Advisory Board

Edwin Hirschfeld, Director, President ex officio
Edwin Hirschfeld founded Global Minds Institute which he currently directs with the overarching objective of parlaying innovative pedagogical practice into individual advancement and societal transformation. At the State University of New York at Albany and at independent schools in New York and Ohio, Edwin has been an an accomplished designer of curriculum and academic programming. In 2007 he won the United University Professionals, Professional Development Award for conducting fieldwork, and in 2016 he was bestowed the Darrow School Hoopes Faculty Award. Edwin is multilingual and rejoices at his family and friends across the globe.

Mark A. Raider, PhD., Vice President
Dr. Mark Raider is professor of modern Jewish history at the University of Cincinnati, where he directs the Center for Studies in Jewish Education and Culture. He serves as chair of the university’s Israel Initiative Committee. He is also a visiting professor at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Before joining the University of Cincinnati, he was on faculty at the State University of New York at Albany. In 2019, he spent a semester at the University of Haifa as the Ruderman visiting professor. His recent books are The Essential Hayim Greenberg: Essays and Addresses on Jewish Culture, Socialism, and Zionism (University of Alabama Press, 2017), New Perspectives in American Jewish History: A Documentary Tribute to Jonathan D. Sarna, coeditor with Gary P. Zola (Brandeis University Press, 2021), and American Jews, Zionism, and World War I, coeditor with Zohar Segev and Gary P. Zola, forthcoming. He and his wife Dr. Miriam Raider-Roth live in Cincinnati and they have three children, Jonah (Cleveland), Ez (Cincinnati), and Talia (Denison University).

Miriam Raider-Roth, PhD., Secretary
Dr.  Miriam Raider-Roth is a Professor of Educational Studies and Educational & Community-Based Action Research in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services, University of Cincinnati. She is the director of the Action Research Center. She also was one of the founding directors of the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Studies in Jewish Education and Culture. She has taught high school and elementary school in Israel and in the US. Her research focus centers on the relational context of classroom life and the ways in which classroom relationships shape student learning and teacher practice. Her current research examines teachers’ relationships with boys and teachers’ understandings of their role as transmitters of culture. She teaches courses in classroom action research, feminist qualitative methodology, human learning, and the relational context of teaching and learning.

Daniel Wetzel, Treasurer
Daniel Wetzel is a lifelong educator. Having volunteered during high school at the New York State School for the Blind he subsequently earned a B.S., Education from James Madison University to teach students with disabilities (8-21). He taught for 12 years and then transitioned to public school administration after earning an MEd., Administration and Supervision from the University of Virginia. Daniel Wetzel was named Teacher of the Year by the Learning Disabilities Association of Maryland in 1994-95. He has since served as a coordinator of special education, assistant superintendent, and middle school principal.

Kylie Opelt
Kylie Opelt is a senior executive with over two decades experience in finance, strategic planning, commercial finance, purchasing and negotiations, and business development in the consumer products, real estate, e-commerce, technology and insurance industries. She began her career at Procter & Gamble and worked on several of the company’s biggest product launches, brands and transformational programs before moving into the Consulting and CFO space..