2009 Culture of Peace Lecture Series Schedule: Download PDF Child Rights and the Culture of Peace Kimmie Weeks has worked to alleviate poverty and human suffering in Africa and around the world since he was fourteen years old. Kimmie was born in Liberia, West Africa in 1981. At the young age of nine he came face to face with civil war, human suffering, and death. Weeks can still vividly recall eating roots and wild leaves when his family did not have access to food, drinking infested water when national water supply was shut off, and nearly being buried alive after epidemics had wrecked his emaciated body.
Affirming the Dignity of All Lawrence Edward Carter Sr., is the first Dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel and tenured Professor of Religion, and College Curator at Morehouse College since 1979. He has also been an Instructor at the Morehouse School of Medicine in the Master of Public Health Program. For forty-six years, Dr. Carter has studied and worked in fourteen American universities, colleges, and professional schools, spoken at over one-hundred different colleges, universities, and seminaries, and received over five-hundred speaking engagements from eighteen denominations, and traveled to thirty-five foreign countries. He has made over sixty radio and television appearances, including nationwide in England, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, and continent wide in Africa. Pursuing Peace: The Role of Individuals in Resolving International Conflict
Anna Spain is the Deputy Director of the Burkle Center for International Relations and a Lecturer in Law at the UCLA School of Law where she teaches international dispute resolution. Her scholarship focuses on the intersection of international law and dispute resolution and on the study of international and cross-cultural conflict. Prior to joining UCLA, Ms. Spain was an Attorney-Adviser at the U.S. Department of State. She served as the U.S. delegate to the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva, represented the United States in two cases before the the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal in The Hague, and served as the State Department’s primary legal adviser for international investment disputes in Asia and the Pacific.
Teaching Peace in Our Schools Colman McCarthy is a speaker whose fresh ideas, sense of social justice and sparkling wit have been stirring audiences for the past 25 years. He lectures at more than 20 colleges and universities a year, as well as at conferences for groups ranging from educators and social Colman McCarthy is a Washington journalist who has written for The Washington Post since 1968. He is also the founder and director of theCenter for Teaching Peace, a nonprofit group that helps schools beginor broaden peace studies programs. The Center also conducts workshops Those who follow the writing of Colman McCarthy cherish him for the passion of his convictions and the idealism of his beliefs. It is the same with his lectures. He is a sought-after speaker on U.S. campuses because he convincingly calls on students to defy the conventional by becoming citizens who are other-centered, not self-centered. He argues persuasively Speaking From the Heart to Bridge the Divide in the Middle East Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning syndicated columnist and an international public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues. She is based in New York. A Holistic, Integrative View of Peace Based on Evolving Views of Peace and Nonviolence Linda J. Groff, Ph.D. is Professor, Political Science & Future Studies, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA. She is a Global Futurist & Synergist who is also Co-Director of Global Options. Ali Modarres is the Associate Director of the Edmund G. “Pat” Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles and a Professor at the Department of Geography and Urban Analysis on the same campus. He specializes in urban geography and his primary research and publication interests are community development and planning. He has published in the areas of urban development, transportation planning, environmental equity, social geography, immigration, and race and ethnicity as they relate to the issues of access and the role of public policy in creating disadvantaged communities. Dance Changed My Whole Life: I Became the Champion of My Dreams Pierre Dulaine (born 1944) is a well-known ballroom dancer and dance instructor. He invented the Dulaine method of teaching dance. In 1994 Pierre volunteered to teach a dance class at the Professional Performing Arts School on West 48th Street in Manhattan. From this beginning, Pierre developed Dancing Classrooms, a 10 week – 20 session social development program for 5th grade children that utilizes ballroom dancing as a vehicle to change the lives of not only the children who participate in the program but also the lives of the teachers and parents who support these children. In 2005, Mad Hot Ballroom, an award-winning documentary capturing the Dancing Classrooms journey from classroom experience to the culminating Colors of the Rainbow Team Match was released. Take the Lead (with Antonio Banderas) was released in 2006 and depicted Pierre Dulaine’s efforts to utilize ballroom dancing to help NYC youth regain a sense of self-respect, pride, and elegance. Both of these movies greatly accelerated national, and international interest in Dancing Classrooms. Pierre Dulaine was born in Jaffa, Palestine in 1944. His Irish father was serving with the British Army stationed in Palestine; his mother is part Palestinian and part French. In 1948 his parents had to flee the troubles leaving their home behind for the creation of the state of Israel. After eight months of wandering around first in Cyprus, then in England and Ireland, Pierre’s family settled in Amman, Jordan. Growing up in Amman, Pierre learned to speak French at school, Arabic on the street and English at home. In 1956, because of the problems in Egypt and the Suez Canal (see Suez Crisis), Pierre’s parents had to flee yet again, leaving everything behind. With a stop in Beirut the family resettled in Birmingham, England, where one year later at age 14, Pierre began his dancing career. International Human Rights and the Culture of Peace David Kaye is the Executive Director of the UCLA School of Law International Human Rights Program. He teaches International Human Rights and directs an International Human Rights Clinic. For more than a decade, David Kaye served as an international lawyer with the U.S. State Department, responsible for issues as varied as human rights, international humanitarian law, the use of force, international organizations, international litigation and claims, nuclear nonproliferation, sanctions law and policy, and U.S. foreign relations law. He was a legal adviser to the American Embassy in The Hague, where he worked with the international criminal tribunals and acted as counsel to the United States in several cases before the International Court of Justice and the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal. From 1999 to 2002 he was the principal staff attorney on humanitarian law, handling issues such as the application of the law to detainees in Guantanamo Bay and serving on several U.S. delegations to international negotiations and conferences. The State Department honored him with four of its prestigious Superior Honor Awards.
