Beginning July 1, 2011, Eastern Mennonite University’s (EMU) annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) gained two new directors, both of whom hold graduate degrees in conflict transformation – William (Bill) Goldberg, MA ’01, and Valerie Helbert, MA ’08. Goldberg and Helbert are veteran employees of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, under which SPI operates. Goldberg ...More
Filmmaker Abigail Disney says she learned “to look at war through women’s eyes,” as a result of visiting Liberia in 2006 and meeting Leymah Gbowee, who now holds a masters in conflict transformation from Eastern Mennonite University (EMU). Gbowee was one of the leaders of a women’s movement that was instrumental in ending Liberia’s 14-year-long civil war in 2003. Gbowee ...More
The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University is hosting an event, “Women, War and Peace,” 7 p.m. Friday, June 10 in the MainStage Theater of the University Commons. The program will feature Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and documentary filmmaker Abigail Disney, along with other women from around the world who are involved in peacebuilding i ...More
For both Sam Gbaydee Doe and Al Fuertes, the vocation of peacebuilding was forged in the trauma of civil war. In Doe’s native Liberia, 10 percent of the population perished. For Fuertes, growing up on the Philippine island Mindanao, one of the world’s longest recent wars seemed “a given.” Now, over more than a decade, bo ...More
Ted & Company TheaterWorks and the Summer Peacebuilding Institute at Eastern Mennonite University will present “I’d Like to Buy an Enemy” 7:30 p.m. Friday, June 3, in the MainStage Theater of the University Commons at EMU. PARKING ALERT: Parking on campus will be extremely limited this night due to a local public high school graduation ceremony in the University Com ...More
Those entering the opening session of Eastern Mennonite University’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) were handed felt markers and circles of fabric. Their assignment: “Tell what you bring here.” Faisa Loyaan’s contribution: “learning and sharing.” That Somalian guest’s response seemed typical among the 80 learners arriving from 23 nations for the annual gathe ...More
Pakistan-based graduates of Eastern Mennonite University say U.S. military policy in their country has fed extremism and that, sadly, such extremism may not subside with the death of Osama bin Laden. That was a major finding of EMU professor of peacebuilding Lisa Schirch, who was in Pakistan last week, researching and consulting with ...More
EMU dedicated a peace pole as a symbol of its core values and commitment to diversity in a ceremony held Thursday evening, June 17, on campus. Dr. Anil Solanki of Eastern Mennonite Seminary noted that the peace pole ...More
Lilian Burlando and grandson Matias Echazu of Argentina between class sessions at EMU’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute. Photo by Jon Styer Three generations of a family have recently attended EMU’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute, bringing diverse talent ...More
Participants wend their way into Martin Chapel, singing ‘We are many colors,’ for the opening session of the 15th annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute. Photo by Lindsey Kolb Enrollment numbers have climbed back for EMU’s ...More
