More than a series of classes, SPI is a place to learn in community. Participants live on campus, share meals, attend lectures, and build connections that last long after the program ends.

This year’s sessions will be held May 18-26, May 28-June 5, and June 8-12.

The application deadline for U.S. participants is May 8. Learn more and apply at .

Born and raised in the Mennonite church, Rhodes grew up believing she was called to be a peacemaker. But that early understanding of peace, she admits, made her avoid conflict rather than engage in it.

Then, two students, burly Russian men seated near the back of the classroom, began arguing. 

Within moments, the tension shifted. Chairs scraped. Voices sharpened. The exchange turned physical. And Rhodes realized something that would change the course of her life.

“I could talk about peace, but I didn’t actually know how to respond when presented with conflict,” she said. “When I returned to the United States, I knew I needed to learn how to handle conflict.”

She scuttled her previous plans to pursue a graduate degree in English and instead studied conflict analysis and resolution at George Mason University, earning both a master’s degree and a PhD. While at graduate school, she was hired by Professor Emeritus Dr. Vernon Jantzi ’64 to help coordinate the newly launched Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) at 91����Ƶ. 

For 34 years, Rhodes has taught at 91����Ƶ, primarily in its world-renowned Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP). Today, she serves as academic director of CJP and professor of peacebuilding and conflict studies. She also teaches courses in conflict transformation and peacebuilding for the undergraduate program and the master of nursing program. 

Rhodes has led semester and summer intercultural programs in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Russia, South Korea, and the Navajo Nation. She has served as department chair of 91����Ƶ’s Applied Social Science Department, administrative director of SPI, and as a program assistant for the National Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution.

With SPI turning 30 this year, we sat down with the long-tenured professor to talk about the values-based education offered at CJP and how students are bringing more peace and justice to the world.

The following responses are from an interview that Rhodes conducted with photographer and videographer Macson McGuigan ’17. A video from their interview will publish later this spring. These responses were edited for conciseness.

What’s unique about CJP?

Many other programs teach basic communication or mediation skills, but what we add at 91����Ƶ goes deeper. Our focus is on who you are and what you bring. Beyond the technical skills of conflict transformation, students engage in deep reflection and introspection around questions of:

• Who am I?
• What are my values and identities?
• What do I uniquely contribute to this work?
• And where do I fit in creating a more just and peaceful world?

We challenge students to connect their personal growth with leadership. They consider how to bring these skills and values into the places where they already work and lead. That combination of skill and self-assessment is the value we offer.

What can CJP grads do with their degrees?

There are generally three directions our students take. 91����Ƶ a third go into direct practice, often working with nonprofit or non-governmental organizations anywhere in the world. These roles can include mediation centers, community outreach, or other supporting positions where they apply skills like facilitating discussions and bringing together diverse groups to meet community needs.

Another third pursue further education. Many go on to doctoral programs to study conflict more deeply, contribute to policy, or prepare to teach in this relatively new field. 

The final third continue in their current careers in positions ranging from ministry, health care, business, and government. They’re drawn to CJP because they want to improve how people work together, make decisions, and solve complex problems.

Why should people study at CJP?

We are truly about creating a learning community together. This isn’t a place where you come to be filled up with knowledge. You come because you want to explore your part in making the world more peaceful, and together, we figure out how to bring more peace and justice to the world. 

We can’t do it alone, and no single set of skills fits every situation. That’s why our approach is based on mutuality and learning, where everyone’s experiences and knowledge matter. Students contribute what they know, and at the same time, gain practical skills they can use in their own contexts.

Our focus is on practice, not just theory or research. We care about what people can do to make the world more peaceful and just. CJP is a place to learn, share, and build that future together.

What kinds of hands-on experience is offered at CJP?

Our curriculum is intentionally designed to include hands-on practice in the community. For example, in the facilitation course, our graduate students are contracted by local groups and organizations to help facilitate meetings or support decision-making processes. While students are learning and practicing new skills, the organizations also benefit from their work.

At the end of the master’s program, students can choose a traditional thesis, but most complete a practicum. These opportunities are diverse, ranging from restorative justice and trauma healing to mediation, facilitation, and training. Alumni often connect current students with new practice opportunities, ensuring a rich network of real-world engagement.

What is the Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI)?

