The C.E.O. Teaching Future Generations About 9/11

On Sept.11, 2001, Elizabeth L.

Hillman had the same reaction as many to the horror she saw unfold on television.“I wondered what I should do next, like a lot of people,” she said.The former Air Force officer, then in Philadelphia, had just taken a job as a law professor.

She worked her way through academia, eventually becoming president of Mills College.After leading a merger between Mills and Northeastern University in 2022, she was looking for her next role, which led back to 9/11.The position of chief executive of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum opened up, and Ms.

Hillman, a military historian, had taught about 9/11 in classes.It was a natural fit: In late 2022, she became the C.E.O.

of the museum.“It’s the kind of thing that had such powerful resonance and has so many layers that I could spend a lifetime trying to understand it,” Ms.Hillman, 58, said.

“The museum is dedicated to that.”She arrived at a challenging moment.The museum, which relies mostly on ticket sales — it is $36 for adult admission — has reported a series of losses since attendance never fully recovered after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ahead of the 25th anniversary, Ms.Hillman and her team are trying to find new ways to tell the story of that day to the increasingly large number of people without memories of it.In recent years, the museum has put a greater focus on 9/11-related illnesses.

This year’s commemoration will add an extra moment of silence for those who have died from the health effects over the past 25 years.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....