Todd Shenk '88 will be the Rasmuson Foundation's senior program officer, building on a career that began in Alaska and bringing experience in philanthropy, government and nonprofit work, much of it focused on homelessness and child welfare.

As a child, I dreamt of seeing an airplane鈥攏ot even being in it鈥攁nd regularly begged my father to take me to the airport to see one. These days, I fly to different regions of the world on speaking engagements as a peace and human rights advocate. The countries I have visited include the United States, Turkey, the Netherlands, Cambodia, South Africa and Rwanda, among others. I did not initially aspire to a career in peace, human rights and women and youth empowerment advocacy; I wanted to be a doctor and had successfully completed undergraduate studies in chemistry and biology at the Mother Patern College of Health Sciences, an affiliate of the Stella Maris Polytechnic, in Monrovia, Liberia. Once I began getting involved in peace advocacy, witnessing the international community鈥檚 peace efforts in my country, I realised that disarming the fighters was just an aspect of peace; to achieve genuine peace requires reconciliation among the various groups, between young and old, the genders, etc.

Six leaders from Mennonite Church USA advocated for peace and justice in Palestine and Israel during congressional visits May 22 in Washington, D.C. The visit took place just days after Israeli soldiers killed more than 60 largely nonviolent Palestinian protesters May 14 in Gaza, and many of the delegates asked their representatives to respond to this. 鈥淚 relayed my deep, deep concern about the situation in Gaza, asking my representatives to take a stand for the rights of Palestinians, and given the significant amount of aid the U.S. provides to Israel each year, to call for an investigation into Israeli military actions,鈥 said Tim Seidel, director of the Center for Interfaith Engagement at 91短视频 in Harrisonburg, Virginia.