Healing the Breach Through Diversity Education

Presentation & Awards Ceremony

Join us for a reception and awards ceremony as we recognize individuals in the field who have contributed to expanding diversity education initiatives.

Presented by Keystone Oral Histories and Penn State Holocaust & Genocide Department, this event will feature guest speakers addressing the issues around a diversified education. Speakers include Bryan Wade, Scott Mingus Sr, Dr. Jamie Kinsley, and Professor Boaz Divr.

Following the presentation, an awards ceremony will recognize individuals that have contributed to expanding diversity education initiatives. Join us as we celebrate the efforts and accomplishments of Randy Freedman, Delma Rivera, Elliott Weinstein, and Dr. Scott Deisley. Light refreshments will be provided.

Speakers

Bryan Wade • CEO of Keystone Oral Histories
He is a Harrisburg native, former York educator, a government official, and talk show host with 20 years of radio, television, and documentary production experience. Bryan has a unique perspective on the overlapping and remarkable stories of accomplishments of people of color throughout the lower Susquehanna Valley. Bryan also has a burning desire to educate and inform up-and-coming and future generations of the enduring, positive influence of the African American community through a wide range of oral history documentaries.

Minister, award-winning television producer on race and racism, radio broadcaster, K-8 educator, two-branch military veteran, and award-winning documentary producer, Bryan Wade has an eclectic and expansive professional career.

Wade is the executive producer of his newly released oral history documentary titled Keystones: The African American Veterans Experience. This documentary is the first of a fifteen-part documentary series that chronicles the lives of African American servicemen and women who served from World War II to Vietnam. Additionally, Wade created a school curriculum in conjunction with this documentary, which he believes is the first of its kind in the country to teach African American oral history.

Wade served four years in the United States Navy and two years in the Army National Guard. He is a trained educator and received his degree in elementary education from York College of Pennsylvania. Wade’s media background includes the television series Worlds Apart, for which he served as the Executive Producer and host from 1997-2008. Worlds Apart explored the legacy of race and racism and conducted nationwide college tours to Stanford University, Drexel University, and Morehouse College School of Medicine, and many other colleges and universities. Wade is the father of three children and the grandfather of 7 grandchildren, six boys and one girl.

Prof Boaz Divr • Director of the Holocaust, Genocide, & Human Rights Education Initiative at Penn State
Assistant Professor Boaz Dvir is the founding director of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative at Penn State. Boaz previously served as operations manager at the University of Florida’s Lastinger Center for Learning, which provides professional development to educators in several states. An award-winning filmmaker, he tells the stories of ordinary people who transform into trailblazers. His documentaries include “Jessie’s Dad” and “A Wing and a Prayer.” His forthcoming films include “Discovering Gloria” and “Cojot.”

Scott Mingus Sr. • Author & Historian
Scott L Mingus, Sr. is a multiple award-winning author, having written or co-written two dozen nonfiction books on the American Civil War and the Underground Railroad. He is a retired new product development director and business strategist in the global paper and converting industry.

Scott Mingus is a retired scientist and executive in the global pulp & paper industry. The Ohio native graduated from the Paper Science & Engineering program at Miami University. He was part of the research team that developed the first commercially successful self-adhesive U.S. postage stamps and he was a pioneer in bar code labels. He has written 28 Civil War and Underground Railroad books and numerous articles for Gettysburg Magazine and other historical journals. He has appeared on C-SPAN, C-SPAN3, PCN, and other TV networks. Mingus writes a blog on the Civil War history of York County, PA, where he lives (www.yorkblog.com/cannonball). He also has written six scenario books for miniature wargaming. A great-great-grandfather was a 15-year-old soldier in the 51st Ohio in the Western Theater, and a great-grandfather was in the 183rd Ohio during the 1865 Carolinas Campaign. Other family members fought at Antietam and Gettysburg in the 7th West Virginia of the Army of the Potomac.

Dr. Jamie Noerpel • Historian
It was her sophomore year at York College of Pennsylvania during a conversation with her friend about religion. Her friend said that it was okay to be a follower in life, but always do your research. “Whether you’re Republican, Democrat, Christian or whatever you choose to identify with, it’s important that you don’t follow blindly and educate yourself,” Jamie says.

At York College, she dual-majored in History and Secondary Education Social Studies, which reinforced her belief in the phrase. “History is more than just dead guys and dates,” she says. “It’s understanding the choices our ancestors made before us and making informed decisions based on them.”

Today, Jamie focuses her energy on teaching the importance of history wherever she can. She joined the Milton Hershey School in Hershey as an American Cultures teacher in 2013 and began writing a history blog, Wandering in York County, in 2018.

The blog serves as a personal mission to make history more accessible and appealing to the average person. “I want to make sure the next generation is into history,” she says. “I want it to be younger and more diverse so people can make the most educated decisions possible.”

Her role at the Milton Hershey School not only gives her that opportunity, but the ability to be a role model for the school’s students, who come from lower-income families and some who face tough home situations.

“Every day I wake up, and I have a purpose,” Jamie says. “It’s powerful to know you can have an influence in someone’s life. These students need someone in their corner all the time, and it forces me to put my best foot forward because I don’t ever want to let them down.