WWU to Host Lecture by Holocaust Scholar John K. Roth, March 10

February 24, 2015

The Western Washington University Office of the Provost will host John K. Roth, the Edward J. Sexton Professor Emeritus of  Philosophy at Claremont McKenna College, who will present his lecture, “Ethics Before and After the Holocaust,” at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10 on the second floor of the Bellingham City Council Chambers, 210 Lottie Street.

The event is free and open to the public.

Roth received his bachelor’s degree from Pomona College in 1962 where he graduated magna cum laude with honors in Philosophy, then moved on to receive his master’s degree and doctorate from Yale University.   Roth taught from 1966 to 2006 at Claremont McKenna College (CMC) where he became the founding director of the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights (now the Center for Human Rights).

Throughout his career in academia, Roth has received numerous awards including but not limited to, CMC’s Presidential Award for Merit in 2004; CMC’s alumni association’s highest award, the George C.S. Benson Distinguished Achievement Award in 2004; the Holocaust Educational Foundation’s Distinguished Achievement Award for Holocaust Studies and Research in 2012; and along with Professor Kenji Yoshida of Doshisha University in Japan, the first Faculty Pairing Grant awarded by the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission.

In addition to his long list of awards Roth used a Demonstration Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to develop two model interdisciplinary courses: “Perspectives on the American Dream” and “The Holocaust.” Roth has written or edited more than 50 books as well as published numerous articles and reviews. Roth’s latest book, “The Failures of Ethics: Confronting the Holocaust, Genocide, and Other Mass Atrocities,” will be published by Oxford University Press this year.

For more information on John K. Roth’s “Ethics Before and After the Holocaust,” visit http://www.wwu.edu/provost/or contact Clarissa Mansfield at (360) 650-3052 or Clarissa.Mansfield@wwu.edu