Part of how we support our students is by offering courses in the summer, not as traditional summer school, but as a training institute. These courses and trainings, held in May and June, allow anyone to explore topics related to conflict, restorative justice, and other areas of practice. Courses generally last five to seven days, and multiple courses run simultaneously over the two-month period. 

SPI is intentionally designed as a learning community. Students live in dorms, attend classes and lectures, and learn from one another, all while experiencing what it means to live together in a diverse community. It’s both a retreat and a training space. As one alum described, SPI is like a well where people can take a drink of water. It’s not going to feed them forever, but it’s nourishment they can take back into their work and communities.

The board of directors includes several educators, as well as representatives from the medical and law fields.

Mansour is also associate professor at Nazareth Evangelical College in Israel. She earned her PhD in peace studies and theology from the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. In 2020, she published (Langham Monographs).

For 13 years, Mansour was a public prosecutor and deputy head of the public prosecution office in Nazareth. She was the first Palestinian Arab to hold such a position in Israel.

91����Ƶ’s begins the 2022-23 academic year with historically high enrollment levels across a range of degree and graduate certification programs. And just in time to contribute to the teaching and advising load are two new tenure-track professors with deep peacebuilding experience and strong CJP ties.

“The CJP community is fortunate for the opportunity to continue to learn from Dr. Paula Ditzel Facci and Dr. Gaurav J. Pathania, two peacebuilding practitioners with diverse skill sets and expertise who have shown their investment in the mission and vision of our program,” said Dr. Jackie N. Font-Guzmán, CJP’s strategic vision director and vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion. “Both of these scholars have experience as visiting scholars or professors in our CJP programs, and will strengthen, expand and enrich our learning community in their more permanent roles.”

Facci, a former visiting scholar at CJP during fall 2016, returns to a full-time role as assistant professor of peacebuilding to teach graduate courses with CJP. 

Pathania was a visiting professor last year with the undergraduate sociology program and CJP. In his current role as assistant professor of sociology and peacebuilding, he will teach in the undergraduate peacebuilding and sociology programs in 91����Ƶ’s School of Social Sciences and Professions, and also at CJP. Pathania brings a Buddhist perspective with deep commitments to 91����Ƶ’s Anabaptist values of peace, justice, and reconciliation.

He notes: “As a peacebuilder, my goal is to develop a sociology for peace. I would invite all communities to the table and have a caste, race, and gender conversation with them.”

“Gaurav brings both extensive teaching experience and an exciting research agenda,” said Professor Timothy Seidel, who teaches peacebuilding, development, and global studies and also directs 91����Ƶ’s Center for Interfaith Engagement. “His anti-caste commitments and approach to peacebuilding fill a critical gap that will strengthen our programs. With his rich experience and wide network of scholars and activists, Gaurav will also provide our students with new and exciting opportunities to engage issues of social justice by relating across differences.”

Pathania previously taught at Georgetown University, Catholic University of America and George Washington University. He has been a visiting scholar to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and at University of Southern California. His ethnographic research in cultural sociology addresses issues of caste, class and racial discrimination among diaspora and focuses on contemporary identity movements among university students in the U.S. 

He holds PhD, MPhil, and MA degrees in sociology from Jawaharlal Nehru University in India.

Facci holds a PhD in peace and conflict studies from the University Jaume I in Spain, a masters degree from the University of Innsbruck, and a BA from SaoPaulo State University. Her current research explores dynamics of peace, conflict and violence in Latin American through encounters of dance, investigating transformative initiatives led by local communities, with the aim of informing public policies for social justice. As a practitioner-scholar, she is also experienced in developing frameworks for eliciting conflict transformation through movement and toolkits on gender and the culture of peace.

“We have deeply appreciated the energy and depth of background Dr. Facci brings into her teaching this fall,” said Professor Gloria Rhodes, CJP academic programs director. “Her ever-present smile and her enthusiasm for teaching has enlivened her courses.”

At CJP, Facci is currently teaching the Foundations I sequence, a required class for all incoming students pursuing a master’s degree or graduate certificate. She is also teaching a course in the transformational leadership program and a course in negotiation and mediation.

“Teaching at CJP connects my passions to teaching, meaningful research and transformative practical work,” said Facci. “CJP has been fundamental in my formation, and I am excited to contribute to its unwavering commitment to peace and justice. 91����Ƶ’s dedication to inclusive excellence and social change makes it a vibrant hub for cutting-edge innovation in peace work, and I am thrilled to be part of it.”

