Conflict Coaching  - PAX 654

Dr. Alma Abdelhadi-Jadallah is an internationally recognized scholar practitioner in conflict prevention and mitigation. As an educator, she teaches graduate level courses in conflict analysis and resolution. She also brings extensive organizational development experience to her work coaching parties and groups to identify shared interests and enhance their abilities and skills towards collaborative attitudes and behaviors. Her research writings and practice focus on political and organized violence, the role of third-party roles, gender, and culture. She has worked extensively in the Arab world and on regional Middle East issues. In the US her work focuses on race, ethnicity and group dynamics in the workplace and communities. In 2019, joined the Eminent and Expert Persons advising the ASEAN Regional forum advising on preventive diplomacy and on women peace and security (WPS). Currently she manages Kommon Denominator Inc. (www.kommondenominator.com) an organizational dedicated to the well-being of organizations and communities through the facilitation of constructive conversations. Past positions included serving with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) as the Quaker International Affairs Representative to the Middle East. In 2014 – 2015 she served as the Regional Expert and Coordinator, Panel of Experts on Yemen established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2140 (2014), Department of Political Affairs, United Nations. Prior to this role, she served with the Special Advisor to the Secretary General Jamal Ben Omar (SASG) in Yemen during the Yemeni National Dialogue. On Syria, she was involved in Track II diplomatic efforts led by the UN. She is the recipient of several business awards and honors including the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award for the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.

Analysis: Understanding Conflict (credit only) - PAX 533
Transformational Leadership for Organizational Change - PAX 684

Born and raised in Lebanon, Myriam started exploring the world as a foreign exchange student at the age of 15. Since then, she has majored in political science and international affairs and went on to pursue a graduate degree in Conflict Transformation at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) as a Fulbright scholar. Myriam’s experience includes working in resettlement with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and in academia as a Teaching Fellow with EMU. Her research interests include postwar societies, primordial uses of sectarianism, social justice in development and aid, mediation, countering violent extremism, and the use of the arts for research. 

Process Design for Conflict Transformation - PAX 685

Dr. Catherine Barnes has worked for conflict transformation and social justice for more than thirty years. She is an affiliate faculty member of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University and a freelance practitioner (www.catherinebarnes.space). Catherine has extensive experience facilitating conversations on challenging topics, in locations ranging from the UN General Assembly Hall to village gathering places. She is increasingly focused on designing whole-of-system deliberative dialogue processes and training other practitioners in these skills.

Examples of recent processes she has helped to design and facilitate range from workshops for the
Afghan High Peace Council; a multi-stakeholder process to develop a vision for the Shenandoah River
Watershed; a consensus-building process to provide guidance on the status of LGBTQ persons in a
religious denomination; community dialogues for racial justice and healing in her home town; and the
Mennonite Church USA’s Future Church Summit convening more than 700 people in a process of church
renewal. She finds that underlying process design principles can span these widely divergent contexts.

As a facilitator, trainer, researcher, policy advocate and consultant, she has worked with civil society
activists, diplomats and politicians, and armed groups in more than 30 countries to support their capacities for preventing violence and using conflict as an opportunity for addressing the underlying
systems giving rise to grievance.

She has written widely on peace processes, civil society roles in peacebuilding, and on issues related to
statebuilding, conflict prevention, genocide and minority rights. She is currently writing a book entitled:
Ending Our Addiction to Coercion: Understanding Conflict Habituated Systems and How to Transform
Them.

Catherine holds a doctorate in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. She has worked with numerous peacebuilding and human rights organizations, including Conciliation Resourcesand Minority Rights Group International.

She now lives in Staunton Virginia with her husband and son, extended family and friends, with whom
she loves to garden, to cook, to make music, and to retreat into the wilds of the surrounding mountains.

