Meet the Team
Executive Director, Holocaust Education and Resource Center
Dr. Adara Goldberg (she/her/hers) is the Executive Director of the Holocaust Education & Resource Center and Human Rights Institute (Union, NJ). Since earning her doctorate in Holocaust History at Clark University (2012), Dr. Goldberg has held an Azrieli Foundation fellowship at Hebrew University, a Post-doc fellowship at Stockton University, and served as education director for the Vancouver Holocaust Education Center. Recipient of the Marsid Foundation Prize at the 2016 Western Canada Jewish Book Awards, Dr. Goldberg’s book, Holocaust Survivors in Canada: Exclusion, Inclusion, Transformation, 1947–1955 (2015), represented the first comprehensive analysis of the resettlement and integration experiences of 35,000 Holocaust survivors and their families in postwar Canada. Recent contributions include: "Making Present the Past: Canada's St. Louis Apology and Canadian Jewry's Pursuit of Justice," in Kuehne and Rein, eds., Agency and the Holocaust: Essays in Honor of Debórah Dwork (2020), and “‘He’ll make a good companion for my son:’ War Orphan Adoption in Postwar Canada,” in Kangisser Cohen and Ofer, eds., Starting Anew: The Rehabilitation of Child Survivors of the Holocaust in the Early Postwar Years (2020). She has also contributed to the publications Never Far Apart (2015) and Too Many Goodbyes: The Diaries of Susan Garfield (2019), and edited the memoir, Always Remember Who You Are (2017). Dr. Goldberg served as a consultant for the Azrieli Foundation, and is a featured historian for the Montreal Holocaust Museum virtual exhibition, Building New Lives. Her present research projects explore the phenomenon of post-genocidal familial reconstruction, and the role of national apologies in collective memory. She is currently an historian for the Canadian National Holocaust Monument Exhibit Renewal Project. At Kean University, she also teaches the undergraduate course ID 1800 Holocaust, Genocide, and Modern Humanity, and graduate courses History of the Holocaust I and II, Holocaust Genocide Research, and Jewish Survival Strategies.
Managing Assistant Director, Holocaust Education and Resource Center
Sarah Coykendall (she/her/hers) is the Managing Assistant Director of Education and Outreach at the Holocaust Education & Resource Center and the Human Rights Institute. She holds an M.A. in Holocaust and Genocide Studies (2018) from Kean University, where she also teaches undergraduate courses on the Holocaust, civil rights, human rights, and justice. She earned her B.S. in History and B.A. in Anthropology (2015) from SUNY Oneonta. Sarah’s previous academic and professional experiences include attending the Leo Baeck Summer University for Jewish Studies at Humboldt-Universität in Berlin and studying German at the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. She interned at the Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance and Education in Suffern, NY, and worked as Assistant to the Director of the Jewish Studies Program at Kean University.
Her research explores the Holocaust through the lens of third-generation (3G) Holocaust survivors and American Jewish millennial identity. A leading educator in Holocaust studies, antisemitism, human rights, and inclusion, Sarah facilitates professional development workshops for teachers, students, and community members, and frequently presents at regional and international conferences.
Sarah is a 2019 recipient of the SUNY Oneonta Alumni Association Top 30 Under 30 Award and was named a 2022 Alfred Lerner Fellow by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous (JFR). She participated in the 2023 and 2025 JFR Advanced Seminars and the 2023 JFR European Study Program. In 2024, she was invited to join the Educators in Jewish College Campus Program at Yad Vashem’s International School for Holocaust Studies. She is currently a Rethinking Holocaust Education Fellow with The Ghetto Fighters' House for the 2025–2026 academic year.
In addition to her educational work, Sarah is actively engaged in university initiatives. She serves as Goal Leader for the Engagement Subcommittee of the Sustainability Task Force, Advisor to the Interfaith Council, Content Area Subcommittee Lead for the Task Force on Advising, and Secretary of the NTLC Committee.
Graduate Research Assistant, Holocaust Education and Resource Center
Madeline Zech (she/her/hers), Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Madeline Zech is the Graduate Research Assistant at the Holocaust Education & Resource Center. Madeline is currently earning her M.A. in Holocaust and Genocide Studies. She holds a B.A. in History (2024) from Ramapo College of New Jersey. This is Madeline's first semester with the Holocaust and Education Center, and she is eager to contribute to its mission of remembrance and education while developing her own academic and professional skills in the field. Madeline previously interned at the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Ramapo College, where she developed digital humanities relating to the Holocaust and genocide. Madeline has also taught English as a Foreign Language to students from around the world at Blackrock College in Ireland (2025), which allowed her to experience new perspectives and cultures.
Student Worker, Holocaust Education and Resource Center
Heather Gonzalez (she/her/hers), Psychology and English
Heather Gonzalez has been a student assistant at the Holocaust Education & Resource Center since Fall 2021. She is currently a Psychology and English standard undergraduate at Kean University. She has worked on many opportunities in her time and has had many opportunities to create both personal and professional growth. She is passionate about education, human rights, student advocacy, poetry, and volunteer work.
"I started working here when given an opportunity to grow as an individual, a professional, and as a student. It didn’t take long to understand all the good work we do here for our community and want to be an active participant in the process of moving our department forward and reaching broader audiences. This office is not only educational, it opens doors for cultural appreciation and understanding as well as the commemoration of the past and present. Here, I am able to be an advocate for change, education, remembrance, and an ally to all."
Student Assistant, Holocaust Education and Resource Center
Ashley Acevedo (she/her/hers), Art Education
Ashley has been a student assistant at the Holocaust Education & Resource Center since 2024. She is an Elementary Education major with a concentration in Fine Arts.
"I wanted to work with the HERC to be able to connect with others, learn about different historical events, and grow as a student, worker, and individual."
Student Worker, Holocaust Education and Resource Center
Deja Phillips (she/her/hers), Political Science/International Comparative Politics
Deja is new to the Holocaust Education and Resource Center. She is currently a Political Science/International Comparative Politics undergraduate. Deja joined the center because she is very passionate about human rights and learning/educating others on historical events to potentially help society.
Student Worker, Holocaust Education and Resource Center
Cian Michael Riely (he/him/his), History Education
Cian is working at the Holocaust Education Center because he believes that the preservation of the memory of those who died in the Shoah, and the education of future generations, is exceptionally important for this generation. He hopes to use the work at the center to help him later as a teacher in how to teach various horrors and atrocities to students with respect and sensitivity.