Facci has taught at the Instituto Paz e Mente in her native Brazil, as well as with the University of Innsbruck in Austria and the Academy for Conflict Transformation in Germany. She was a visiting research fellow at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame.

Both professors are accomplished scholars and writers. Facci is the author of (Palgrave Macmillian, 2020), and (LIT Verlag, 2011). She published a (2020), and co-edited the special issue “Transnational Perspectives in Peace Education” in the Journal of Peace Education (2019). She has authored chapters in culture of peace for educators and youth and worked as a consultant in Reports on Human Rights Education of the InterAmerican Institute of Human Rights, Costa Rica. 

Pathania is the author of (Oxford University Press, 2019). He is part of the editorial board of South Asia Research Journal of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He is also an anti-caste writer, poet and activist, and currently working on his memoir. Pathania won the Poetry Society of India’s national poetry award in 2016. His anti-caste poetry appears in J-Caste journal published by Brandeis University. He is currently collaborating with Virginia Tech on a project about privileges among South Asian students.  []

With no travel expenses to cover for those two years of virtual programming, that meant more funding to award for the 2022 sessions, back to the in-person format on the 91����Ƶ campus.

Approximately 126 students participated in the four sessions over May and June. Six of those participants were Winston Fellows.

The Winston Fellows are experienced practitioners of international or indigenous backgrounds who were nominated by their organizations for the opportunity to deepen their understanding of theory and practice. They must work in the fields of peacebuilding, conflict transformation, restorative and transitional justice, sustainable development, humanitarian aid,  trauma healing, monitoring and evaluation, and many other related issue areas. 

 “We usually award two fellowships, but excess funds meant we could significantly expand the number of recipients,” said Lindsay Martin, advancement director for the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, the organization that hosts SPI. “We were so pleased to be able to expand the 2022 class. Since the start of SPI, our Winston Fellows have always contributed a high level of experience and expertise to our learning community. The knowledge, skills and connections formed during their time together at SPI will have a significant impact in their respective organizations and communities.”

The Winston Fellows included Karla Eugenia Nolasco Ayala, of Toluca, Mexico; Eyerusalem Gebremeskel, of Ethiopia; Kristine Marie Hill, of the Tuscarora nation, Haudenosaunee Confederacy; David Malual, of South Sudan; Iván Navarro, of Madrid, Spain; and Elad Vazana, of Israel.

Navarro, a native of Chile, said SPI’s unique learning space of multicultural encounter, “intercultural exchange, joint reflection and collaborative learning sets it apart from other learning programs. He was excited to take learnings back to his own work in community-building.

Two fellows work for Catholic Relief Services. Gebremeskel, a peacebuilding officer in the Ethiopian Country Program, called her experience “delightful and unforgettable.”  She plans to continue in the MA in restorative justice program.

“My courses taught me how to define, explain, and interpret peacebuilding in various contexts. One aspect of my job is to facilitate peacebuilding trainings, and I learned how to do so effectively in the courses,” Gebremeskel said. “I’ve learned about various liberating structures such as the Troika consultation and sociometer that I’ll use in my personal and professional life. Furthermore, I was able to experience the diversified yet inclusive environment for participants from all parts of the world. I made friendships, met highly respected professionals and very knowledgeable instructors.”

Malual, also with Catholic Relief Services in rural South Sudan, emerged with more inspiration and hope. He works with women, children and the elderly who are often trapped in gun clashes.  

“SPI brought a dynamic and resilient team of professionals from all around the world,” Malual said. “I was so fortunate to have met and interacted with men and women who cherish and work for peace to make the world a better place to live in.”

He also plans to continue his studies in the MA in conflict transformation program.

More on the 2022 Winston Fellows

Karla Eugenia Nolasco Ayala, of Toluca, Mexico, is studying alternative means of dispute resolution and collaborating in a private consultancy on restorative practices. She looks forward to working in non-profit organizations to fight for women’s rights, especially gender-based violence, as well as promoting social reintegration. “I consider myself a feminist and am passionate about peace studies, sustainable development, and the role of people, especially youth, in transforming communities,” she says. “For the last two years, I have become an advocate of sustainable development and restorative practices in my community, mostly in my university’s main campus.”

