AIPR- the auschwitz institute for peace and reconciliation

Prof. James E. Waller, Ph.D.

Dr. Waller, who in March 2010 was named Cohen Chair for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College in New Hampshire, is the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation Affiliated Scholar. His academic specializations are Holocaust and genocide studies, intergroup relations, and prejudice. In addition to three books, he has published twenty-nine articles in peer-reviewed professional journals and thirteen chapters in edited books. He has taught at the University of Colorado, the University of Kentucky, Asbury College, and Whitworth University, as well as holding international visiting professorships at the Technical University in Berlin (1990) and the Catholic University in Eichstatt, Germany (1992).

Dr. Waller is an active member of several professional organizations, including the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the International Network of Genocide Scholars, the International Society of Political Psychology, the Peace and Justice Studies Association, Psychologists for Social Responsibility, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.

As a widely recognized scholar in the field of Holocaust and genocide studies, he has taken part in international seminars hosted by the Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust Studies at the University of Leicester in England (2006); the Institute of Sociology at Jagiellonian University in Krakow (2007 and 2008); the Bundeszentrale fur politische Bildung in Berlin (2009); and the VU University Amsterdam in the Netherlands (2009). He has received fellowships at the Holocaust Educational Foundation at Northwestern University (1996 and 2007-2009) and the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC (1999, 2003, and 2005).

In October 2008, Dr. Waller was invited to give a briefing on genocide prevention for the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the CIA Directorate of Intelligence. The briefing, part of an annual forum on genocide prevention, focused on the psychological aspects of genocide prevention and human rights abuses. And in January 2009, Dr. Waller was selected for the inaugural class of Carl Wilkins Fellows by the Genocide Intervention Network, a program designed to foster sustained political will for the prevention and cessation of genocide.

His book Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing (Oxford University Press, 2002) was praised by Publisher's Weekly for "clearly and effectively synthesizing a wide range of studies to develop an original and persuasive model of the process by which people can become evil." In addition to being used as a textbook in college and university courses around the world, Becoming Evil was also short-listed for the biennial Raphael Lemkin Award from the International Association of Genocide Scholars; it was released in a revised and updated second edition in March 2007. Concepts from the book served as the basis for the international best-selling novel The Exception, by Christian Jungersen.

Dr. Waller is currently working on a comparative research project on church-state relations in the context of genocidal violence in the Holocaust, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Rwanda. The focus is on the church as a social institution, with institutional actors, and how it shapes a culture in which genocidal violence may occur and how it responds to such a culture both during and after genocidal violence. This book will break new ground by being the first comparative analysis of church-state relations in genocidal societies.

Dr. Waller is also widely recognized for his work on intergroup relations and prejudice. In January 1996, while at Whitworth University, he developed an innovative study program titled Prejudice Across America. The study program drew national media attention and was named by President Clinton's Initiative on Race as one of America's Promising Practices for Racial Reconciliation. Many of the experiences from the study program are chronicled in Dr. Waller's first book, Face to Face: The Changing State of Racism Across America (Perseus Books, 1998), and a second book, published in October 2000, Prejudice Across America (University Press of Mississippi). Prejudice Across America was short-listed for a 2001 Outstanding Book Award from Boston University's Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights in North America.

While at Whitworth, Dr. Waller's achievements in teaching and scholarship were reflected in his selection as the 1993 recipient of the Dean's Award for Outstanding Junior Faculty Achievement, the 1996 recipient of Whitworth's Teaching Excellence Award, and a 2008 nominee for Whitworth's Innovative Teaching Award. In addition, he has been a four-time institutional nominee for the CASE U.S. Professor of the Year award. In fall 2003, Waller was Whitworth's inaugural appointee for a four-year term as the Edward B. Lindaman Chair, an endowed, rotating chair for senior Whitworth faculty who are engaged in significant regional and national academic initiatives and who contribute to public dialogue concerning important social issues.

In 1999-2000, Dr. Waller was one of sixteen national recipients of the prestigious Pew Fellowship Award to continue his work on the psychology of human evil. In June 2007, he received the First Voice Humanitarian Award from the Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture, in recognition of his work in connecting students with urban communities, particularly communities in need.

Dr. Waller lectures and speaks on Holocaust and genocide studies, intergroup relations, and prejudice for academic, professional, and public audiences. He has been invited to give endowed or funded lectures at more than fifty colleges and universities, including the University of Massachusetts, Amherst College, Florida Atlantic University, Claremont-McKenna College, the University of Notre Dame, Washington State University, Sonoma State University, and Hope College. He is frequently interviewed by broadcast and print media, including PBS, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.