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About the Institute Faculty

The Institute's faculty generally participate on a regular basis depending upon their professional obligations and the Institute's needs. We also are grateful for the continued assistance and support from the Tallahassee Jewish community.

Frank Baglione, Ph.D. and J.D., is a Professor of History at the Tallahassee Community College. He is a co-author of two recent books, Early Western Civilization: From the Ancient World to the Rise of Absolutism (2007) and Modern Western Civilization: From the Rise of Absolutism to the Present (2006).

Neil Betten, Ph.D., is the Dorothy and Jonathan Rintels Professor Emeritus of History at Florida State University and Director of the Holocaust Institute. His books and articles have dealt primarily with social history: religion, ethnicity, migration, race and class.

Judith Fai-Podlipnik, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Modern European History at Southeastern Louisiana University. Specializing in Eastern Europe and Russia, Dr. Fai-Podlipnik has published numerous articles and made presentations on Hungary. She is currently working on her second book, an edited memoir of an Hungarian Holocaust survivor and postwar Nazi hunter.

Monte S. Finkelstein, Ph.D., is a Professor of History and Dean of the History and Social Sciences Division at the Tallahassee Community College. He is the author of a recent book on Sicily during World War II and is currently researching a book on the fate of Jewish refugees in Fascist Italy.

Peter Garretson, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of History at FSU and Director of the Middle East Center, which recently initiated a BA degree in Middle East Studies. Dr. Garretson specializes in North Africa and the Middle East, and is the author of a major book on Ethiopia.

Robert Gellately, Ph.D., is the Earl Ray Beck Professor of History at Florida State University. An internationally recognized scholar in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Dr. Gellately is the author or editor of numerous books and articles, including The Nuremberg Interviews, Backing Hitler: Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany, 1933-1945, and Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Catastrophe.

Mark Goldman, M.A., is a Professor of History and Chairman of the Honors Program at the Tallahassee Community College. A generalist in Jewish history, his current research examines the attempts by Jewish-led American labor unions to oppose and undermine the policies of Nazi Germany. He is also researching a new book on Florida and the Holocaust.

Shimon Gottschalk, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus in the College of Social Work at Florida State University. Born in Germany, Dr. Gottschalk came to the United States in 1939. He received his Ph.D. from Brandeis University. Dr. Gottschalk has been a frequent speaker at our Institutes and provides a survivor's perspective on the Holocaust.

Jonathan Grant, Ph.D., is an economic historian and Associate Professor of History at Florida State University. His newest book, Rulers, Guns, and Money: The Global Arms Trade in the Age of Imperialism has been published recently. He is also the author of Big Business in Russia and co-editor of Girding for Battle: The Arms Trade in Global Perspective, 1815-1940.

David Gussak, Ph.D., ATR-BC, is an Associate Professor in the Art Education Department at FSU. Previously a board member for the American Art Therapy Association, Dr. Gussak has published and presented internationally and nationally on art therapy in forensic settings; the work of the art therapist; and legislative issues facing the field, including the art of the Holocaust.

Martin Kavka, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Religion at FSU, where he teaches courses in modern European and American Jewish thought, post-Holocaust theology and literature, and the philosophy of religion. He is the author of Jewish Messianism and the History of Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2004) and is co-editing The Cambridge History of Jewish Philosophy: The Modern Era.

David Levenson, Ph.D., University Distinguished Teaching Professor of Religion, holds a doctorate in New Testament and Christian origins. His current research interests focus on Jewish-Christian relations in antiquity; he has also worked with the Florida Department of Education on teaching the Bible in the schools.

Susan Carol Losh, Ph.D., is an internationally recognized social psychologist and Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems at Florida State University. Her research interests center around social cognition and group dynamics. Her articles appear in Public Perspectives, Public Opinion Quarterly, Educational Research Quarterly, and the new Public Opinion and Polling Around the World: A Historical Encyclopedia.

Lee Metcalf, Ph.D., a political scientist, is the Director of the International Affairs Program at Florida State University. Her current research focuses on presidential power in postcommunist states.

Boyd Murphree, Ph.D., is an historian with the Florida Division of Archives. He has also served as an adjunct instructor at the Tallahassee Community College. A specialist in twentieth century Europe, he has presented a paper, "The SS and the German War Economy 1942-1945" at the Society of Military History.

Jean Odom has taught drama in private and public schools for over 20 years and is currently teaching at the N.B. Cook Magnet School of the Arts in Pensacola, FL. As a drama consultant, Ms. Odom works with teachers and school districts to help them integrate the arts with academics.

William O. Oldson, Ph.D., is a Professor of History at FSU and directs the World War II Institute. His books and articles have examined Southeastern Europe. Dr. Oldson's study of anti- Semitism in Romania won the John Frederick Lewis Award from the American Philosophical Society in 1992.

Nathan Stoltzfus, Ph.D., an Associate Professor of History at FSU, is an expert on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. His book, Resistance of the Heart: Intermarriage and the Rosenstrasse Protest in Nazi Germany, received widespread acclaim, sparked academic debates, and has been translated into French, German, and Swedish. He is the author or editor of numerous publications, including (with Robert Gellately) Social Outsiders in Nazi Germany.

Cynthia Waddell Stone, Ph.D., is the outreach liaison for the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg and currently assists teachers and schools with their units on the Holocaust. She has served for 30 years as an award-winning teacher at the K-12 and university levels and has extensive experience in teaching both the Holocaust and student self-exploration of prejudice and discrimination. Dr. Stone is the Associate Director for the Institute.

Jan Karl Tanenbaum, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus of History at Florida State University. His works on twentieth-century French history have been published by the American Philosophical Society, the University of North Carolina Press, and the Princeton University Press. He has been a frequent speaker on issues dealing with the Holocaust in France.

Edward Wynot, Ph.D., is a Professor of History at FSU. Dr. Wynot's most important published works center on the Jews of Poland. He has served as editor of the journal, East Central Europe, and as Vice President of the Association for the Study of the Nationalities in Eastern Europe.