Eyerusalem Gebremeskel, a peacebuilding officer with Catholic Relief Services, has taken part in five peacebuilding and protection projects funded by Irish Aid, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and the European Union. She has reached more than 145 women peace group members through peacebuilding trainings and more than 1,000 youths through Youth Peace Ambassador training. In parts of Ethiopia where conflict and civil war has occurred, she has been active in the establishment and construction of connector projects, the establishment of school peace clubs, and the provision of livelihood support for unemployed youths. She also has collaborated with CRS’s protection team to provide protection training and has contributed to some reporting mechanisms of the emergency unit. Previously, Gebremeskel interned on the Girls Gain project, working to improve the education of young girls living around Meki, Ethiopia. In the future, she hopes to reach more youths in peacebuilding initiatives and collaborate with them to lessen unemployment and encourage entrepreneurship.

Kristine Marie Hill is a member of the Beaver Clan, Tuscarora nation, Haudenosaunee Confederacy. She has been practicing indigenous peacekeeping for over 25 years within the educational and familial systems of her home community on the Tuscarora reservation, serving the next generation’s reacquisition of their language, traditions, and ceremonies. She is the proud mother of four adult children and six grandchildren, several of whom are speaking the Tuscarora language that her grandmother was forced to forget in the Carlisle boarding school. 

Hill has spent 20 years working in K-12 education systems as an educator, an accountant and auditor. Since 2020, she has followed openings to share practices of peacekeeping beyond her home community and into the larger historical waterways of the Haudenosaunee and beyond. To enable the wisdom that can nurture renewed and even healthy relationships across cultures and support the growth of harmonious movements, she is launching Collective Wisdoms, LLC. Using what she describes as the Succotash Way, her work is built on corn (the sustainers), beans (institutions in need of support), and squash (wanderers and responses to invitation).

David Malual works for Catholic Relief Services as a social cohesion program manager for the USAID- funded Resilience and Food Security Program in South Sudan. He has also worked with CRS in project management, peacebuilding and conflict prevention, social cohesion and psychosocial support. Malual has attended the CRS training for spokespersons. He has attended and also facilitated CRS workshops on peacebuilding and conflict analysis. 

He holds a master’s degree in vocational pedagogy and economics from Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway,; a first degree in education from Ndejje University, Uganda; and an award from Ghent University, Belgium. 

Iván Navarro is a lawyer and native of Chile living in Madrid, Spain.. He is experienced in the justice sector´s public policies and restorative justice for juveniles. He is a PhD candidate at the Universidad Carlos III in Spain. 

Elad Vazana, of Israel, is an educator, multi-narrative tour guide, an artist and experienced mediator and facilitator of successful face-to-face relationship building for social change for the past 20 years. He works with . “I help people with diverse backgrounds from all over the world to build trust while experiencing that ‘an enemy is one whose story we have not heard,’ he says. 

Vazana has facilitated dialogues and exchanges with Palestinian and Israeli youth and adults, including Muslims, Christians, Jews and other groups.

Eastern Mennonite Seminary announces a new Graduate Certificate in Faith-Based Peacebuilding, launching in fall 2022.

The certificate is designed for faith community leaders who want to more effectively respond to social conflicts, as well as those who seek faith-informed social engagement in the complex justice issues of their communities.

The 18-credit program, a collaboration with 91����Ƶ’s world-renowned (CJP), blends skills and practices for leading communities in times of conflict with reflection on the theological commitments that are embodied in these practices.

“In recent years, we’ve heard an urgent call from current graduate students and church and nonprofit leaders for tools to lead communities in the midst of intense, pervasive and polarizing conflict,” said The Rev. Sarah Bixler, seminary associate dean. “Leveraging our combined excellence in theology and pastoral leadership and peacebuilding theory and practice creates a new cutting-edge leadership education to meet these urgent challenges.”

Recent external validation supports this claim: Last week, the seminary was awarded a $1M grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. to develop a new pastoral leadership institute to offer workshops, trainings, and courses on conflict transformation. 

Jill Heine, a current graduate student in CJP’s MA in Restorative Justice program, will integrate certificate coursework beginning in fall 2022. The Lancaster County, Pa., resident is involved in several community and faith-based anti-racist initiatives; she is also a co-facilitator with a local chapter of the national racial justice group . She sees the value in equipping herself more broadly with tools and the capabilities to grow new dialogue spaces at the intersections of peacebuilding and theology. 

