Shereena Honary holds a Research M.A. in Area Studies of the Middle East from Leiden University, The Netherlands. She focused on Middle Eastern diasporic narratives, particularly the graphic novel Persepolis, to analyze autobiographical and diasporic narrative themes of identity, gender, and Otherness, and the ways in which personal narrative guides us towards understanding and universal humanism. Shereena currently oversees events at the Pentacrest Museums, which housed the Anne Frank exhibit, “Let Me Be Myself: The Life Story of Anne Frank” in 2022. She also completed the Peer Educator Training offered alongside the exhibit to inspire in visitors ways in which to relate and learn from her powerful narrative. Growing up as a daughter of an immigrant herself, the hope to create a world with acceptance and belonging that the story of Anne Frank inspires continues to be a driving force for Shereena’s academic and community involvement.

Ashley Holt is the Executive Director of the Louis Shulman Hillel Foundation, Alliber Center for Jewish Life (Iowa Hillel), a non-profit organization that serves as the foundation for Jewish life on the University of Iowa's campus. In this role, she aims to build a vibrant Jewish community on campus, provide educational opportunities, and help students connect to Judaism in ways that are meaningful to them. At Iowa Hillel, Jewish students (of all knowledge levels and backgrounds) are encouraged to learn about their heritage and develop their own unique identity within the world of Jewish pluralism. Prior to moving to Iowa City, Ashley worked for the Nature Conservancy in Illinois and served on the board of Go Green Wilmette, a local environmental organization. She has a BA in economics and political science and a minor in philosophy from Washington College in Chestertown, Md. Ashley studied abroad at the London School of Economics while interning in the House of Commons in Parliament, as well as at Ben Gurion University in Be'er Sheva, Israel.

Carl R. Follmer, M.A., Ph.D. is the associate director of the Accounting Writing and Communications Program in the Tippie College of Business.  His academic background is in German Studies and children's literature, and includes a dissertation investigating fascist propaganda aimed at children in Germany and Spain.  In his professional work, Carl teaches communication skills and develops communications programming throughout the Tippie College of Business.  A critical part of his teaching is helping students consider audience needs and DEI concerns as they develop professional communication skills. He believes that Anne Frank's empowering message for children to document their lived experiences and become writers and thinkers has the ability to create a better community.

I am a professor of German and in the Global Health Studies program. I share with Dr. Kumpf Baele a deep interest in diversity and inclusion issues and teaching related courses at the UI, in my case on the representation of disabled persons and on "witch" hunts. I was the primary mentor and applicant for the Provost's Global Forum award which resulted in the "Teaching Anne Frank" events on campus in March 2022 and am working with Dr. Kumpf Baele on turning select presentations and new contributions into a book.

Mallory Hellman grew up Jewish and queer in the American South. The granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, she learned Anne Frank's story early and engaged with Anne's diary at several points in her education. Mallory's maternal grandparents, Max and Felicia Fuksman, dedicated their lives to education and spoke to students around the country about their time in the camps; Max was interned at Bergen Belsen at the same time as Anne Frank. Proudly, Mallory has followed in the pedagogical footsteps of her grandparents. After graduating from Harvard in 2008, she pursued an MFA at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and has since served as the director of the Iowa Youth Writing Project, providing literacy education and enrichment to marginalized K-12 youth.

Maia Sheppard is an assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning in the College of Education. Her research focuses on teaching difficult histories in secondary schools and social studies teacher education. Drawing on sociocultural theory, she examines the significance of identity, emotion, and place in social studies curriculum and teaching. She recently co-edited the book, Teaching Difficult Histories in Difficult Times: Pictures of Practice, and her work has been published in Teaching and Teacher Education, Theory and Research in Social Education, the Journal of Museum Education, and the Journal of Social Studies Research, among others.

I am a scholar of comparative literary and cultural studies whose research focuses on medieval Iberia. I am also an avid hiker whose current research project explores Christian, Jewish, and Islamic ‘medieval’ walking routes in Spain and Portugal, such as the Camino de Santiago, the Ruta del Califato, and Sephardic heritage itineraries. I am interested in the intersections between gender, race, religion, sexuality, place of origin, landscapes and belonging, as well as performance, cultures of fitness, memory studies, heritage tourism, foundational myths and national identity. I seek to promote inclusivity in my teaching, scholarship, and service.

Natoshia M. Askelson, MPH, PhD is an associate professor in the College of Public Health, Department of Community & Behavioral Health with an adjunct appointment in the Health Policy Research Program at the Public Policy Center. Most of her research is focused on rural and micropolitan communities in Iowa, where she conducts studies to better address the health outcomes of diverse groups. Many micropolitan communities in Iowa are new destination communities for migrants, immigrants, and refugees who are seeking employment in Iowa’s agricultural industries. Using a health disparity lens, her work addresses family health- including children and adolescents. She uses mixed methods to document how policies and interventions can influence positive and maladaptive behaviors. Anne Frank’s story provides a unique way for us to understand the experiences of migrant, immigrant, and refugee families and adolescents in rural and micropolitan Iowa.

Alisa Weinstein is a program coordinator for the Iowa Summer Writing Festival and an adjunct assistant professor in the UI Department of Anthropology. She received a BFA in Drama and MA in Educational Theatre from New York University, and a PhD in Anthropology from Syracuse University; she also studied at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, and conducted dissertation research on a Fulbright-Nehru scholarship. She is currently writing an ethnography on tailors working in Jaipur, India. As co-founder of Home Ec. Workshop in Iowa City, she often teaches knitting and sewing to crafters of all ages. She also served as the youth programs coordinator for the International Writing Program and is committed to the ways the Anne Frank Initiative can amplify the voices of young writers in Iowa, particularly those who are first- or second-generation immigrants, from refugee communities, or marginalized positions.