Building Resilience for Challenging Systemic Racism - PAX 694

Dr. Ram Bhagat is a longtime educator, arts innovator, and peacemaker. Ram is committed to healing trauma in classrooms, communities, and consciousness. He is the visionary behind the Richmond Youth Peace Project (RYPP), a dynamic program that promotes a culture of nonviolence to the city’s youth,
through innovative, youth-led peacemaking initiatives. He also serves on the board of The Conciliation Project (TCP), which uses active and challenging dramatic works to promote open and honest dialogue about racism and oppression in America in order to repair its damaging legacy.
Dr. Bhagat received his doctorate in Educational Leadership from VCU. He earned a Master’s of
Education in School and Community Counseling from Virginia State University and his Bachelor of
Science in Microbiology from Virginia State. His post-doctoral work is in the areas of Restorative Justice,
Trauma Healing, Social Emotional Learning, and Culturally Responsive Mindfulness practices.  
Dr. Bhagat is the newly hired Manager of School Climate and Culture Strategy for Richmond Public
Schools. His primary role is to envision, design, and connect trauma informed practices and restorative
practices to schools and communities throughout the division. He intends to help lead RPS and its
partners, like VCU, in the creation of a sustainable and transformative model of equitable and just
learning environments for all students.
Dr. Bhagat is actively involved in healing the effects of racial trauma within communities of color as a
leader of Emotional Emancipation Circles in Virginia. Ram was an inaugural member of the International Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities training for trainers in Burundi, East Africa, held in August 2011. This transformative program facilitates healing community trauma, particularly trauma caused by violence, war, and genocide. Ram began teaching Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) in 2017, after extensive coursework, training, and a supervised apprenticeship with Elaine Zook-Barge.
In the early 1990s, Ram co-founded Drums No Guns (DNG) world percussion ensemble to engage youth
in “healing community with rhythm.” More than two decades later, the DNG Foundation continues to
work with youth traumatized by gun violence around the country, using drumming, dance, and other
culturally responsive contemplative practices.
Dr. Bhagat uses the drum to unite people of all ages, of all races. This award winning science teacher
created a series of innovative curricula for Yale University, through the National initiative to Strengthen
Public School Teaching. His 3D curriculum is based on the principles of Aesthetic Education and Arts
Integration, which infuses drumming, dance, and drama into the Chemistry curriculum.
His approach to Trauma Sensitive Restorative Justice in Education is rooted in the science of yoga and
indigenous mindfulness practices. He has been studying various forms of yoga with Dr. Janeshwar
Upadyay since 1975 and completed Integral Yoga teacher training in 2001.
A native son of New Haven, Conn., Ram lives with his blended family in Richmond, VA. He is an adjunct
faculty member with Eastern Mennonite University’s Graduate Teacher Education program and the
Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

Circle Processes - PAX 672 

Dr. Martha A. Brown, president of RJAE Consulting, Intl., is author of Creating Restorative Schools: Setting Schools Up to Succeed available at Living Justice Press. Dr. Brown received her Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Florida Atlantic University and has more than five years’ experience designing and teaching online courses. Dr. Brown was Lead Instructor for Simon Fraser Universiy's Continuing Studies online Restorative Justice Certificate Program and was an adjunct professor at Florida Atlantic University where she taught a course in Educational Assessment. She has published several peer-reviewed book chapters and articles on restorative justice and correctional education and has presented internationally at conferences sponsored by the National Association for Community & Restorative Justice (NACRJ), Restorative Practices International (RPI), American Evaluation Association (AEA), the Canadian Evaluation Society (CES), Visitor Studies Association (VSA), and the International Conference on Conflict Resolution in Education (CRE).
As a consultant, Martha assists non-profit, cultural, community-based, educational, and correctional organizations with program design, readiness assessments, strategic planning, student assessments, monitoring implementation, and defining and measuring program outcomes.

Transformational Leadership for Organizational Change - PAX 684

David Brubaker serves as Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Professions and also as Associate Professor of Organizational Studies at Eastern Mennonite University. He has 34 years of experience in workplace mediation and training and in organizational and congregational consulting. David has consulted and trained with organizations throughout the U.S. and in a dozen international settings including Northern Ireland, Mozambique, Angola, Nepal, Myanmar, Egypt and Jordan.
David is the author of numerous articles on conflict transformation and of Promise and
Peril: Understanding and Managing Change and Conflict in Congregations (published
by Rowman and Littlefield), co-author of The Little Book of Healthy Organizations
(Good Books), and lead author of When the Center Does Not Hold: Leading in an Age of
Polarization (Fortress Press). David earned a BS in business administration from Messiah
College, an MBA from Eastern University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Arizona
specializing in religion and organizations.

Analysis: Understanding Conflict (credit only) - PAX 533
Formation for Peacebuilding Practice (credit only) - PAX 532

Jayne Seminare Docherty is the Executive Director of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University. She has also taught at George Mason University and Columbia College (South Carolina). Professor Docherty earned her Ph.D. at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University and she holds an undergraduate degree in religious studies and political science from Brown University. She also studied theology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Professor Docherty consults with organizations and communities in transition, working with them to harness the positive energy of conflict and minimize its negative effects. Her current area of focus for research, writing, and practice is improving the use of negotiation in unstable situations so that the results yield durable but flexible systems for creating long-term and sustainable peace with justice. She has also conducted research – especially action research projects – for nonprofit organizations; consulted on designing, monitoring and evaluating projects and programs; worked with universities on curriculum development; and conducted training on conflict analysis, negotiation, and program design.