“Whether at work, with my faith community, with family, or with friends, Christian beliefs and narratives are all around me,” Heine said. “So I wanted analysis tools to view peacebuilding through a Christian lens while also helping me to see the blind spots of Western Christian theology.”

The graduate certificate program begins with three core classes exploring conflict analysis, formation for peacebuilding practice, and faith-based social transformation. 

Students choose an equal number of electives in theology and peacebuilding. Theology courses taught by seminary professors focus on racial healing, race and religion in America, missio dei in the cultural context, and Christian ethics, among other offerings.

The certificate offers unique opportunities to explore interdisciplinary intersections, for example, combining a course in theological reflections on trauma with a Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR I) training.

The peacebuilding electives are taught by CJP professors. Topics include mediation and negotiation, facilitation, circle processes, restorative justice and nonviolent mobilization. 

Lisa Schirch, the Richard G. Starmann Sr. Professor of the Practice in Peace Studies at Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, will be the first speaker in the Horizons of Change luncheon series, hosted by 91����Ƶ’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute. Schirch is a former professor at 91����Ƶ.

The lecture series featuring experts in the peacebuilding and conflict resolutions fields is an annual tradition at SPI, which draws several hundred peacebuilders from around the world to take courses for both professional development and academic courses. SPI is a program of 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

Schirch will speak Wednesday, May 18, from 12:30-2:30 p.m. in the Dining Hall at 91����Ƶ. Cost is $20 for community members and $15 for 91����Ƶ faculty and staff. Email dsilvam@emu.edu to reserve your seat. The deadline to reserve is Monday, May 16. 

Her topic will be “Decolonializing Peacebuilding.” “Decolonising agendas” are emerging in the fields of humanitarian aid, development, anthropology, sociology and many other facets of life, including peacebuilding. Decolonialism refers to the process of undoing colonial worldviews, institutions and impacts. 

Schirch will analyze how the peacebuilding field can respond to the profound sense of chaos and unpredictability in today’s world by addressing the colonial distortions of governance, economy and society. Schirch will talk about how a decolonizing agenda for peace can help us respond to a global set of interacting “ meta calamities” (the pandemic, climate change and weaponisable technologies) as well as rising economic inequality and mass migration, accelerating polarisation and extremism, and urgent demands for racial justice and an end to gender-based violence.

Subsequent lectures will be

• Wednesday, June 1, with CJP Executive Director Jayne Docherty and 91����Ƶ Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Jackie Font-Guzmán, on the future of CJP and DEI at 91����Ƶ. Docherty is retiring after 21 years at CJP. Font-Guzmán, an expert in conflict transformation and author with Bernard Mayer of , will begin a new role as CJP’s strategic vision director this summer. She will aid in the search for and transition to a new executive director for the center.
• June 8, speaker TBD
• June 15, with Ram Bhagat, EdD, speaking on “Brown Vs. Board of Education: The Re/Mix –  From Massive Resistance to Massive Resilience. Bhagat, a graduate of CJP, works in the Richmond Public Schools and has taught several courses at CJP. He is a certified Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience trainer.

Cost is $20 for community members and $15 for 91����Ƶ faculty and staff. Email dsilvam@emu.edu to reserve your seat no later than the Monday before each event.

The day before acclaimed human rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson gave the Commencement address at 91����Ƶ, 29 graduates of the university’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding gathered virtually for the traditional Ceremony of Blessings.

Joined by faculty, family, friends and supporters, the graduates – many of whom are already working in peacebuilding and adjacent professional fields – shared gratitude for lives changed and transformed in their time together. 

“Deep soul-searching, inspiration, discouragement, understanding, connectedness, support, surprise and sobering reality” was how one graduate named the intellectual and emotional challenges surfaced by CJP coursework and experiences. 

“This finish line looks increasingly beautiful to me,” said another, adding that the passion for justice that she brought to the first day of her studies has been both “intensified” and “solidified.”

With their new degrees, the Class of 2022 will join an expansive network of 726 alumni working around the globe.

The 2022 grads represent eight countries – Canada, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, Honduras, Lebanon, Philippines, South Africa, and the United States. Within the U.S., grads hail from California, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington D.C., and Wisconsin.