People on a Warning Planet One of the world’s leading experts and activists on the issue of climate change Dr. Habiba Gitay is the Senior Environmental Specialist at the World Bank Institute (WBI). An Australian national with a PhD in Ecology from the University of Wales, Gitay has been involved with climate change since 1994. Previously, she was the capacity building coordinator for the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, and was responsible for bringing young people, especially from developing countries, into international science and assessment. She was also the Vice-Chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Teaching a Culture of Peace Louis Silverstein is a transcendental philosopher and practitioner. Multi-cultural and multi-consciousness educator. Social activist. Earth artist. Areas of special interest: peace and social justice; planetary consciousness; spirituality; psyche-delos; transformative consciousness and alternative realities; ecological harmony; sex, love and relationships; holistic education; parenting; aging; death and dying and living life as an art form. Having served as Dean of the College and Chair of the Department of Life Arts & Liberal Education, 1971-82, he is presently a Professor of Liberal Education at Columbia College Chicago, where he teaches courses in Peace Studies, Dying & Death, Education, Culture & Society, and Contemporary Problems in American Society. His studies, theoretical and experiential, in his areas of special interest have taken him to settings throughout the U.S., including Hawaii, and to Jamaica, Costa Rica, Canada and numerous European Countries. His most recent publications are “An Oral History Of Columbia College: A Telling of Columbia's Story and Its Contributions To American Higher Education Through Personal Narrative,” and “Deep Spirit & Great Heart: Living In Marijuana Consciousness.” He has presented at professional conferences throughout the U.S. and in Costa Rica and Italy. Striving to Create the Will to Peace Martin Luther King, Jr. called James Lawson, “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.” Reverend Lawson studied the Gandhian movement in India before becoming a leader and the architect of non-violent action in the U.S. civil rights movement, partnering with Martin Luther King, Jr. Reverend Lawson’s life has been marked by an abiding faith in non-violence and a willingness to pay the price for those beliefs. He served 13 months of a three-year prison sentence for refusing the draft during the Korean War, and was expelled from Vanderbilt in 1960 because of his work helping to desegregate lunch counters in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. Peace and Development: Ideas and Practice at the Community Level Steven Wisman is the Director of Operations for the Millennium Villages Project. Working in collaboration with Millennium Promise’s key partners for this sustainable development initiative—Columbia University’s Earth Institute (EI) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)—his responsibilities include management oversight, operational support, and partnership development services for the project’s local management teams responsible for implementing 14 programs, serving over 400,000 individuals in 10 countries in West, East and Southern Africa, and. Previously, Mr. Wisman worked for two international nongovernmental organizations, OICI and IFESH, over a 22-year period in a variety of positions—Vice President, Programs; Regional Director; Country Representative; Technical Advisor; Resource Mobilization Specialist; and Program Officer—on projects concerning technical skills training, employment generation, community development, and capacity building. During this time, 11 years were spent based in South Africa (2001-2002), Liberia (1998-2000), and Sierra Leone (1989-1995). In South Africa, his regional responsibilities included the management of an education and training program in the KwaZulu Natal and Eastern Cape Provinces; the design, oversight and technical support for post-conflict rehabilitation and development projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia; and operational and technical support provided to a community development program in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region. In Liberia, he served as project director for a post-war community reconstruction program in severely war-affected areas. In Sierra Leone, he provided management, training and technical assistance services to projects concentrating on microenterprise development, capacity building, and education, counseling, and training for war-affected youths. Mr. Wisman has a Masters of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University with a concentration on International Economics and Development, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Claremont McKenna College. He was a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Agadez, Niger. In addition, he has served as a grants panel member for the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP); a speaker on African youth employment challenges at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute; and