Professor Docherty was an invited participant in a three-year project to develop new approaches to negotiation training that reflect current research findings and field experiences.

From 2007-2010, she worked with The Institute for Peace and Justice Education at Lebanese American University to develop and institutionalize a summer peacebuilding training program for young leaders interested in building peace in Lebanon.

Professor Docherty is Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for the Peace Appeal Foundation an organization that “supports peace and conflict resolution processes globally through inclusive, multi-track and multi-sector interventions designed to achieve agreed, fair and just outcomes.” She is also a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution where she served as Chair of the Research Section (2004-2007), the International Peace Research Association where she has served on the Council (2006-2008), and the International Studies Association (ISA).

Professor Docherty’s work is deeply influenced by Catholic teachings on peace and social justice.

The daughter of a career military officer, Professor Docherty served as a consultant with the 3D Security Initiative. She has a strong interest in forging a peace movement that takes the issue of security seriously and that includes the voices of active and retired military personnel. She was involved in the early efforts to adapt the Seminars for Trauma Awareness and Resilience program for use with communities that are welcoming soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, a project that helped lay the foundation for the Transforming the Wounds of War program.

Professor Docherty is the author of two books:

• Learning Lessons from Waco: When the Parties Bring Their Gods to the Negotiation Table (Syracuse University Press)

• The Little Book of Strategic Negotiation: Negotiating During Turbulent Times (Good Books)

Her papers on negotiating difficult conflicts in unstable settings have been published in Venturing Beyond the Classroom, The Negotiator’s Fieldbook: The Desk Reference for the Experienced Negotiator, Terrorism and Political Violence, Nova Religio, and the Marquette Law Review. Professor Docherty’s work on culture and negotiation has been incorporated into three different textbooks used in law schools around the country.

Transforming Community Spaces through Equitable Collaboration - PAX 691

For 15 years as Director of the Institute for Environmental Negotiation (IEN), Dr. Dukes led an organization that helps individuals, communities, and public agencies find just and sustainable solutions to complex problems and conflict. He continues to work full-time at local, state, and federal levels on projects involving environment and land use, community development, health, and education. He has also facilitated public conversations on topics ranging from faith and sexual orientation to reparations for slavery.

Dr. Dukes’ work at IEN has included the following highlights:

• He directs IEN’s Transforming Community Spaces project, helping communities come to terms with spaces associated with problematic pasts. This includes a project developing a Truth and Transformation process for the Charlottesville-Albemarle area.
• He directed community engagement as a principal of the design team contracted to design the Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia; the design was approved by the Board of Visitors in June 2017 and the memorial will be dedicated April 11, 2020.
• He served in a pro bono role as a member of the Charlottesville Commission on Race, Memorials and Public Spaces.
• He is currently leading the University & Community Action for Racial Equity (UCARE @ucareva.org), to examine and address the legacy of slavery and segregation at the University of Virginia and surrounding communities.
• His work in the Appalachian coalfields includes the Clinch River Valley Initiative (clinchriverva.com) from 2009-2018, a pioneering effort integrating economy, environment and community;
• He chaired the Response to Sexual Violence Working Group appointed by University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan in 2015 that developed consensus recommendations concerning the University’s response to sexual violence.
• He was lead mediator of the Dan River Basin Community Stakeholder Team, convened by IEN and Duke Energy following the company’s release of coal ash and coal ash water into the Dan River from 2014-2015. The Stakeholder Team identified community concerns and developed consensus for solutions that addressed the impacts of the coal ash release on the communities and resources downstream.
• He is co-founder and core faculty member of the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute (www.virginia.edu/ien/VNRLI_home.html), a program that develops collaborative leadership among and between community and advocacy organizations, industry and business, and the public sector.
• He spent seven years mediating national and regional discussions among tobacco farm and public health leaders for the Southern Tobacco Communities Roundtable, resulting in a series of agreements including over $2 billion in funding for tobacco farm regions and tobacco control (public health) efforts.