They work in the fields of restorative justice, human and victims rights, the ministry, environmental justice, peace education, counseling, LGBTQ+ social justice advocacy, and urban studies, among many others. 

This group of learners joined CJP during a global pandemic, entering perhaps not fully ready for the virtual learning experience of Owl cameras, Zoom, and VoiceThread – but all committed to seeking change and transforming both themselves and their contexts, according to Executive Director Jayne Docherty. 

“Some were in their first course when George Floyd was murdered, and others joined the program after that tragedy, looking for tools to transform the reality of ongoing racism,” she said. “This should tell you something about this particular group of CJP graduates – when the world was burning down, they heard an inner call to be part of the solution. They made a commitment to the future – to a world of possibilities – to the idea that they can make a difference.”

Among their first successes, she noted, was being “co-creators of an authentic liberating learning community that crosses the divisions of time and space.” From that space, “you found ways to make your own learning journeys a gift to others with research projects and class activities that are already changing the world.”

Graduate Katie Mulembe reflected that good, deep questions and the discussions that followed, some with answers and others still unanswered, accompanied all of her learning at CJP – questions about privilege, ownership, justice and who determines what that means, scholarship and who owns the right to say what is truthful, oppressive narratives, when mediation happens and why, and “how we can hold people together in the midst of conflict in order to reach a place of convergence.”

“From here,” she said, “we all carry forward our own answered or hopefully partially answered questions and it will be our life’s work to continue to ask them. As we leave the space CJP has provided for us, I hope that each of us is always accompanied by supportive communities like this, communities that are courageous enough to raise uncomfortable questions and wise enough to understand that the answers may come slowly.”

Learn more about some of the 2022 graduates.

CJP Class of 2022

The following graduates have completed all coursework, or are slated to complete coursework in summer or fall 2022.

Tala Bautista MA ‘20 (conflict resolution), of Tabuk, Philippines, earning a graduate certificate in restorative justice;

Darrell (Drick) Boyd, of Broomall, Pennsylvania, earning a graduate certificate in restorative justice;

Angelique Bradford, of Somerville, Maryland, earning a graduate certificate in restorative justice;

Gabby Bradshaw, of Saegertown, Pennsylvania, earning an MA in restorative justice;

Jessica Brinkley, of Brandywine, Maryland, earning an MA in transformational leadership and a graduate certificate in conflict transformation;

Jes Buller, of Goshen, Indiana, earning an MA in transformational leadership and a graduate certificate in conflict transformation;

Corey Chandler, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, earning an MA in conflict transformation;

Simelwe Dlova, of Qumbu, South Africa, earning an MA in conflict transformation;

Isaiah Dottin-Carter, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, earning an MA in restorative justice;

Jackie Durant, of Redding, California, earning an MA in restorative justice;

Fabiana Espinal, of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, earning a graduate certificate in restorative justice in addition to her MA in counseling degree;

Christine Evans, of Chicago, Illinois, earning a graduate certificate in restorative justice;

Corinne Gunter, of Noblesville, Indiana, earning an MA in transformational leadership;

Jose Juan Hernandez Urueta, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, earning an MA in conflict transformation;

Furst Jenkins of Brooklyn, New York, earning a graduate certificate in restorative justice in addition to her Master of Divinity degree;

Paul Kayembe, of Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic Of The Congo, earning an MA in conflict transformation;

Joy Kreider, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, earning a graduate certificate in conflict transformation;

Sarah Lammert, of Greensboro, Vermont, earning a graduate certificate in conflict transformation;

Samuel Larson, of Winchester, Virginia, earning a graduate certificate in conflict transformation;

Christopher Lenshyn, of Mission, British Columbia, Canada, earning an MA in conflict transformation;

Lucie Martinot-Lagarde, of Paris, France, earning an MA in conflict transformation;

Katie Mulembe, of Washington, D.C., earning an MA in transformational leadership;

Juna Muller, of Ojai, California, earning an MA in conflict transformation;

Paul Mvukiye-Reeser, of Clarkston, Georgia, earning a graduate certificate in conflict transformation;

Samantha Pearl, of Boston, Massachusetts, earning a graduate certificate in conflict transformation;

Iman Shabazz, of Richmond, Virginia, earning an MA in transformational leadership;

Conner Suddick, of Suamico, Wisconsin, earning an MA in conflict transformation;

Addison Tucker, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, earning an MA in restorative justice;

Yassmine Youssef Hawchar, of Sir el Dannieh, North Lebanon, Lebanon, earning an MA in restorative justice.

