Boaz Dvir

Associate Professor Boaz Dvir is a Donald P. Bellisario Career Advancement Professor in the Department of Journalism. He’s the founding director of the University’s Hammel Family Human Rights Initiative and the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights Education Initiative.

He’s an award-winning filmmaker and writer. He tells the stories of ordinary people who, under extraordinary circumstances, transform into trailblazers who change the world around them. They include a teacher in a high-need school who transformed into a disruptive innovator and a national model ("Class of Her Own"); an uneducated truck driver who becomes a highly effective child-protection activist ("Jessie’s Dad"); and a French business consultant who sets out to kill former Nazi officer Klaus Barbie and ends up playing a pivotal role in one of history’s most daring hostage-rescue operations ("Cojot").

His films have been distributed by PBS, The New York Times, Hulu, Amazon Prime and other outlets, and have received coverage by such media as the Huffington Post, The Guardian, and Forbes. He’s written for many publications, including New York’s Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, and TIME magazine.

Dvir wrote a syllabus on multimedia journalism ethics for Harvard University’s Kennedy School. He has also taught journalism and documentary filmmaking at the University of Florida.

Dvir wrote a chapter for “Homegrown in Florida” (University Press of Florida, 2012), an anthology edited by William McKeen that includes childhood stories by Carl Hiaasen, Zora Neale Hurston and Tom Petty. He served as editor of the Jacksonville Business Journal and managing editor of the South Florida Business Journal. He appeared on “Week in Review” and wrote commentaries for WJCT, Jacksonville’s NPR/PBS station.

Dvir created a documentary short about PALS, which helped the nonprofit that aids troubled teens receive an official nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants. Dvir received a Lilly Endowment grant from the Religion News Service to research spiritual aspects of the Holocaust.

• VIDEO: How Special Ops Became Central to the War on Terror
• VIDEO: Jessie's Dad
• VIDEO: A Wing and a Prayer

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• Heroism against all odds
• Professor's documentary a finalist for film festival awards
• Do we have a chance to overcome hyper-polarization?
• Holocaust education: A mixed bag in U.S. schools
• New partnership empowers Samford education students to have difficult conversations
• Film Festival to feature documentary on legendary Gainesville educator
• Penn State professor directs feature film 'Class of Her Own'
• Seventy years after ‘Brown,’ school segregation persists
• SUBSCRIBER ONLY Seventy years after Brown v. Board of Education, is school segregation here to stay?
• How to get Holocaust education right
• Baseball field, film festival among venues to show faculty member's documentary
• New documentary portrait of trailblazing Florida teacher
• Penn State professor’s documentary ‘Class of Her Own’ chronicles teacher’s trailblazing work
• Freestyle Digital Media acquires ‘Class of Her Own’ doc
• 'America's greatest gift to Israel'
• Penn State researching ways to teach tough topics to K-12 students
• Faculty member's documentary about innovative teacher gets national distribution
• Innovative approaches for addressing difficult topics in K-12 schools
• How educator Gloria Jean Merriex used dance, drills and devotion to turn around a failing elementary school in a year
• Holocaust Education Initiative to share proof of its strong NEH program impact
• How parents should engage kids in conversation on difficult issues such as the Israel-Hamas War
• How new state laws and book ban movements have made the teaching of US history contentious – 5 essential reads
• Holocaust museum exhibit featuring 11 million stamps unveiled in Bellefonte. What to know
• Alumni brothers hope their gift propels Penn State initiative battling hatred
• From ‘never forget’ to never mind? An Aspenite seeks to address Holocaust education
• Israel’s judicial reform efforts could complicate its relationship with US – but the countries have faced other bumps along the road
• Here are some of the laws being proposed in Harrisburg this session
• A Smarter Approach to the Hardest Topics
• Alumni couple makes $5 million gift to Human Rights Education Initiative
• The Curious Man Podcast: Boaz Dvir Interview
• Biden and Trump agree on strong U.S.-Israel relations — Sanders not so much
• Book Review: 'Saving Israel'
• In the terrorism fight, Trump has continued a key Obama policy
• Professor: Violence in places of worship are attacks on human rights
• Documentary celebrates the heroism and redemption of Michel Cojot
• In the wake of Tree of Life, education must be a priority
• Tree of Life first anniversary: How to teach tough topics to our kids
• Professor's award-winning films strive for a deeper impact
• Teaching teachers about the Holocaust
• Documentary 'Quiet Sundays' named best student film at festival
• Faculty member's documentary selected for festivals in Italy and Australia
• LA's Museum of Tolerance to screen professor's post-Holocaust film
• For a while, he was chasing the wrong story. Then Penn State professor Boaz Dvir came across Cojot.
• There’s one hero of Entebbe who deserves his own film. I remember him well
• Professor and filmmaker discovers transformative teacher
• Filmmaker returns to Baltimore to preview documentary
• Upcoming film tells unbelievable story of France’s Michel Cojot
• Documentarian finds new focus in old story
• Preview screenings set for faculty member's film about daring Holocaust survivor
• Commentary: Could Trump broker an Israeli-Palestinian deal?
• International festival to screen professor’s documentary
• Discovering Gloria Jean Merriex
• PODCAST: Putting Nazi weapons in Jewish hands
• Terrorism, then and now
• Documentary tells triumph of American pilots in Israel’s war for independence
• A second Holocaust?
• Rethinking the notion of a second Holocaust
• Free screening of faculty member's documentary offers audience input
• Documentary set for four East Coast screenings
• Faculty members' documentary selected for screening in NYC
• Professors produce documentary about unsung hero Michel Cojot
• Professor produces documentary, unveils WWII secret operation
• Seven lessons from the Greatest Generation
• World War II veterans offer pearls of wisdom
• Why we should cheer some operatives for Israel, but not Jonathan Pollard
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• Screenings of instructor's film set in New York City, Philadelphia
• How Miami played a role in Israel's war for independence
• Instructor's film tells forgotten story of American aviators who helped Israel
• Award-winning film, part of campaign for child protection, available for free
• Penn State lecturer's film depicting father's fight for change now on Hulu
• D.C. museum schedules virtual book talk by Penn State faculty member
• PODCAST: Military History Inside Out — "Saving Israel"
• Penn State Holocaust Education Initiative receives lead gift, matching funds
• Penn State professor, filmmaker pens ‘Saving Israel’ to bring secret WWII operation to light
• How a Penn State professor's grandfather inspired documentary 'A Wing and a Prayer'
• PSU initiative to bring holocaust teaching tools to Pa. educators
• Professor to discuss 'Lessons from History's Most Daring Hostage Rescue'
• Holocaust Education Initiative offers free, trauma-informed teaching seminar