Lunch & Learn

A pioneering scholar of the Holocaust, Raul Hilberg taught at the University of Vermont for more than thirty years. In his Lunch & Learn talk Jon Huener, Professor of History and Director of the Center for Holocaust Studies at UVM, will discuss the lasting impact of Raul Hilberg’s work; the transformations in the history and... Read More

Vermont’s 21st century demographic experience is, and will continue to be, very different from population changes the state experienced in the last half of the 20th century. Vermont is now one of the oldest states in the nation; it has one of the lowest birth rates in the country; and its labor force is lower... Read More

Long- time OZ member and Vermont Certified Nurse-Midwife Jade Kaplan will discuss her work in April 2023 as a volunteer midwife on the medical team of the humanitarian search and rescue ship Humanity 1. Through a series of slides, Kaplan will illustrate her experience onboard, including her training; the crisis facing migrants desperate to reach... Read More

Because of a serious health issue facing a member of her family, our planned January Lunch & Learn speaker, Janie Cohen, will need to reschedule her talk on Holocaust related... Read More

Since 2021, the City of Burlington has been working to implement a 10-point housing action plan. The plan includes major housing-related initiatives for institutions (such as UVM); for the South End; and for City-wide implementation. City of Burlington Planning Director Meagan Tuttle and/or other Planning Department staff, will update us on these housing initiatives, and... Read More

Zvi Jankelowitz, the Yiddish Book Center’s Director of Institutional Advancement, will share with us highlights of “Yiddish: A Global Culture,” the Center’s new permanent exhibition, and explain how the Center... Read More

With deep ties to Burlington and Montpelier, Barre’s Jewish families nevertheless forged their own singular identity in a diverse environment of Yankees, Italians, French Canadians, Scots, Spanish, Syrians and other... Read More

Alan E. Rubel is a co-author/editor of a powerful collection of 43 stories about the reality of being an unpaid caregiver. The book, The Greatest Burden. The Greatest Blessing, includes stories involving a variety of areas of caregiving. As Rubel notes, "our mission is to help today's and tomorrow's caregivers through these stories." A former... Read More

One in 5 U.S. adults experiences a mental illness each year, but many of us know little about mental health conditions. Without meaning to, we may contribute to misconceptions. Some common myths are that mental illnesses are a result of personal weakness or poor upbringing – they aren’t! Learn about how NAMI Vermont is combatting... Read More

Tight up against the Chinese border in northern Vietnam is a mountainous, tribal area from which, almost daily, Hmong girls are tricked, drugged, kidnapped and smuggled deep inside China. There, they’re sold into coercive marriages and domestic, agricultural or sexual slavery. Disoriented, most lack the language, means and skills to escape. Most disappear forever. Long-time... Read More

Germany is today home to about 120,000 people who identify as Jews: less than one percent of the world's Jews and to less than two-tenths of one percent of Germany's total population. But for obvious historical reasons there is great interest in Jewish life, as well as antisemitism, in contemporary Germany. Alan Steinweis, Professor of History... Read More

Janie Cohen, past Director of UVM’s Fleming Museum, will provide an illustrated talk about the work of several artists who experienced the Holocaust directly or indirectly. Cohen will also focus on two of the former, Henryk Ross, who clandestinely photographed life in the Lodz ghetto while serving as the Jewish Council’s official photographer, and Hannelore... Read More

In this talk with music, composer, writer, and pianist Michael Schachter will explore his forthcoming music-theatrical project based on the history of the Terezín Ghetto, a WWII concentration camp outside Prague where the Jewish inmates resisted the Nazis through musical, dramatic, and artistic expression. In particular, he’ll focus on the musical activities of Eric Vogel,... Read More