The Ackerman Center Podcast
The Ackerman Center Podcast provides a space for the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies to publicly engage in a thoughtful and in-depth conversation about the Holocaust, genocide, and human rights studies. Launched in 2020, this podcast works to extend the conversation beyond academic audiences—providing an educational, engaging, and transformative experience. Through engaging with the past, we work to promote solutions for global justice and peace in our world. Find all of the Ackerman Center Podcast episodes on Spotify, Google Podcasts, and RadioPublic.
This podcast was launched by Dr. Sarah Valente in Spring 2020 as a way to provide ongoing connection at a time when the world was enduring a radical disconnection. Dr. Valente hosted, co-hosted, and edited episodes 1–31.
You can stream all past and upcoming episodes on the podcast’s website and major streaming platforms.
Available on:
- In this episode, Martin Kimel talks about his book, "The Pessimist’s Son: A Holocaust Memoir of Hope" published in May 2025. He is hosted by Dr. David Patterson, who holds the Hillel A. Feinberg Distinguished Chair of Holocaust Studies at the Ackerman Center for Holocaust […]
- In this inaugural episode of the first Spanish-language podcast at UTD, Dr. Shilyh Warren, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and affiliate faculty of the Ackerman Center, and Dr. Paula Cuellar Cuellar, Assistant Professor of History and Fellow of the Jacqueline and Michael Wald Professorship at […]
- In this episode, Dr. Mehak Burza interviews Sabro Bengaro, a Ph.D. candidate at The University of Texas at Dallas, who will soon be defending his dissertation, "Germany, Jihad , and the Assyrian Genocide of 1915". Sabro discusses the motivations behind his research, his academic journey […]
- What happens when memory, scholarship and cutting-edge technology come together? In this episode, Dr. Nils Roemer and Dr. Mehak Burza sit down with Professor Jeffrey Price to discuss the creation of the Digital Twin of the Ackerman Center. The conversation explores how the collaboration between […]
- This episode concludes the special two-part series on the Kinder Doll Animation Project. Hosted by Dr. Mehak Burza, this conversation highlights the faculty's role as creators, thinkers and visionaries behind Kinder Doll Animation Project- UT Dallas' first-ever stop-motion puppet animation. The faculty share their perspectives […]
- This episode is the first in a special two-part series on the Kinder Doll Animation Project- a groundbreaking collaboration between UT Dallas students and faculty that tells the story of the Kindertransport through stop-motion animation.In this episode, Dr. Mehak Burza sits down with Dr. Christine […]
Resources for the series “A Year in the Third Reich”
Dr. Nils Roemer, Host
Dean of the Harry W. Bass Jr. School of the Arts, Humanities, and Technology
Director of the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies
Arts, Humanities, and Technology Distinguished Chair
Stan and Barbara Rabin Distinguished Professor in Holocaust Studies
Dr. Mehak Burza, Producer, Host, Editor (2025- present)
Program Coordinator for Online Global Initiatives,
Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies
PhD in Literary Representations of the Holocaust, An Assessment.
Previous Affiliates
Dr. Katie Fisher
Producer, Host, Editor (2021-2025)
PhD in Visual & Performing Arts, UT Dallas 2024
Dissertation Title: Tracing Landscape Dismemberment Through Time: Mapping Sinkholes as Symptoms of Slow Violence Against Landscape Assemblages in Mexico City and New Orleans
Angie Simmons
Host, Writer, Researcher (2021-2024)
PhD candidate, School of Arts and Humanities
Taher Yusuf Ali
Multi-media Producer (2023-24)
MS Computer Science
Erik Jonsson School of Engineering & Computer Science
Dr. Sarah Valente
Producer, Host (2020-21)
PhD in Humanities, UT Dallas 2019
Dissertation Title: Holocaust Aftermath and Memory in Brazil