Annual Scholars’ Conference
56th Annual Scholars’ Conference
March 7-9, 2026
The Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at The University of Texas at Dallas invites you to join fellow scholars March 7-9, 2026, as we celebrate the 56th anniversary of this important conference and continue the legacy established by Franklin H. Littell and Hubert G. Locke more than fifty years ago. This conference offers the opportunity to address the historical significance of the Holocaust through scholarship that is interfaith, international, and interdisciplinary.
The central theme of the 56th ASC is “The Legacy of Witnessing: Holocaust Memory, Education, and Research in the Twenty-First Century.” This year’s conference invites presentations that explore how Holocaust testimony, memory, and scholarship continue to shape contemporary approaches to its history, representation, and teaching, while offering new perspectives for future research and education.
We welcome proposals from across the humanities, social sciences, arts, and professional fields, as well as from practitioners engaged in education, museum work, public history, law, and religious studies. By drawing together scholarly perspectives from multiple disciplines, the conference seeks to foster dialogue that deepens our understanding of Holocaust history while considering its ongoing resonance for the present and future.
This conference will follow standard academic norms and practices. We welcome proposals from established scholars and subject experts, and we encourage graduate students and early-career researchers to contribute. Limited support will be available to assist graduate students and emerging scholars.
Please submit your presentation proposal via this online portal by November 25, 2025.
This ASC will be held at the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center on the UT Dallas campus. Click here for a map.
Past Conferences
55th Annual Scholars’ Conference: March 8-10, 2025
The 55th Annual Scholars’ Conference, held March 8-10, 2025, was transitioned to a smaller-scale “think tank” format in which a select number of invited scholars participated in a workshop and series of discussion groups rather than formal presentations. The theme was “Exploring New Frontiers: New Technologies and Future Generations in Holocaust Studies and Memory.”
Mitchell L. and Miriam Lewis Barnett Lecture
“Finding Hope Underground”
Presented by award-winning journalist and son of survivors, David Lee Preston.
Click here to watch the 2025 Barnett Lecture Recording
Michael and Elaine Jaffe Lecture
“Identity, Trauma, and Memory: Third-Generation Holocaust Representation”
Presented by Dr. Alan L. Berger, Raddock Family Eminent Scholar Chair for Holocaust Studies at Florida Atlantic University.
Click here to watch the 2025 Jaffe Lecture Recording
54th Annual Scholars’ Conference: March 2 – 4, 2024
The 54th Annual Scholars’ Conference, held March 2-4, 2024, celebrated the 54th anniversary of this important conference to continue the legacy established by Franklin H. Littell and Hubert G. Locke more than fifty years ago. The central theme of the 54th ASC was “There and Then, Here and Now.” The conference invited presentations that looked back not only on the history of the Holocaust but how its memory has been preserved and transmitted.
Click here for an accessible non-PDF version of the program.
Michael and Elaine Jaffe Lecture
“The Legacy of the Holocaust by Bullets in Contemporary Mass Crimes and Genocides”
Sunday, March 3 at 9am
Presented by Marco Gonzalez, director of Yahad-In Unum, who has worked alongside Father Patrick Desbois for more than twenty years collecting evidence and testimonies of the “Holocaust by Bullets.”
Mitchell L. and Miriam Lewis Barnett Lecture
“But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust”
Sunday, March 3 at 7pm
Presented by Dr. Charlotte Schallié, Professor of Germanic Studies and Chair of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies at the University of Victoria (British Columbia, Canada).
For questions about the conference, please contact Cynthia Seton-Rogers at 972-883-2724 or email annualscholarsconference@utdallas.edu.
For questions about sponsorship opportunities, please contact Terry Han at 972-883-3895 or email terryl.han@utdallas.edu.