Kia Hays recently joined the research and documentation staff at USC Shoah Foundation as project specialist. She received a bachelor’s in English and international relations at Hawaii Pacific University in 2010 and a master’s in public diplomacy from the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism in May 2013. Hays was the associate editor for the online publication PDiN Monitor at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, and the editor-in-chief of the academic journal Public Diplomacy Magazine. She also interned at the Smithsonian Institute and the Wende Museum and Archive of the Cold War.

What will you be doing at USC Shoah Foundation?

As project specialist, I assist the associate director of research, Dan Leshem, with logistics on the many academic events USC Shoah Foundation hosts throughout the year.

What does working at USC Shoah Foundation mean to you?

I admire USC Shoah Foundation because of its focus on innovation—not just in preserving memories, but in sharing these memories and stories in meaningful ways. More importantly, USC Shoah Foundation is equally focused on engaging the academic community as it is in engaging students at all levels, and this is something I firmly believe in. One of the projects I work on is the annual Student Voices film competition, which invites USC students to create short films that incorporate testimonies of survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides from USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive. This is a way to reach out to a wide range of students in a way that is creative and meaningful, and I think it allows students to engage with history in a deeply personal way. (And the films from the past competitions have been amazing!)

What are you looking forward to accomplishing at USC Shoah Foundation?

The Student Voices competition is something I am incredibly excited about. We are currently discussing ways to make this a more engaging experience for the students that get involved by offering workshops, special tours, etc. USC Shoah Foundation brings a personal, emotional component to some of the most important events in history. Things like Student Voices are important because it ensures that events like the Holocaust and the Rwanda Tutsi Genocide will continue to be more than something that is merely introduced as a part of the past through history books. I think USC Shoah Foundation will only continue to gain importance in the future because of its focus on staying engaging and innovative.

Fun Fact

I was raised in a Navy family, and spent most of my childhood moving every 2-3 years. It was a great way to grow up!