Before joining the Center for Civic Friendship at Assumption University as Director, Mary Jane Rein was the Executive Director of the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University from 2008 until April 2024. Prior to joining the Strassler Center in 2004, she served as director of grants at Assumption College. She is co-editor of the volumes Documenting the Armenian Genocide: Essays in Honor of Taner Akçam (2023) and Agency and the Holocaust: Essays in Honor of Debórah Dwork (2019).
Mary Jane has been active in the community on behalf of the Israel Bonds committee of Central Massachusetts, as a board member and past president of the Worcester JCC, a corporator at the Greater Worcester Community Foundation and the Worcester Art Museum. Over more than two decades, she volunteered on behalf of the Worcester Jewish community as president of the Solomon Schechter Day School, board member of the Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts and Congregation Beth Israel, and founding co-chair of the Pardes community religious school. The Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts awarded her the Seder Young Leadership award in 2002 and she was honored by Israel Bonds in 2019. She earned a Ph.D. in Classical Art and Archaeology from Harvard University in 1993 and has worked as an archaeologist in Greece, Israel, and Turkey. Her husband Dr. Seth Kates is a dermatologist with practices in Worcester and Chelmsford, MA. They are parents to Gabriel, Elana, and Julian.