The North Carolina Council on the Holocaust is a state agency in the N.C. Department of Public Instruction, established in 1981 by Governor James B. Hunt, Jr., and authorized in 1985, by the General Assembly. It is composed of 24 members, of whom six are Holocaust survivors or first-generation lineal descendants of survivors. All members are volunteers appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the House, or the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; six are appointed at large.
Laurie Schaefer, a retired North Carolina high school English Language Arts teacher with 29 years of experience, has devoted her career to Holocaust education. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Appalachian State University, is a National Board Certified teacher, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Gratz College. Laurie began teaching Elie Wiesel’s Night during her first year in the classroom and was trained at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Belfer Conference in 1996. In 2006, she was named a USHMM Museum Teacher Fellow and went on to present and mentor for eight years within the program. Appointed to the NC Council on the Holocaust in 2019, Laurie now serves as the Chair and leads the Council’s Program Planning Committee, which organizes workshops and webinars for educators across the state. She also manages the Council’s teacher website and was part of the six-member team that developed ELA curriculum resources and professional development for the Gizella Abramson Holocaust Education Act. In addition, Laurie serves as a facilitator for Echoes and Reflections and as an Education Consultant and Project Manager for Women of the Shoah in Greensboro. She has written and implemented a Holocaust elective course, led student and teacher tours to Holocaust sites in Europe, and continues her work as an independent contractor with several Holocaust education organizations.
Email: councilnews@ncholocaustcouncilworkshops.org
