Meet Melissa
Dr. Melissa Mikel is an educator, scholar, and leader in Holocaust and genocide education with more than two decades of experience in curriculum development, teacher training, and educational leadership.
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In her role as Senior Director of Education at Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC), Dr. Mikel spent 16 years developing, implementing, and overseeing educational programs and professional training for diverse audiences, including law enforcement personnel, educators, and students from Grade 6 through postsecondary. She managed the education department, overseeing educational event planning and budgeting, marketing and donor engagement initiatives, writing grants and proposals, and creating educational content for print, digital, and social media platforms. She worked closely with partner organizations, including the Ontario Ministry of Education, public and Catholic school boards, and private and independent schools, providing consultation and support to advance inclusive, impactful Holocaust and equity education.
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Prior to her work at FSWC, Dr. Mikel held multiple leadership roles at Goodwin Learning Centre, a small private elementary school in rural Ontario, where she served as a teacher, Vice Principal, and Director of Education. During this time, she taught Ontario curriculum subjects in Grades 6–8, developed school-wide programs for students from JK through Grade 8, established school policies and procedures, supported and managed staff, and worked closely with families and the broader school community.
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Dr. Mikel recently completed her PhD in Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Gratz College, where she explored a collection of writing - letters, diary entries, and short stories - all written by a fourteen year old girl who escaped Nazi-occupied Prague with 150 teens in October 1939. Her dissertation, Writing Home: From Denmark to Prague, Letters, Diary Entires and Short Stories by Annemarie Federerová, reconstructed Federerová's survival story while exploring her writing as a coping mechanism for survival. She holds a Master’s degree in Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Gratz College, where her thesis examined The Future of Holocaust Education Without In-Person Survivor Testimony, and a Master of Arts in Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Her OISE thesis, Pebbles for Peace: The Impact of Holocaust Education, explored the pedagogical and social impact of Holocaust education initiatives. She also holds a Bachelor of Education from the University of Ottawa and an Honours Bachelor of Arts in English from Trent University.
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Dr. Mikel has completed advanced professional training through international Holocaust education programs at the Auschwitz State Museum, Belzec Memorial, and Majdanek Concentration Camp, as well as the Museum of Tolerance. She also holds additional qualifications as a Reading Specialist.
Her work is grounded in a commitment to thoughtful, research-informed pedagogy and the belief that Holocaust education plays a vital role in fostering critical thinking, ethical responsibility, and social awareness in contemporary classrooms.
