On Wednesday, November 13th, John K. Roth – Professor Emeritus and founding director of the Mgrublian Center – returned to CMC as the keynote for the Athenaeum dinner program. Roth, who taught at CMC for 40 years before retiring in 2006, remains an active and engaged member of the Center’s advisory board and gave his remarks on the eve of the start of the 17th bi-annual Lessons and Legacies (Holocaust studies) conference, which was co-hosted on CMC’s campus from November 14-17th. In his remarks, How Shall I Teach the Holocaust This Time?, Roth explored key issues about Holocaust studies and education after the most decisive American election in decades and during the current destructive and divisive Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Roth implored the audience, which filled the dining room and was comprised of current students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the local community, to “take nothing good for granted” and was met with a standing ovation upon the completion of his presentation.
Following the Q & A, President Hiram Chodosh was welcomed to the Athenaeum lectern where he delivered his own remarks in honor of Professor Roth, as he presented him with the Donald C. McKenna Humanitarian Award. The esteemed award is reserved for “exemplary interest in education, the improvement of circumstances for peoples of the world, achievement in the humanities, business or the professions, and contributions that have been of significant importance to the College.” Through his forty years of teaching and his continued service and dedication to CMC and its students, Roth embodies the merits of this award and we (the Center) congratulate him on this much deserved honor.
The full citation of Professor Roth’s award, as presented by President Chodosh:
Whereas you are a leading scholar in the fields of Holocaust and genocide studies, philosophy, ethics, American studies, and religious studies; an acclaimed author, co-author, and editor of more than 50 books and hundreds of articles and reviews; and a passionate and beloved educator for more than 40 years in higher education.
Whereas you are the Edward J. Sexton Professor of Emeritus of Philosophy and were a four-time recipient of the Crocker Award for Excellence, the inaugural recipient of the Claremont McKenna College Presidential Award for Merit in 1987 and again in 2004; were awarded the Glenn R. Huntoon Award for Superior Teaching and the G. David Huntoon Senior Teaching Award; and hold honorary membership in the CMC Alumni Association, which also presented you its highest award, the George C. S. Benson Distinguished Achievement Award in 2004.
Whereas you were awarded a Demonstration Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1979 to develop two model interdisciplinary courses, “Perspectives on the American Dream” and “Perspectives on the 20th Century: The Holocaust,” both of which became cherished courses and rites of passage for CMC students, and, along with Professors Gordon Bjork and Ward Elliott, established the College’s signature tutorial program in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics in 1985.
Whereas you served as the director of the new Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum from 1985 to 1987, launching a robust and diverse program of distinguished visiting speakers and symposia and creating a community space to model curious inquiry and constructive dialogue, and thereby strengthening CMC’s commitment to an Open Academy.
Whereas you co-founded The Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights, now the Mgrublian Center for Human Rights, in 2003, and have continuously advanced its mission of instilling in students and faculty an understanding of human rights as critical to moral conduct and ethical decision-making in their lives.
Whereas through your interdisciplinary methodologies, eloquent lectures, neatly-typed commentaries on student papers, nuanced questions, empowering mentorship, personal courage, and moral integrity, you have inspired thousands of students, colleagues, and readers to address ethical and humanitarian challenges at home and across the globe, causing you to be known as CMC’s Ethical North Star.
Whereas you served as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council; on the church relations committee at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; chair of the reading committee for the Elie Wiesel Essay Prize in Ethics, and an editorial board member for the International Journal for Philosophy off Religion, American Journal of Theology & Philosophy, and Holocaust and Genocide Studies, among other notable positions.
Whereas your continuing exploration of the conditions that led to the Holocaust and your recent publications, such as Warnings: The Holocaust, Ukraine, and Endangered American Democracy, call on readers to apply the lessons of World War II to the currently polarized climate in the United States and across the globe because, as you have noted, “we remember the Holocaust to hold ourselves accountable.”
In recognition of your considerable and influential contributions to the national and global conversations around the Holocaust and genocide and your impressive academic career, Claremont McKenna College hereby confers upon you the Donald C. McKenna Humanitarian Award.