$100 million gift from Vera and Paul Guerin and family, with a multidisciplinary approach, hospital is realizing its vision of becoming an internationally recognized children’s health center
Keene State College has received a transformative gift from Jan and Rick Cohen to establish the Cohen Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
The Cohen Institute is the only Institute of its kind in the Northern New England region and absorbs and significantly elevates the work of the Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
The Cohen Institute will produce new research to shape and advance the field of Holocaust and genocide studies and will equip current and future leaders – including Keene State students – with knowledge about the genocidal process and practical tools to combat the root causes of mass violence.
“I am ever grateful for the privilege to know Jan and Rick Cohen and for the passion, commitment, and shared dream for Keene State College to do even more to make a difference,” said Keene State President Dr. Melinda D. Treadwell. “The creation of the Cohen Institute marks the beginning of a new era of ever-expanding and internationally relevant thought leadership, scholarship, research, and educational opportunities for faculty, staff, students, and community members.
The gift, she added, is also a commitment to provide leadership and a focus on problem-solving and sustainable solution-based approaches in a tense, often volatile, geopolitical landscape.
“Now, more than ever, the world needs the insights and hope that grows from the scholarship, service, and engagement of our faculty, students, alumni, and visiting scholars,” Treadwell said.
The Cohens’ gift assures us that that powerful and enduring resolve will continue for generations. Together, we will build awareness; create new knowledge and practice; forge tools to fight ignorance, othering, and hate; and find creative inroads to move beyond conflict to a more hopeful world.” Stated Keene State President Dr. Melinda Treadwell.
The Cohen Institute builds on the work and reputation of the Cohen Center, which has roots that date back more than four decades. The Center has served as an academic resource center that offers programs, events, and educational materials to people both on and off campus. The work and staff of the Center will be the foundation on which the new Institute will deliver its mission.
The Institute will organize its work around high-impact practices, innovative and interdisciplinary research, and thought-provoking programs for the campus community and audiences across the globe. The Institute will offer opportunities for synergistic work with faculty and students across all departments. Many new programs and opportunities will be student-centered: internships, graduate fellowships, research positions, experiential learning trips, a Youth Leadership Institute, and more.
Additionally, the Institute will house a research division and seek experts from across the globe to both conduct research and teach in residence, Dr. Kate Gibeault, director of the Cohen Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, said.
“Hundreds of Keene State College students will benefit directly from the Institute’s offerings, and beyond campus, the Institute’s impact will be exponential, with funded opportunities for youth leadership initiatives, new forms of support for local educators, and more,” Gibeault said. “We cannot thank the Cohen family enough for their continued belief in the importance of our mission, and for their landmark gift that will launch the Institute.”
Keene State also houses one of the few dedicated undergraduate majors in Holocaust and Genocide Studies in the country and was the first U.S. college or university to offer it, in 2009. Additionally, the college recently updated its graduate offerings in Holocaust and Genocide Studies to include a Master of Arts in Holocaust and genocide studies and a graduate certificate in genocide prevention and human security. The Institute will remain distinct from the academic program but will offer formalized and expanded partnerships between the Holocaust and Genocide Studies department and the Institute.
Well-known events associated with the Cohen Center – including the annual Holocaust Memorial Lecture – will continue through the Institute. The Cohens’ gift also provides funding to ensure the long-term viability of programs like the Genocide Awareness Lecture and the domestic and international study tour program that brings together area educators, community members, elected officials, alumni, and Keene State faculty and staff.
The Center opened in 1983 as an academic resource center featuring a collection of books and resources brought together by founder Dr. Charles Hildebrandt, then a Keene State professor. The Center marked its 40th anniversary during the 2023-24 academic year. Hildebrandt coined the mission “to remember … and to teach.”
“The Cohens’ gift assures us that that powerful and enduring resolve will continue for generations,” Treadwell said. “Together, we will build awareness; create new knowledge and practice; forge tools to fight ignorance, othering, and hate; and find creative inroads to move beyond conflict to a more hopeful world.”
Keene State College is a preeminent public liberal arts college that ensures student access to world-class academic programs. Integrating academics with real-world application and active community and civic engagement, Keene State College prepares graduates to meet society’s challenges by thinking critically, acting creatively, and serving the greater good.
Richard B. “Rick” Cohen is an American businessman and billionaire.
He is the majority owner, chairman, and chief executive officer of Symbotic, an artificial intelligence-enabled robotics and warehouse automation company & owner of C&S Wholesale Grocers (C&S), a wholesale grocery supply company, with both based in Massachusetts.
He was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1952 to Norma and Lester Cohen. In 1970, he graduated from the Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Massachusetts and then in 1974, he graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree economics, concentrating in accounting.
In 1974, Cohen began working at the family company, C&S Wholesalers in Worcester, Massachusetts, which was co-founded by his grandfather, Israel Cohen, in 1918.
In 1989, Cohen took control of C&S after his father retired and in 2003, he moved the company headquarters to Keene, New Hampshire.
As the food distribution business is very low margin and customer retention is critical, C&S has been able to attain efficiencies – less than 2 percent of the orders processed have errors or omissions – by using performance incentives combined with self-managed teams of workers who are responsible for assembling customer orders thereby eliminating costly supervisors.
In 1989, Cohen took control of C&S after his father retired and in 2003, he moved the company headquarters to Keene, New Hampshire.
As the food distribution business is very low margin and customer retention is critical,[5] C&S has been able to attain efficiencies – less than 2 percent of the orders processed have errors or omissions – by using performance incentives combined with self-managed teams of workers who are responsible for assembling customer orders thereby eliminating costly supervisors.
Cohen is also the founder of Symbotic, a robotics warehouse automation company.
Symbotic’s artificial intelligence-enabled platform was used by C&S, Walmart, Target, Albertsons, and other large retailers.
In December 2021, Symbotic announced plans to go public through a merger with a SPAC sponsored by SoftBank in order to accelerate its push into warehouse automation.
In 2001, The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College was renamed after the Cohens in thanks of their financial support.
Cohen is married to Jan Cohen, executive producer of the Kaddish Project, a musical oratorio on genocide; the couple have three children.