You may find a video of his talk “Charlottesville and Beyond” at the University of Denver’s Conflict Resolution Institute here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=GaEQha9MxNc

Circle Processes - PAX 672 

Katherine Evans has been a professor in teacher education at EMU since 2011. She teaches courses in educational psychology, special education, andrestorative justice in education (RJE). She holds a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and Research from The University of Tennessee in Knoxville where her dissertation research employed phenomenological interviews with middle school students about their experiences with in-school suspension. Prior to graduate school, Evans was a middle and high school special educator for students identified as having learning, behavioral, and emotional challenges. Her research, teaching, and scholarship focus on ways in which teachers participate in creating more just and equitable educational opportunities for all students, including those with disability labels, those who exhibit challenging behavior, and those who are marginalized for a variety of reasons.

While at EMU, Evans has been active in furthering the field of Restorative Justice in Education (RJE) both through scholarship and teaching and by working collaboratively with the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding to develop an interdisciplinary concentration in RJE within the current Masters in Education degree program. Beginning in the Fall of 2014, the EMU Education Department began offering both a concentration and a certificate in RJE. For more information, please refer to the website: http://www.emu.edu/maed/restorative-justice.

Evans has published several articles and book chapters related to zero tolerance policies, restorative justice, and school discipline practices and regularly presents at professional conferences. Most recently, she and Dr. Dorothy Vaandering published The Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education through Skyhorse Publishing. She is a member of several professional organizations including the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice, the Virginia Association for Community and Restorative Justice, and the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. 

Economics for Emancipation - PAX 692

Jonathan Donald Jenner is an Assistant Professor of Global Political Economy at the University of Manitoba, and on a team of postdoctoral researchers at the South African Research Chair in Industrial Development (SARChI) at the University of Johannesburg. He recently finished his PhD in Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where his research in political economy, economic history, and economic development focused on how colonial economic structures affect economic possibilities today. Jonathan grew up in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and misses playing beach volleyball at SPI as a kid. 

Peacebuilding Management Essentials - PAX 693

Jill Landis Jha is a work-from-home editor, writer, and consultant. These days, she spends most of her work-time as the Editorial Director of Spiffy’s Blog for Ladderworks, a start-up publishing company that aims to empower one million kids to become social entrepreneurs. She loves having the opportunity to learn about and highlight the intersection of global social entrepreneurship and the UN SDGs (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals).  

Aside from this, Jill has worked for over ten years as a consultant providing leadership training, monitoring and evaluating projects for NGOs and UN agencies, and editing training manuals related to psychosocial support for children, international child protection, and children affected by armed conflict. Jill has worked in New York, Boston, Nepal, and Sudan with a variety of organizations, including UNICEF, United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations, UNDP, CARE
International, Harvard Business School, Chemonics International, Global Aid Hands, and Cooperative By Design.

Jill has an MA and is a 2010 graduate of EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

Peacebuilding Management Essentials - PAX 693

Roxann (Roxy) Allen is Senior Advisor for Strategy & Divisional Affairs for Charitable Giving at Catholic Relief Services (CRS) where she works to advance the CRS Vision 2030 strategy through the Charitable Giving Action Plan. She has taught courses on leadership, management, innovation, and research methods at the Department of Business & Leadership, the Organizational Leadership Studies graduate program, and the Center for Justice & Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University. Roxy has worked in research, operations, management, training, and consulting roles in various contexts in the U.S. and abroad, including positions at Mennonite Central Committee, the Great Place to Work Institute, Humentum, the New Venture Fund, and Cooperative by Design. She has also worked with a range of consulting clients from small religious congregations to cross-sector community coalitions, and she enjoys helping them further their missions through strategic planning and change management. She holds a PhD in Strategic Leadership with a focus on Nonprofit and Community Leadership from James Madison University. Roxy is a member of Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security, and mother to two children, Remy and Zuri.

Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR), Level 1 - PAX 540
Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR), Level 2 - PAX 640

Katie Mansfield is the Lead Trainer for the Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) program within Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. 

In 2020, she completed and defended her doctoral dissertation, entitled Re-friending the Body: Arts-based, Embodied Learning for Building Resilience. In addition to exploring expressive arts-based, embodied learning, her research required a deep look into whiteness, power oblivion, and shadow. Her doctoral work in Expressive Arts and Conflict Transformation from the European Graduate School (Switzerland) was supervised by Dr. Sally Atkins, with additional committee members Dr. Ram Bhagat and Dr. John Paul Lederach. 

Also in 2020, with the onset of the pandemic, Katie started dancing five times a day, inspired by Muslim (and Catholic Worker) commitment to prayer five times daily and Alice Walker's assertion that "hard times require furious dancing." All are welcome to join at Dancing Resilience on facebook. (As of late August 2020, we've now danced more than 800 dances...)

