Drew Kahn, professor and chair of the Theater Department, will receive the Toby Ticktin Back Award from the Holocaust Resource Center (HRC) on Monday, June 6.

The award, which will be presented at HRC’s Annual Meeting and Awards Program, is named in honor of the organization’s founder. Every year, it is given to an individual who has demonstrated a commitment to excellence in holocaust education.

“Drew’s development and implementation of the Anne Frank Project at Buffalo State, combined with his past commitment to holocaust education, made him the choice candidate for this year’s award,” said Sylvia Schwartz, executive director of the HRC.

“I am deeply honored to be thought of in this context,” said Kahn. “I feel like our work with the Anne Frank Project is just beginning, so to get noticed at this early juncture is especially humbling.”

The Anne Frank Project began when, in 2006, the Theater Department produced The Diary of Anne Frank. Kahn, as director, incorporated the horrors of the Rwanda genocide of 1994 into the play, which tells the story of how Anne Frank and her family tried to hide from the Nazis during World War II. The production featured two characters playing the role of Anne—one, the Jewish girl of the original play and the other, a Tutsi girl hiding from Hutu extremists in Rwanda.

The production elicited powerful reactions, and the Theater Department, under Kahn’s leadership, initiated the Anne Frank Project. It has since grown into an annual, campus-wide event that has been embraced by the community. It is supported by the generous sponsorship of the SUNY Office for Educational Equity and Diversity and the Research Foundation at Buffalo State. The project uses the writing and wisdom of Anne Frank as a springboard for the intense examination of intolerance, bias, and genocide through the interdisciplinary lens of the liberal arts.

The 2011 Anne Frank Project will be held September 14–16 at Buffalo State.