as an intern with the U.S. Department of State in Cotonou, Benin; the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) in New York, N.Y.; and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. ¡Si Se Puede! Yes We Can! Julie Chavez Rodriguez has worked with the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation for the past eight years spearheading their educational and service programs, namely the Educating the Heart School Program and the Chavez After School Service Clubs. Julie has been instrumental in developing and implementing professional development sessions for educators, youth, AmeriCorps memebers, and program coordinators on Chavez values, service-learning, and youth leadership. Through a partnership with the California Department of Education Julie served as lead consultant for the Chavez Foundation on the development of a standards-based K-12 model curriculum on the life, work, and values of Cesar E. Chavez. Julie alsoserves as a service-learning lead trainer in 6 school districts/county offices of education. Julie is a fellow in the National Service-Learning Emerging Leaders Initiative sponsored by the Kellogg Foundation, the National Service-Learning Partnership, and the National Youth Leadership Council. She co-authored, along with Anthony Welch, the Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar E. Chavez: Legacies of Leadership and Inspiration for Today's Civic Education Issue Paper published by the Education Commission of the States in September 2005. Like her grandfather, Julie believes that "the end of all education should surely be service to others." City Government Approaches to Building the Culture of Peace Ken Genser is serving in his sixth term on the Santa Monica City Council. He was first elected in November 1988, and is the longest-serving councilmember in the history of the city. He is currently serving a two-year term as Mayor, and was also the city’s mayor in 1992 and 2000. Prior to serving on the city council, Ken was a member of the Santa Monica Planning Commission, and a board member of the Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corporation. Ken also was a founding board member of the Community Corporation of Santa Monica, a not-for-profit corporation that is now Santa Monica’s largest residential housing provider. A graduate of the College of Environmental Design of the University of California at Berkeley, Ken’s employment has included positions in the fields of architectural design, facilities development, land use entitlement, and the management of a non-profit housing cooperative. Gender Equality: A Key to Peace and Democracy in the Middle East Nayereh Tohidi is Professor and Chair of the Gender and Women’s Studies Department at California State University, Northridge and a Research Associate at the Center for Near Eastern Studies at UCLA, where she has been coordinating the Bilingual Lecture Series on Iran since 2003. The Role of Religion in Building Civil Society PATRICK JAMES is Professor of International Relations and Director of the Center for International Studies at the University of Southern California (PhD, University of Maryland, College Park). James specializes in comparative and international politics. His interests at the international level include the causes, processes and consequences of conflict, crisis and war. With regard to domestic politics, his interests focus on Canada, most notably with respect to the constitutional dilemma. James is the author of FOURTEEN books and over one hundred articles and book chapters. Among his honors and awards are the Louise Dyer Peace Fellowship from the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, the Milton R. Merrill Chair from Political Science at Utah State University, the Lady Davis Professorship of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Thomas Enders Professorship in Canadian Studies at the University of Calgary, the Senior Scholar award from the Canadian Embassy, Washington, DC, the Eaton Lectureship at Queen's University in Belfast, the Quincy Wright Scholar Award from the Midwest International Studies Association and LENNA PROFESSOR AT ST. BONAVENTURE UNIVERSITY. He is a past president of the Midwest International Studies Association and the Iowa Conference of Political Scientists. Jame has been recognized as Distinguished Scholar in Foreign Policy Analysis for the International Studies Association (ISA), 2006-07, AND ETHNICITY, NATIONALISM AND MIGRATION FOR THE ISA, 2009-10. He SERVED AS Vice President, 2005-07, and President, 2007-09, of the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States, and Vice-President (2008-09) of the ISA. James also served a five-year term as Editor of International Studies Quarterly. |
The SGI-USA Culture of Peace Resource Centers have launched the Culture of Peace Distinguished Speaker Series to engage people in a dialogue on the values, attitudes and behaviors that reject violence and inspire creative energy toward the peaceful resolution of conflicts. |
The SGI-USA is involved in non-sectarian, awareness activities to promote the values of peace, culture and education.
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