Date: October 18, 2023 Time: 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM Briar Cliff University | St Francis Center

About the Sister Muriel Ford Lectureship

The Sister Muriel Ford Lectureship is an endowment created by the Alumni of Briar Cliff to honor the person who served for 20 years as director of alumni relations. Sister Muriel, who died in 1979, was chairperson of the sociology department from 1937 to 1972. Throughout her years at Briar Cliff, Sister Muriel was recognized as a champion of social justice and a teacher who stirred in her students a desire to serve their community.It is in light of these characteristic strengths of Sister Muriel that the Department of Sociology & Criminal Justice, the Department of Social Work, and the Multicultural Program Office choose lecturers concerned about contemporary social issues and personally dedicated to their resolution.

The 2023 Sister Muriel Ford Lectureship is scheduled for Wednesday, October 18 from 7:00 - 9:00 PM in the St. Francis Center. 

The Sr. Muriel Ford Lectureship is offered to students, professionals, and community members at no cost or charge. Certificate of attendance and continuing education credit hours are available. Attendees will gain knowledge, tools, and resources for promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Meet This Year's Speaker -Rebecca Erbelding 

Rebecca Erbelding is a historian of American responses to the Holocaust and the author of  Rescue Board: The Untold Story of America’s Efforts to Save the Jews of Europe, that tells the story of the War Refugee Board, of which Omaha native John Pehle was a part. The War Refugee Board were instrumental in saving the lives of more than 200,000 Jews. The book has won the National Jewish Book Award for Writing Based on Archival Material. She served as a historical advisor and an on-camera expert in Florentine Films’, The U.S. and the Holocaust , directed by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and Sarah Botstein, which debuted on PBS in September 2022.

She is an educator, curator, and archivist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and frequently presents on the War Refugee Board; US immigration policy during the 1930s; and the “Hoecker album,” a photograph album owned by Karl Hoecker, the final adjutant to the commandant of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Her work on the Hoecker album has been adapted into a theatrical production, Here There are Blueberries, written by Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich, and developed by the Tectonic Theater Project. She holds a PhD in American History from George Mason University.

Continuing Education Credits or Units are Available!

Certificates of attendance for continuing education will be provided upon request. Certificates will be emailed to attendees within 30 days of the session.

Applications for pre-approved CEUs are being submitted to the following licensure boards: Iowa Board of Educators, Iowa Judicial Branch Commission on Continuing Legal Education, Iowa Certification Board, South Dakota Board of Social Work, Iowa Board of Social Work, and Iowa Board of Nursing.