Ed Alster,

Director of Education, Anti-Defamation League

Mentee:

Frida, 15, Mexico

Ed S. Alster is currently the Director of Education at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Dr. Alster, as Education Director, leads the expansion of the A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute and the ADL’s Braun Holocaust Center, has brought the Sugihara “Do the Right Thing” student essay contest to ADL sponsorship and added a Japan component to the Sugihara program. He has spoken before a variety of audiences not only in the United States, but in Poland, Japan and Israel.

Dr. Alster brings 34 years of education experience to his role with ADL. He has taught both junior high and high school, and has served as principal and Assistant Superintendent in a number of public school districts in New York and New Jersey. Dr. Alster has also taught at both Rutgers College and Kean University as an adjunct professor. In 1996, Dr. Alster received an international fellowship to attend a Holocaust training program at Yad Vashem in Israel.

Dr. Alster is a current member of the Florida State Education Commissioner’s Task Force on Holocaust Education. He is listed in Who's Who in Education and was the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution to Youth Award in Piscataway, NJ; the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Parents Association in Jersey City, NJ; the Union Carbide Advisory Board Achievement Recognition; the Town of Ramapo, New York Certificate of Merit Award and the Outstanding Educator of America Award. Dr. Alster has been a United Synagogue Youth Director, an afternoon Religious School Principal and a Summer Sleepaway Camp Assistant Director. He has served as Vice President of the Raritan Valley Holocaust Commission; Vice Chairperson of the Rutgers Community Mental Health Board of Directors; Vice Chairperson of the Piscataway Television Center; Chairperson of the High School Principals Division of the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association; and, a member of the National Board of Trustees of the Jostens Renaissance Program. Dr. Alster has brought his message on education to over 100 conferences, conventions, meetings, and classrooms throughout the United States.

Dr. Alster earned his Bachelor and Master's degree from Montclair State University in Social Studies Education. He completed his Doctoral Studies at Rutgers University in 1978 in Social Science Education. His Dissertation study was in the area of the effect of change relationships.