William Westerman is currently a lecturer in the Princeton Writing Program teaching a course entitled “Refugees, Immigrants, and Social Justice.” Prior to this he was director of the Cambodian American Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial in
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William Westerman is currently a lecturer in the Princeton Writing Program teaching a course entitled “Refugees, Immigrants, and Social Justice.” Prior to this he was director of the Cambodian American Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial in Chicago. A graduate of Harvard University with a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania, he has worked throughout his career with immigrant and refugee communities in museums, arts and social service organizations including the New York Foundation for the Arts, the International Institute of New Jersey, and the Philadelphia Folklore Project. He curated the exhibit “Fly to Freedom: The Art of the Golden Venture Refugees” at the Museum of the Chinese in the Americas and six other sites including the Smithsonian Institution. As a human rights activist, he works extensively on the issue of imprisonment of asylum seekers worldwide. He has recently founded Art Knows No Borders, Inc., a non-profit organization to promote the work of immigrant and refugee artists locally and the human rights of refugees and migrants globally through artistic programs.
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