Stephen Wessler

Steve currently works with schools, colleges, non-profit organizations, health care institutions, law enforcement agencies, employers, communities and others through education, training and advocacy.  He has presented and facilitated 100s of workshops, lectures, keynote addresses, and conflict resolution dialogues across the United States and in Canada, Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East.

Steve, an attorney, developed and led the Civil Rights Unit in the Maine Office of the Attorney General from 1992 to 1999.  He is a graduate of Harvard College and Boston University School of Law. In 1999 he founded the Center for Preventing Hate and was its director for 12 years until it’s closing in fall 2011. He is the author of The Respectful School and a number of articles, reports, book chapters and other publications focusing on hate crimes and prevention.  He has received numerous awards for his human rights work.

Since 2000 Steve has taught courses on human rights topics at colleges and univesities. He is currently teaching at the College of the Atlantic, in Bar Harbor, Maine. His most recent courses include “Religious Intolerance in the United States” and “Hate Crimes in the Contemporary US.”