Though it’s only March, Bill Goldberg is already looking forward to the 2022 this May and June with anticipation.

After two years of online programming, SPI returns to the in-person format. That means the 91����Ƶ campus will once again be a nexus of global peacebuilders; traditionally, the four-session programming draws approximately 200 people from around 30-40 countries. They take courses on a range of peacebuilding topics but it’s the informal spaces outside of class – chatting at the daily coffee break or sharing a meal or a walk up The Hill together – that often mean the most to participants.

“We’ve been more successful than I ever could have hoped for in the last two years of shifting to online programming,” Goldberg said. “We found we could attract a lot of people who couldn’t otherwise come in person. Online was the only way they could take courses, and we plan to continue a series of online courses. But our goal was always to be back in person because there is just so much to the SPI extracurricular experience that you cannot easily recreate online.” 

The second reason for Goldberg’s anticipation is a bit more bittersweet: He says this one will be his last. Goldberg has worked with SPI for more than 20 years and been the institute’s director for the last nine. He will step down July 1.

During his tenure, the program’s unique format and holistic curricula has grown to iconic status in the field of conflict resolution. Several SPI “alumni” and faculty members have been inspired to innovate peacebuilding trainings in settings around the world. In 2000, the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding identified 12 such institutes, in Africa, Europe, the South Pacific, North America, and Northeast and Southeast Asia. The 2000 issue of Peacebuilder magazine is devoted to exploring the practitioner-leaders, many of whom earned graduate degrees at CJP, and their unique settings and goals. Find the list here and view the issue here (“Ripples of SPI”).

Goldberg’s reason for moving on is also linked to the field of peacebuilding. His wife Lisa Schirch, a former professor at 91����Ƶ, is currently serving a one-year visiting professorship at Notre Dame and will join the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies in a more permanent role this summer. At this point, Goldberg has no specific plans beyond transitioning their home to Indiana.

“I’m hoping lots of people will hear this and want to come to SPI to say goodbye,” Goldberg said. “That’s not really a joke. I would really like to visit again with so many of the people who have taken SPI courses in the past.”

The better reason to attend SPI, he adds with a smile, is the dynamic offerings designed with both theory and practice in mind. Several courses focus on aspects of leadership for social change at the community level. Other topics include restorative practices and restorative justice, collaborative practices for transforming community spaces, conflict analysis, circle processes and STAR training.

The summer sessions are facilitated by an “all-star group of instructors,” Goldberg says, many of whom have been waiting for the past two years to return to the in-person teaching format.

Among them is Hizkias Assefa, a co-founder of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding and a globally renowned mediator who will teach a course on forgiveness and reconciliation. Based in Kenya, he is currently engaged in peacebuilding in the Christian-Muslim conflict areas of Nigeria.

“Hizkias does high-level mediation around the world and he considers coming to SPI and teaching here a vacation,” Goldberg said. “He chooses to do this on his time off. We are so fortunate that with all the challenges of travel and his work and time for his family, he prioritizes sharing his knowledge with our students at SPI.”

A new teaching duo this summer is Jackie Font-Guzmán, 91����Ƶ’s executive director of diversity, equity and inclusion, with her former Creighton colleague, Bernie Mayer, a leader in the field of dispute resolution. The co-authors will be teaching a course based on their book The Neutrality Trap: Disrupting and Cooperating for Social Change, released in January by John Wiley and Co.

Several courses are especially suited to in-person learning, Goldberg said. For example, Frank Dukes and Leanne Nurse co-teach the course on transforming community spaces that will include a field trip to explore Charlottesville and the various projects of that community, including the University of Virginia’s Memorial to Enslaved Laborers. Fulbright professors and CJP alumni Ashok and Florina Xavier will teach “Theater for Transformation,” an interactive course building on their experiences of arts-based peacebuilding. 

“The last two years have stretched us in so many meaningful ways,” Goldberg said. “We now offer online SPI programming in February to help meet that need for professional development and training among folks who can’t make the trip to Harrisonburg in the summer. That shift also helped orient our degree programs into online formats. But we’ll be so glad to see everyone here on campus this summer. Peacebuilding is at its root about relationships and there’s no better way to build those than by sharing time together.”

