By Nick Akgulian
Special to the Mirror-Spectator
MADISON, Wisc. — The Wisconsin Council of Social Studies (WCSS) annual conference was held in Madison March 15-17, 2024. The Armenian National Committee of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Armenian community at large, each had booths at the conference, providing numerous resources related to the Armenian Genocide to educators and others in attendance, including methods available to incorporate this history into the classroom. In 2021, Wisconsin passed Act 30, which mandates the teaching of the “Holocaust and other genocides” at least once at both the middle and high school level. As social studies teachers are charged with implementing Act 30, the Armenian community’s participation in the WCSS conference was aimed at providing these educators the tools to teach effectively on the Armenian case.
In addition to the booths, a presentation was delivered on the history of Armenians in Wisconsin by community members Talene Kelegian and Armen Hadjinian. Dr George Dalbo, a Wisconsin educator and Genocide Education Project Fellow, was instrumental in organizing the presentation, and was present to lend his expertise to the follow up discussion. A brief but powerful film on the exodus from Artsakh in September 2023 was included.
To further equip Wisconsin educators with the ability to incorporate the Armenian Genocide and recent events in Artsakh into the classroom in support of Act 30, a one-day workshop will be held April 27, 2024 at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). The event is sponsored by the UWM Institute of World Affairs in collaboration with the Wisconsin Armenian community and cosponsored by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR). Highly respected Boston area-based photographer Winslow Martin, who has been returning to Armenia regularly for the past 25 years, will present on the Artsakh refugees from his time in Armenia last September. He will be one of several featured presenters. The link to the workshop is here: Teaching About the Armenian Genocide: A Professional Development Workshop for Educators – Institute of World Affairs (uwm.edu)
In July, the Wisconsin Armenian community will again be taking part in the Milwaukee-based Holocaust Education Resource Center’s annual virtual conference on Holocaust and Genocide. Distinguished professor Dr. Khatchig Mouradian (Columbia University, Library of Congress) is scheduled to participate.
