Being twins, Justin and Joel Rittenhouse learned to share growing up: toys, birthdays, even, in one sense, each other’s face. Now, the 21-year-olds share another distinction — Eastern Mennonite University graduate. The brothers were among the more than 400 Royals who received diplomas on Sunday during commencement exercises at the liberal arts school. ...More
Commencement speaker Abigail Disney asked the graduates of Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) to support a greater role for women in the political arena, particularly in peace negotiations. If more women were at the negotiating tables, suggested Disney, wars would likely end sooner and on terms that permit faster healing. She cited a United Nations study that found that less than 3 perce ...More
Her ties to the first family of entertainment are strong but this Disney focuses on brave women in peacebuilding rather than cartoons and children’s films. Abigail Disney, a philanthropist, scholar and award-winning filmmaker, will give the annual commencement address at Eastern Mennon ...More
One of the three women receiving the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, Leymah Gbowee, is closely connected with the “peace-church tradition” of the Mennonites. Gbowee, who shares the prize with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and ...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
