Dr. Ashley Valanzola has been appointed the inaugural David P. Angel Endowed Chair in Holocaust Pedagogy and Antisemitism Studies. Dr. Valanzola will join Clark University as a tenure-track faculty member in the History Department and as an active member of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Establishment of the David P. Angel Endowed Chair reflects the University’s continuing commitment to advancing rigorous scholarship, innovative pedagogy, and public engagement at the intersection of Holocaust studies and the study of antisemitism. Dr. Valanzola’s appointment strengthens the Center’s capacity to address Holocaust memory and antisemitism in historically grounded, intellectually rigorous, and publicly engaged ways.
Dr. Valanzola received her Ph.D. in history from George Washington University and is a historian of modern Europe and the Holocaust. She is widely recognized for her scholarship in Holocaust memory studies, women and gender history, and museum and public-history practice. She is the author of When She Remembered: Seven Women Who Transformed French Holocaust Memory (Indiana University Press), with additional book projects under contract. Her work examines how the Holocaust is remembered, interpreted, and contested across historical and institutional settings, and it is central to contemporary learning about antisemitism, the denial and distortion of the Holocaust, and the ways Holocaust history is publicly interpreted and contested. She brings to Clark a strong reputation as a dedicated and innovative educator whose teaching emphasizes trauma-informed pedagogy, close engagement with primary sources, and experiential learning through museums and other public-history settings.
As the David P. Angel Endowed Chair, drawing on her scholarly expertise and public-facing work, Dr. Valanzola will connect historical research to present-day challenges through teaching, public programs, community partnerships, and engagement with students and broader audiences, including work connected to Holocaust education, museums, and public history.
Beginning next academic year, Dr. Valanzola will teach advanced seminars and foundational courses supporting the Department’s and the Strassler Center’s interdisciplinary missions. As an active member of the Strassler Center, Dr. Valanzola will contribute to doctoral training, collaborative research initiatives, and the Center’s educational and public programming. Clark University and the Strassler Center look forward to welcoming Dr. Ashley Valanzola to campus and to the contributions she will make to the University community.
