A Symposium with James Young, Kristin Urquiza, and Karla Funderburk

James E. Young is Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of English and Judaic & Near Eastern Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he has taught since 1988, and Founding Director of the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies at UMass Amherst.

Kristin Urquiza is a proud product of public primary education and the first person in her family to go to college. She is Co-Executive Director of Marked by COVID, which she co-founded after her father needlessly passed away from COVID on June 30th. Marked By COVID is a national, grassroots-powered nonprofit that promotes accountability, recognition, justice, and a pandemic-free future by elevating truth and science. She holds a Master of Public Affairs from UC Berkeley, is a graduate of Yale University, and is the granddaughter of migrant and immigrant farm workers from Mexico and Oklahoma. She can be followed on Twitter @kdurquiza and @MarkedByCOVID.

Karla Funderburk is a Ceramic Artist and Master Carpenter. She earned an MFA from Claremont Graduate University in 1984, with a focus on ceramic sculpture, installation and performance art. In 1991, she started MATTER, a handmade, custom furniture design and manufacturing business. She is currently creating the Memorial Crane Project, a collaborative installation honoring the victims of Covid-19. As this Memorial travels to various States. Through social media and the multiple press coverage, she receives Tsuru, (origami cranes) which she and a team of volunteers string and install in various venues throughout the US.

Register here.