Lecture with Dr. Zina Besirevic, Bosnian Genocide Survivor, and Dr. Alexis Herr

In commemoration of Bosnian Genocide Remembrance Day taking place a few days later, Classrooms Without Borders is honored to bring Bosnian Genocide child survivor Dr. Zina Besirevic, and professor of genocide studies Dr. Alexis Herr, to our community of learners on July 7.
Dr. Zina Besirevic

Dr. Zina Besirevic earned her PhD in Cognition and Development from University of California Berkeley, focusing on the development of moral judgment. She also holds a Masters in Human Rights Education from UC Berkeley, a Masters in Philosophy from University of San Francisco, a Bachelors in International Relations from Royal Holloway University of London, and a Data Scientist Certification from Harvard University. Her research is global and cross-cultural, and it focuses on how children and adults reason about human rights and justice. Zina has taught and conducted academic research at UC Berkeley, University of San Francisco, and San Francisco State, and she is a recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including the highly prestigious United States Institute of Peace Fellowship, the Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar Award, Jean Piaget International Society Prize and the UC Chancellor’s Public Scholar Award.

Currently, Zina is the Director of Research for the San Francisco Mayor’s Office, Opportunities for All, a program spearheaded by the Human Rights Commission. She is also an affiliate senior scholar at the McCarthy Center, USF. Her work brings government agencies and NGOs into a partnership with academia, to investigate how to best empower and enfranchise youth, through ensuring equity, social mobility and civic participation. Her body of work in human rights, moral psychology and youth development is rooted in a personal experience of surviving the siege of Sarajevo as a child, and living as a political asylee in London, as teen. When not worrying about the state of human rights and dignity, Zina runs marathons in the Bay Area.

Dr. Alexis Herr

Alexis Herr has dedicated her life to combating genocide and atrocity. This passion has motivated her educational and professional pursuits and translates into a strong desire to prevent human rights violations. Ms. Herr received a doctorate in Holocaust History from the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University. She teaches at University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and the University of San Francisco. She is the author of The Holocaust and Compensated Compliance in Italy: Fossoli di Carpi, 1942 – 1952 (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), and the editor of Rwanda: The Essential Reference Guide (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2018) and Sudan: The Essential Reference Guide (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2020).