Leadership

Throughout his twenty-one years with ROHA, Mr. Illingworth has fostered a dramatic expansion of the program's scope and reach. Trained in oral history and library and information science at Rutgers University, Mr. Illingworth has been instrumental in developing all aspects of the program, including interviewing techniques, website engineering, undergraduate education and community outreach. As webmaster for the #15 oral history website in the world, he has developed an online repository featuring over a thousand oral histories and tens of thousands of pages of fully transcribed, text-searchable material that cover a variety of topics, including social, cultural, legal, educational, immigration and military history, as well as the histories of Rutgers University and the State of New Jersey. He earned a B.A. in History at Rutgers College and a MLIS at the Rutgers School of Communications and Information.

Kathryn “Kate” Tracy Rizzi is an oral historian, writer, editor and educator. Since 2018, Kate has endeavored to continue ROHA’s mission of documenting the oral histories of individuals in communities throughout Rutgers University and the State of New Jersey. Kate has overseen the growth of ROHA's collections related to social, cultural, military, Rutgers and New Jersey history. She teaches Public History Interns, designs the ROHA website, and conducts outreach to groups throughout the University and State. She produces the Rutgers Oral History Archives Podcast and curated the "Voices of Veterans" exhibit on the ROHA website. Kate graduated from Rutgers College in 2002, earning highest honors, second place in the Harold L. Poor Memorial Prize in history, and membership in Phi Beta Kappa. She earned a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership at the College of Saint Elizabeth.