{"id":1844,"date":"2009-01-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-01-23T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.emu.edu\/blog\/news\/?p=1844"},"modified":"2009-01-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-01-23T05:00:00","slug":"va-tech-peace-center-gets-help-from-peacebuilding-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2009\/va-tech-peace-center-gets-help-from-peacebuilding-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"Va Tech Peace Center Gets Help from Peacebuilding Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twenty-one months ago, Professor Jerzy Nowak was writing a grant at Virginia Tech when student Seung-Hui Cho began a shooting rampage. When the shootings were over, Nowak’s wife Jocelyne Couture-Nowak was among the 32 who died. <\/p>\n

In the chaotic and grief-filled aftermath, one of the three Nowak daughters, 23-year-old Francine, told a reporter that the best way of memorializing her mother and the other victims would be establishing a peace center at Virginia Tech. <\/p>\n

In May 2008, Virginia Tech announced the establishment of a Center of Peace Studies and Violence Prevention (www.cpsvp.vt.edu<\/a>), with Nowak as its head. Promoting peace is a new life mission for Nowak, who previously headed Virginia Tech’s horticulture department. <\/p>\n

\n

\"Loren
EMU President Loren Swartzendruber (l.) meets with Jerzy Nowak, head of the new Center of Peace Studies and Violence Prevention at Virginia Tech. Photo by Jon Styer<\/div>\n

\n

Nowak led a group of 11 from Virginia Tech to EMU Thursday, Jan. 22, to meet with its president, academic leaders in conflict transformation and students studying peacebuilding. <\/p>\n

“I knew almost nothing about Eastern Mennonite before I started exploring how to set up our peace studies program,” said Nowak. “But amongst numerous information packages and offers of collaboration I have received, I found its peace program to be fascinating and one of the most highly regarded.” <\/p>\n

EMU’s is also the closest to Virginia Tech – just 2 1\/2 hours by car on I-81. The Virginia Tech group observed an undergraduate class in justice, peace and conflict studies<\/a>, met with professors and staff at EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding<\/a> (CJP), and learned how CJP’s Practice and Training Institute<\/a> serves as a bridge between the theories and skills taught in the classroom and their application around the world. <\/p>\n

Nowak had a particular interest in the global nature of EMU’s work – CJP has hosted students and practitioners from dozens of countries over the last 12 months – because he himself was born in Poland and has worked on agricultural matters in West Germany, Nigeria and Canada. <\/p>\n

“We are pleased to collaborate with Virginia Tech in the growing movement to nurture seeds of peace within ourselves and in the world at large,” said EMU President Loren Swartzendruber<\/a>. “The more of us in the peace business, the better.” <\/p>\n

Nowak’s wife, 49-year-old Jocelyne, was teaching an intermediate French class in room 211 at Norris Hall on the morning of April 16, 2007, when she heard the gunfire of Seung-Hui Cho. She led her students to barricade the door with a desk and ushered them away from the door. The barricade did not stop Cho. Couture-Nowak and 11 of the 22 registered in her class perished. Couture-Nowak died in front of the door and next to the teacher’s desk. <\/p>\n

She has been memorialized with the Jocelyne Couture-Nowak Terrace Garden at Virginia Tech, as well as with a scholarship in her name awarded annually to French majors. Students at Virginia Tech have also organized a new foreign language program named “Teach for Madame” in honor of Couture-Nowak, wherein members teach French to elementary school students. <\/p>\n

And last, but not least, her husband now heads a peace center in the building where she died. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twenty-one months ago, Professor Jerzy Nowak was writing a grant at Virginia Tech when student Seung-Hui Cho began a shooting rampage. When the shootings were over, Nowak’s wife Jocelyne Couture-Nowak ... read more about Va Tech Peace Center Gets Help from Peacebuilding Programs<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[359,12503],"tags":[11172,11348,5690,10342,12030],"feature":[],"class_list":["post-1844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-applied-social-sciences","category-cjp","tag-center-of-peace-studies-and-violence-prevention","tag-francine-nowak","tag-peacebuilding","tag-virginia-tech","tag-www-cpsvp-vt-edu"],"yoast_head":"\nVa Tech Peace Center Gets Help from Peacebuilding Programs - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2009\/va-tech-peace-center-gets-help-from-peacebuilding-programs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Va Tech Peace Center Gets Help from Peacebuilding Programs - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Twenty-one months ago, Professor Jerzy Nowak was writing a grant at Virginia Tech when student Seung-Hui Cho began a shooting rampage. 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