Beth Dotan Receives the 2023 Sower Award in the Humanities
The 2023 Sower Award in the Humanities was presented to Beth S. Dotan, Ph.D., on October 10, 2023 immediately preceding the 28th Annual Governor’s Lecture in the Humanities at the Holland Performing Arts Center in Omaha.
Beth S. Dotan, Ph.D. received the 2023 Sower Award in the Humanities in recognition of her efforts to increase understanding about the Holocaust.
A research assistant professor in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Harris Center for Judaic Studies, Dotan created the Nebraska Stories of Humanity website as part of her Ph.D. work at UNL. Funded by HN, this digital web portal highlights stories of Holocaust survivors and servicemen who liberated Nazi camps and settled in Nebraska after World War II.
“Her programs and projects have advanced scholarship in the humanities and her advocacy of this work to the greater community has been uniquely effective,” said nominator Robert Nefsky. Nefsky is former chairman of the Nebraska Humanities Council board (1995-96) and received the Sower Award in 1998.
Dotan is a native Nebraskan who has lived and worked both here and in Israel. From 2000-2013, she served as the founding Executive Director of the Institute for Holocaust Education in Omaha. She has also served as the Director, International Department of the Ghetto Fighters House Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum in Lohamei HaGeta’ot, Israel, from 2012-2015. From 2015-2018, she served as compliance officer and project administrator of Tsofen, an Arab-Jewish organization promoting the integration of Israel’s Arab citizens into its high tech industries.
Prior to receiving her Ph.D. from UNL, Dotan graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a BA in History and Hebrew. She earned a MA in Jewish Education from Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Los Angeles.
Dotan will be honored on Oct. 10, 2023, during the 28th Annual Governor’s Lecture in the Humanities at the Holland Performing Arts Center in Omaha. Titled, “From Moscow to the Lincoln Highway: An Evening with Amor Towles,” the free public event will begin at 7:30 p.m. following a benefit dinner to help raise funds to support HN’s statewide programming. A live-stream viewing option will also be available.
