How to let go yet remember, assign blame without guilt, repair what was broken, stop recycling the past, and create a future that works for all. Søren Kierkegaard reputedly said, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.” Conflict in any human relationship is inevitable; resolving conflict is not. It’s all about communication. Or is it? Miriam Zimmerman will share with us on her experience dealing with these difficult topics.

Miriam Zimmerman is professor emerita at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) in Belmont, where she was faculty administrator of the undergraduate Communication Department. She taught the Holocaust course at NDNU for 25 years. In 2001, Miriam and her husband Richard started second careers by founding a mediation partnership, Divorce Mediation Group. She continued to teach the Holocaust course at NDNU as adjunct faculty. She writes a column for the National Jewish Post & Opinion, under the byline, “Holocaust Educator.” She has presented papers on the Holocaust at Yad Vashem, Seton Hill University’s National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education, and the University of Haifa. Last November, she served as the Kristallnacht keynote speaker for the Central Valley Holocaust Educators’ Network. Armed with communication degrees from Northwestern University (B.S.), San Francisco State University (M.A.), and an Ed.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of San Francisco (USF), Miriam taught communication courses at UCSF School of Medicine and the University of San Francisco  before coming to NDNU in 1994. Richard and Miriam retired their mediation practice in 2020, just in time for the pandemic.