Now more than five years into living in Virginia, Katie has learned to grow some of her own food, and she's thankful to be part of the advisory board of the Drums No Guns Foundation.

Before joining STAR, Katie worked with Mennonite Central Committee Kenya for three years as peacebuilding coordinator. Previously she worked with Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute, researching, writing, planning and network building with initiatives in Colombia, Argentina, Thailand and Nepal and linking Kroc’s alumni network. She also worked with CDA Collaborative Learning Projects’ Listening Project and engaged in peace education work in Davao (Mindanao), Boston, and Delhi. Prior to working in peacebuilding, she worked for eight years with a major multi-national bank in New York and London.

Katie completed her M.A. in International Peace Studies (Kroc Institute) in 2008 and her AB in History at Harvard University in 1996. She has also completed teacher trainings in yoga and healing dance. She studied personal embodiment for three intensive months at the Tamalpa Institute in California in 2014, and she completed a two-year training in Integrative Energetic Medicine with the Whitewinds Featherstone Institute in 2017.

Restorative Justice: Principles, Theories & Applications - PAX 571

Mikayla Waters-Crittenton- McCray serves as the Assistant Director of Student Accountability and Restorative Justice and as a Residence Director for Eastern Mennonite University.  Prior to joining the EMU team, Mikayla worked to advance the awareness, and research around restorative practices in the context of domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and sexual violence at Impact Justice. Mikayla trained national organizations across the US in restorative justice and is a certified rape crisis counselor. She earned an MA in Restorative Justice from Eastern Mennonite University and her undergraduate degrees in Criminal Justice and Sociology from Mary Baldwin University.

Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR), Level 1 - PAX 540

David Nyiringabo is a STAR practitioner and trainer. David has a Master’s of Arts in Conflict Transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Eastern Mennonite University and a Bachelor of Development in Peacebuilding and Development from the Protestant University of Rwanda. David is passionate about any type of work that aims at freeing people from violence and poverty. Having grown up in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, David has worked and lived in war zones. He is a big fan of comedy, fishing, videography, action movies and traveling. He finds comedy therapeutic and truth revealing. 

David works at World Vision-US as a Business Development manager. His current portfolio covers Emergency Response projects in Central African Republic, Uganda, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Venezuela, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Before joining World Vision, David worked for Braley and Thompson, Inc. as Case Manager in Harrisonburg, Virginia. During his course of study at EMU, David worked as the Community Building Coordinator for the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding for one year and as Community Advisor at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute in 2019.

Prior to coming to the United States, David lived and worked in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In DR Congo David worked as the Assistant Coordinator at Congo Peace Network; while in Rwanda David worked as the Deputy Assistant Coordinator for the Great Lakes Christian Peacebuilders Network. David is a member of the Inspired Individuals Community of Tearfund UK.

Formation for Peacebuilding Practice (credit only) - PAX 532

Sidney Morgan was born and raised in Southern California and moved to Portland, Or. April of 2000. Sidney began her work with youth, as a Youth Pastor in Southern California and has been working with youth for over 20 years. Sidney has been working in Restorative Justice work for 15 years. She first began her Restorative Justice journey in Juvenile Justice with Multnomah County Juvenile Justice department in Portland Oregon. In her time with Multnomah County she worked in several positions that involved Restorative justice work. At the same time, she became certified in Conflict Mediation and has facilitated on-going mediations with families, neighborhood and corporation mediations.

Sidney always found ways to incorporate relationship building with the youth she worked with, and through that developed a garden program that is still “growing strong,” in the Multnomah County Juvenile department. The Hands of Wonder garden program, gives youth basic job-skills that teach them how to grow, care for and sell organic produce.

Sidney continued her work in Restorative Justice and Race Equity for Portland Public Schools as the District Restorative Justice Coordinator. Sidney trained coached and supported school staff throughout the district in building in Restorative Justice Practices, as part of their school climate work. Sidney embarked on a new space in 2018, as she currently works for the Center for Equity and Inclusion.

CEI’s mission of transforming the places where we work and live, tied to her purpose of seeing racial healing through restorative justice practices. Sidney is working with organizations in public and private sector, and from all systems (Education, Philanthropy, Education, Health, Government, Non-Profit, Corporate). As a facilitator and executive coach, Sidney works with organizations to “examine the quality of our consciousness” while supporting an internal look into the organizations to address Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work. Sidney believes this work is not a sprint but a marathon, and this work takes time and needs healing.

