts (thirteen touring and project grants), numerous artist residencies including the MacDowell Colony, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, RS 9 Szinhaz in Budapest, and a NEA "New Forms" grant, among many others. Recent publication of several of her original works for the stage includes the journal "Exquisite Corpse," the latest to appear in fall-winter, 2003-4 issue

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Zev Weiss
President, Holocaust Educational Foundation

Theodore Zev Weiss is the founder and president of the Holocaust Educational Foundation. As a teenager he survived the Auschwitz concentration camp. He came to Canada after World War II, and eventually to the United States, where he has had a distinguished career as an educator.

Holocaust Education Foundation