TMF President Awarded Fulbright

An Announcement from the Board of Directors

The Board of Directors of The Matzevah Foundation is proud to announce that our president, Dr. Steven D. Reece, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award in the field of leadership. His award is effective for the 2022-2023 academic year and will be conducted through the University of Szczecin and the Faculty of Humanities. ​

The focus of Steven’s program will be to explore and develop a model of cultural stewardship that will unite the various groups who are currently caring for and restoring Jewish cemeteries in Poland. Through his previous research, Steven found that the Jewish cemeteries are liminal spaces where Jews, Christians, and non-religious people collaborate in restoring neglected Polish-Jewish cemeteries. They also build relationships and open pathways for dialogue and reconciliation. The current issue is that there is no model that exists on how to unite these diverse groups and mobilize them to care for and restore Poland's more than 1,200 Jewish cemeteries while addressing long-standing impasses related to Polish-Jewish relations and the preservation of the Jewish heritage in Poland. 
 
Through teaching, research, and cemetery restoration work, Steven will investigate a cross-cultural and diplomatic model of cultural stewardship to address the long-standing issues resulting from the Shoah and preserving Poland’s Jewish material and heritage. 
 
After the Fulbright, Steven plans to seek grant funding to explore the model’s viability through a series of pilot Polish-Jewish cemetery restoration projects. 
 
The TMF Board affirms and supports Steven’s vision for his work with Fulbright. The teaching and research he will be conducting over the course of the 10-month program is a natural extension of Steven’s doctorate and TMF’s work in Poland. We believe the work that he and others do will create new pathways to preserving the Jewish heritage in Poland and we are eagerly anticipating all of the great work to come.
 
We will share the progress of his work as it begins in October of the year.
 
Please see the press release from the Department of State for more information on Steven’s award.

Congratulations, Dr. Reece. We are extremely proud of you!
 
The Board of The Matzevah Foundation
 
Elaine Brown
John Mark Folker
Kevin Little
Rachel McRae
Przemek Panasiuk
JoAnn Siegienski