(BRANCHBURG, NJ) -- The Institute of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Raritan Valley Community College will present "Protecting Historical Artifacts and Cultural Preservation," an online webinar with distinguished scholar and ambassador-at-large Dr. Richard Kurin, on Friday, March 15, 2024 from 10:00am-11:00am.

The event is free of charge and open to the public. To register for the online event, click here.

The webinar will focus on the challenges of preserving historical treasures amid conflict and war and its impact on cultural preservation. Dr. Kurin founded the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative after Haiti’s 2010 earthquake and has worked to save cultural heritage endangered by natural disasters and human conflict. In the U.S. he leads the Smithsonian’s partnership with FEMA as part of the Heritage Emergency National Task Force, which responds to damage to cultural resources in natural disasters. He also helped draft an international treaty to safeguard living cultural heritage; the treaty has now been ratified by 180 countries. Dr. Kurin has worked closely with the Departments of State, Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security and with local partners in Iraq, Syria, Mali, Afghanistan, and Ukraine to safeguard heritage, identify looted art, and monitor terrorist activity and war crimes directed against cultural targets.

The event is being co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of West-Central New Jersey.

Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) is located at 118 Lamington Road in Branchburg, New Jersey.