Sidney also owns a consulting firm called Red Sea Road Consulting, where she works on special projects using Restorative work from around the country. Sidney is an adjunct professor at Lewis and Clark University, in their graduate school of education, teaching 2 courses on Restorative Justice for educators. Sidney is a current student with CJP, earning her MA in Restorative Justice, and is set to graduate in Spring of 2021. Sidney resides in Vancouver Washington, with her husband and three children.

Transforming Community Spaces through Equitable Collaboration - PAX 691

Leanne Nurse is an environmental protection specialist with decades of experience in regional, national and international environmental collaboration and conflict resolution; environmental justice; climate change adaptation; and religion and environment programs. She specializes in convening difficult conversations about natural resource issues, helping parties recognize assets and assess vulnerabilities; design effective dialogue and learning processes; and reach common ground. Her work is grounded on principles of equity, inclusion and diversity.
Leanne earned an MA in Conflict Analysis and Engagement from Antioch University. She graduated from
the University of Virginia’s Natural Resources Leadership Institute, serving as a frequent contributor to
their programs. She was a fellow at Tufts University’s Summer Civics Institute and studied deliberative
democracy at the London School of Economics.
She also served on the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation’s board of directors (editor for
“Core Principles for Public Engagement”) and was an elected board member for IAP2’s (International
Association for Pubic Participation) US affiliate. Leanne was a broadcast journalist and a community
organizer prior to her career at the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Leanne is an adviser in her Buddhist community’s global network, coordinating peace, justice and
community relations projects. Her hobbies are fiber arts and jazz.

Economics for Emancipation - PAX 692

Francisco Perez is a PhD candidate in economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He researches the history and political economy of the CFA franc, a currency union of fourteen countries in West and Central Africa. He is the Director of the Center for Popular Economics, a nonprofit collective of political economists whose programs and publications demystify the economy and put useful economic tools in the hands of people fighting for social and economic justice. Francisco has worked on or studied development projects in Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone, the US and Venezuela.   He has an MPA from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, and a BA from Harvard University.

Sexual Harms: Changing the Narrative - PAX 648

Carolyn Stauffer teaches in the Organizational Leadership Studies program at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU). Dr. Stauffer lived and worked in southern Africa for 16 years and the Middle East for 17 years.  She holds a doctorate in sociology from the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, where she was a development specialist focusing on capacity building, leadership enhancement and gender-sensitive humanitarian interventions. During her time in South Africa, Stauffer worked with community-based NGOs as well as blue-chip companies facilitating regional

workshops in Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Uganda. Over the past decade Stauffer has taught in three EMU graduate programs and has won grants and contracts to conduct training in Fiji, Japan, Kenya, New Zealand, and Ireland. Stauffer chaired the university’s Humanitarian Action task force and was a member of the local chapter of UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development initiative.

Stauffer earned an M.A. in Public Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University, where she started developing her research interests in intimate partner violence and trauma resilience through strengths-based approaches. As a veteran in cross-cultural settings, Stauffer is an agile educator who uses holistic pedagogies to facilitate personal and structural transformation.

Restorative Justice: Principles, Theories & Applications - PAX 571

Jonathan Swartz serves as Eastern Mennonite University’s Director of Residence Life, Student Accountability, and Restorative Justice. Jonathan also served as EMU’s Restorative Justice Coordinator from 2014-2017. Jonathan has taught courses as an adjunct professor in the Bible and Religion Department at EMU and has been a frequent guest lecturer in graduate and undergraduate courses in Restorative Justice. Jonathan has also taught leadership and first year seminar courses at EMU. 

Along with serving as a certified trainer/instructor for the Green Dot violence prevention program at EMU, Jonathan has planned and implemented workshops and trainings to prevent sexual harm. In addition, Jonathan has served as a trainer with EMU’s STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience) program - and has co-created and co-facilitated multi-day trainings on Restorative Justice, Trauma Awareness, and Resilience.  

Jonathan obtained his undergraduate degree in Psychology from Bethel College (Mishawaka, IN), a Masters of Divinity (MDiv) degree from Eastern Mennonite Seminary (2014) and a Masters in Conflict Transformation (MACT) degree from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University (2014). During seminary and graduate school studies at EMU, Jonathan served as a Campus Ministries Intern and as Restorative Justice Facilitator/Assistant Residence Director in Residence Life. 

Jonathan’s research, reading, and practitioner interests include theology and race/whiteness, restorative justice practice and theory – including/especially RJ and race, healing and reconciliation, gender and masculinity studies, and contemporary justice/peace movements.