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Ph.D. Programs

Professor Thomas Kuhne giving lecture to students

Join the vibrant academic community of the world-renowned Strassler Center.

Since 1998, the Strassler Center at Clark University has gained international standing as the foremost Ph.D. program training students in Holocaust History, the Armenian Genocide, and other genocides perpetrated around the globe. Center faculty and students foster important scholarship and germinate significant ideas as conveners of a robust series of international symposia, workshops, and conferences that broaden the boundaries of genocide studies by introducing lesser-known cases and novel approaches. The causes, conduct, and consequences of genocide are complex and require multifaceted approaches. The Strassler Center is committed to pushing boundaries in order to foster greater knowledge as well as to train professionals who hope to find solutions, offer healing and aid, education, and opportunities for memorialization.

Frances Tanzer in class

Ph.D. in Genocide Studies

Students address large-scale human rights abuses and events of mass violence in the past as well as in the present. They learn to apply their knowledge and skills in problem-oriented work and real-life contexts.

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Ken's Class

Ph.D. in History

Students familiarize themselves with historiographical methods and learn to locate the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, and other events of genocide and mass violence in their specific societal, political, and cultural contexts.

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Doctoral Programs Handbook

Graduate Research

Our Ph.D. students conduct innovative research in archives around the world, with survivors of genocides, and at sites of mass violence. They secure prestigious fellowships, like those offered by the United States Holocaust Memorial, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which is supported by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future and by the German Federal Ministry of Finance, the Fulbright Foundation, and the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, and travel the globe to present their research at conferences and academic institutions. They publish in peer-reviewed journals and contribute chapters to edited volumes.

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Faculty Research

The expertise of our world-class faculty members, who have published extensively and are leaders in their fields, is a hallmark of the program. They are recipients of numerous awards and fellowships — among them a Guggenheim — for their groundbreaking research. Several hold endowed professorships that recognize their contributions to the university and the field. Faculty connections at various institutes and organizations worldwide provide pathways for our graduate students’ independent inquiries, and their mentoring has led to co-authorships on articles and books.

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Research Facilities

Books and stacks in the Rose Library

Rose Library

The Strassler Center’s Rose Library, opened in 1998 with the donation of the Diana Bartley Collection, helped establish it as a leading research institute.

Colin-Flug Wing from outside the building

The Colin Flug Graduate Study Wing

The Colin Flug Graduate Study Wing includes additional library space, the Tobak graduate student offices, a study commons, and the Shoah Visual History Archive.

Student and professor posing in front of a podium

Alumni Careers

Graduates of the Ph.D. program pursue careers as leaders, curators, education directors, and historians at renowned institutions including the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Wiener Holocaust Library, Chapman University, Stockton University, and the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Contact Information

Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Contact Us
  • Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies
    Clark University
    950 Main Street
    Worcester, MA 01610

  • 508-793-8897
  • 508-793-8827 Fax