91����Ƶ announces two leadership transitions that highlight and strengthen the university’s core values of commitments to peacebuilding and diversity, equity and inclusion. 

Jayne Docherty, executive director and professor of conflict transformation, announces her retirement this summer after more than 21 years of service to the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. The first non-Mennonite and the first woman in the executive director’s role, she has served since 2019. Prior to this, she spent seven years as CJP’s academic programs director, from 2013-19. She joined CJP in 2001 as professor of conflict transformation.

Jackie N. Font-Guzmán, currently the university’s executive director of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and a tenured professor with CJP, will be elevated to an inaugural role of Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. As part of this broader capacity within the university and with additional administrative support, she will also serve CJP in a two-year term as the center’s Strategic Vision Director. This role includes responsibilities that emphasize high-level leadership and strategic planning — in collaboration with current CJP faculty and staff and 91����Ƶ’s Vice President for Enrollment and Strategic growth, to build upon current progress in repositioning the center’s academic and non-credit programs for growth and success. This includes preparation for and leadership in a search for CJP’s new executive director, to begin in 2024.

This leadership shift is reflective of recommendations generated from a review conducted in 2021 by an external consultant initiated by CJP. The four-month research project involved input from CJP and the broader university around positioning the center for even greater impact and visibility in the cluttered educational environment.  

“Jayne Docherty has led CJP through seismic societal and cultural shifts, the COVID-19 pandemic, and disruption of the higher education landscape,” said 91����Ƶ President Susan Schultz Huxman. “On behalf of our entire executive leadership team, I express our immense gratitude for Jayne’s pragmatic approach to embracing disruptive change and her bold visionary leadership in articulating what a renowned peace and justice program should aspire to be.”

“Jayne has positioned CJP well to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the current times, and to integrate with 91����Ƶ’s distinctive mission,” said Provost Fred Kniss. “We are thankful for Jackie’s willingness to lead the strategic visioning for CJP’s next stage of development as a flagship program in the university. Her skills and experience uniquely equip her for this task, which benefits both the broader university and the diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice work we must all do together.”

Further, Huxman noted: “Throughout the pandemic, philanthropic support for CJP and DEI has been by every measure very successful. These two women have accentuated the sharp positive growth of both programs.” 

Docherty called her two decades of work at CJP “an honor and a gift,” and expressed appreciation and gratitude for her colleagues “and those colleagues masquerading as students.” 

She continued: “When I stepped into the executive director role, I didn’t expect to spend the next three years figuring out how to turn the disruption of a global pandemic into an opportunity to make our programs more resilient, flexible, and robust. I am so proud of the CJP team for starting a new MA program, making our graduate programs more accessible to students who cannot move to Harrisonburg, experimenting with new ways of teaching, and reorganizing our budgeting and management systems to set CJP up for growth as the world emerges from lockdown.”

Font-Guzmán, who joined 91����Ƶ in April 2021 from Creighton University, is “eager to join CJP in this new role and excited to collaborate with my colleagues to lead together into the 21st century.”

With both academic and practitioner expertise in conflict engagement and DEI, she views her role “as a promising way to more fully integrate DEI into peacebuilding practices and vice versa.”

“There’s a real synergy there,” Font-Guzmán added. “The present reimagining of CJP is a real opportunity to amplify a larger strategic initiative at 91����Ƶ. Jayne’s leadership and vision have set us up for success in ensuring CJP’s continued legacy of peacebuilding and social justice throughout the world.”  

Docherty will formally step down on June 30, 2022, though she will provide consulting services for an interim period.

The transition will create a new partnership between two colleagues who share a joint respect for their unique capacities for systems thinking and culture change within the conflict resolution field. 

“Jackie is an innovator and a leader in our field and co-author of one of the hottest new conflict resolution books, ,” Docherty said. “We are fortunate to have her at 91����Ƶ in a position to advocate for CJP as the university leaders work out the details for establishing a new unit for professional education and CJP implements curriculum changes and new management practices to support STAR, Summer Peacebuilding Institute, and the .”

Among their many goals, the duo plan to connect with graduates, partners and supporters during the next four months, after which, Docherty says, she’ll “take a short break and think about my next calling in the world.”