The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) at EMU sent 13 graduates off into the world with words of affirmation and reflection at its annual Celebration of Blessings on Sunday, May 4, in Martin Chapel.
In the heartfelt ceremony, CJP faculty and staff members Dr. Gloria Rhodes, Amy Knorr, Dr. Joe Cole, and Dr. Catherine Barnes provided words of tribute for each graduate, expressing their feelings of love, pride, and honor. The following CJP Class of 2025 graduates were recognized:
Master of Arts in Conflict Transformation
Réka Bordás-Simon, Nyíregyháza, Hungary
Jess Cochran, Charlottesville, Virginia
Susan Hochstedler, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania
Dorothy Maru, Eldoret, Kenya
Maybree Spilsbury, Mesa, Arizona
Getachew Temare, Harrisonburg, Virginia
Graduate Certificate in Conflict Transformation
Megan Carnice, Quantico, Virginia
Karen Chamblee, Weyers Cave, Virginia
Master of Arts in Restorative Justice
Ann Dye, Blacksburg, Virginia
Graduate Certificate in Restorative Justice
Sydney Butler, Baltimore
Jim Cole, Lebanon, Ohio
Abigail Stockman, Craftsbury Common, Vermont
Master of Arts in Transformational Leadership
Tyler Carnahan, Broadway, Virginia
Three graduates shared how their time and experiences at CJP transformed them.
Ann Dye ’25 said that being at CJP has been a life-changing experience. She recounted joining a conflict transformation course—her first college class in nearly 30 years—and feeling fear, anxiety, and discomfort. “But all throughout that first semester, I was held in patient kindness by professors who taught in a way I had never experienced before,” she said. “They engaged with curiosity, compassion, and presence, sitting with my own—and maybe a few others’—fear and confusion. They actually demonstrated the peacebuilding skills they were teaching, engaging all of us with dignity, creativity, and adaptability.”
When she began to explore the field of restorative justice, based on a professor’s recommendation, she said “it felt like finding the half of my life that had been missing.”
Susan Hochstedler ’25 began taking electives at CJP for her seminary degree program. At the time, she said, she was exhausted. She had been leading a church community through the COVID-19 pandemic and also felt weighed down by family issues and the increasing division in society. “I came to CJP because I wasn’t sure what else to do,” she said. “But I stayed because of the knowledge and the passion, the brokenness and the authenticity, and the exquisite beauty of this peacebuilding community.”
When Dorothy Maru ’25 lost her grandmother three months after arriving at EMU, her entire world crumbled and she spent several months trying to make sense of it all. It wasn’t until she took a class with CJP Professor Dr. Paula Ditzel Facci that she began to see that, in the midst of her grief, there was tremendous growth. Her grandmother was “a woman of delusional faith,” Maru said, who believed in things that didn’t make much sense, “but because of how she believed in me, I had no choice but to believe in myself, too.”
“To the Class of 2025, let us go out into the world with a conviction that we are capable of creating a better world,” Maru said. “Let us apply what John Paul Lederach calls The Moral Imagination, to imagine that which doesn’t yet exist, to be delusional enough to believe that it is possible. It’s possible to demand justice, to choose peace, to create space for every voice.”
The ceremony featured a graduate slideshow created by CJP student Hannah Gilman. Katie Mansfield, CJP affiliate faculty member, opened the event with drumming. Maybree Spilsbury ’25 performed “The Swan” on cello, accompanied by Julie Spilsbury on piano. Kory Schaeffer, director of programs at CJP, delivered welcome remarks. CJP students Tabitha Roberts and Josiah Ludwick delivered the student blessings, and CJP affiliate faculty member Dr. Catherine Barnes concluded the celebration with a graduate sending.
View the photo album from the event.
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