“When you see them pouring themselves into the work of justice and peace, and you see them giving and giving, remind them to pause, please,” Schaeffer, director of programs at CJP, said. “Remind them to rest. Remind them to seek out something joyful because this work needs them, but it needs them whole.”

The ceremony honored graduates of CJP’s master’s degree and graduate certificate programs and was held Sunday afternoon in Martin Chapel following 91����Ƶ’s 108th annual Commencement.

This year marks the 30th anniversary celebration of the CJP, which was co-founded and led by John Paul Lederach. His daughter, Dr. Angela Lederach, delivered the Commencement address earlier Sunday.

Graduates from 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding are embraced and recognized by CJP faculty and staff during the annual Celebration of Blessings in Martin Chapel on Sunday.

In the heartfelt ceremony, CJP faculty and staff members Dr. Gloria Rhodes, Amy Knorr, Dr. Paula Ditzel Facci, and Dr. Joe Cole provided words of tribute for each graduate. The following CJP graduates were recognized:

Master of Arts in Conflict Transformation

Diego Crespo Guido of Mexico City, Mexico

Jamila Gaskins of Los Angeles

Hannah Gilman of Salt Lake City

Chelsea Griffin of Flagstaff, Arizona

Leslie Meja of Nairobi, Kenya

Jacob Sankara of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

CatiAdele Slater of Upperville, Virginia

Tamera Vaughan-Drozd of Vienna, Virginia

Graduate Certificate in Conflict Transformation

Spike Coleman of Charleston, South Carolina

Devin Withrow of Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Master of Arts in Restorative Justice

Maria Arias of Viedma, Argentina

LaToya Fernandez of West Hartford, Connecticut

Sofía Garcia Pini of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Graduate Certificate in Restorative Justice

Réka Bordás-Simon of Nyíregyháza, Hungary

Mallery McShine of Fredericksburg, Virginia

Master of Arts in Transformational Leadership

Josiah Ludwick of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

Tyler Stanley of Harrisonburg, Virginia

Dr. Gloria Rhodes ’88 (left) and Kory Schaeffer MA ’24 (right), co-directors of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, offer their welcome remarks.

As the graduates go out to create a more just and peaceful world, they also weave a web of connections and build an extended community of learning, Professor Dr. Gloria Rhodes ’88, academic director of CJP, said in her remarks.

“We’re a small community, and 91����Ƶ is a very small university,” Rhodes said. “But together, we are enormous.”

She said there are more than 23,000 91����Ƶ graduates around the world, including more than 800 who have earned degrees from CJP’s master’s programs.

As a CJP alumnus, Schaeffer said he shared the graduates’ joy and quiet solidarity, as well as their sense of how much they had cared, questioned, and transformed throughout their time at CJP.

“This work was never just the books you read or the papers you wrote,” he said. “It was also the gray hairs, the tears, the tightness in your body, and the moments you questioned everything. It was the weight, literal or metaphorical, that comes with doing work that is both deeply personal and profoundly collective.”

LaToya Fernandez, an MA in restorative justice graduate, shares the journey that led her to CJP.

Conflict transformation graduates Hannah Gilman (left) and Jamila Gaskins (right) reflect on their experiences in the program.

Graduates LaToya Fernandez, Jamila Gaskins, Hannah Gilman, and Jacob Sankara shared their perspectives.  

Fernandez recalled visiting Ghana a couple of years ago and experiencing something there that changed her life. “I grieved there, I left my burdens there, I cried for my ancestors,” she said. “I learned things about myself that I didn’t know.”

She left Africa with a mission to bring that sense of healing to her communities and to the United States. She had applied to another school’s restorative justice program, which offered her a full scholarship, when a friend encouraged her to learn more about CJP. “You want to go to a place that’s going to value you and all your decolonizing institution ways,” Fernandez recalled her friend telling her. “That’s exactly what happened. I came to 91����Ƶ and I fell in love.”

Gaskins, who spoke at 91����Ƶ’s Lavender Graduation two days prior, asked the crowd when they last breathed. “Not a shallow breath, the kind most of us live on, tight chest, shoulders up near our ears, but a full breath. One that goes all the way down, opens up the belly, and reminds you that you are here, present, alive.”

“So many of us are chest breathers, and I say this with love and a little humor, because chest breathing is a perfectly functional way to stay alive, but it cuts us off,” she said. “It blocks access to the richness of our emotional experience, the very experience this work demands we stay connected to. We cannot feel our way into someone else’s suffering if we are numb to our own.”

Gilman said their past two years in the program have involved real sacrifice, balancing work, family, stressful logistics, and a dream. There have been many hard moments and even some tears, but also triumphs, laughter, and joy. There were moments of fear, and they showed up anyway.

“What a unique experience it has been to do this in a place like CJP,” she said. “With faculty and staff who knew us, challenged us, believed in us, and who, bless them, gave us extensions. I’m so grateful to share this era of growth with you, this particular season of becoming, of stretching, of learning what we are made of and made for.”

Mukarabe Inandava-Makinto (right), a CJP student, her husband, Makinto GC ’26 (left), and their son, Joël Friebe-Makinto, perform the musical prelude

CJP students Virginia Maina and Kensly Cassy offer student blessings (left). Amy Knorr (right), CJP’s peacebuilding practice director, provides the graduate sending. “This is actually my favorite day of the entire year, even more than Christmas,” Knorr said. “And it’s not because summer break begins tomorrow, but because we are sending forth so many graduates who will go on to change and transform the world.”

Sankara shared that he felt two emotions when he received his acceptance to the CJP program: excitement and intimidation. “Some of my colleagues at [Mennonite Central Committee], when I was working there, had gone through the program, and they spoke about it with a kind of reverence,” he said.

Along with those emotions came real anxiety. How would Sankara, an international student from Burkina Faso, find the money to fund his studies? He said his family’s visa situation was also uncertain. “I had to make a decision to trust God and move forward, even without having all the answers, and slowly things began to unfold,” he said.

He received a helpful scholarship from CJP and support from friends and family. Eventually, his family was able to come to the United States and was there to celebrate with him on Sunday. Sankara described CJP as more than a program, calling it a community.

“When I say community, I don’t mean a group of people who simply agree with each other,” Sankara said. “I mean a space where we celebrate, laugh together, and step on each other’s feet, not once but repeatedly. But the difference is that we acknowledge it, address it, and grow through it.”

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 podcast is just one of the ways the center is celebrating its 25-year anniversary. Hosted by CJP executive assistant and anniversary celebration committee chair Patience Kamau MA ‘17, the 10-episode series features faculty and staff members reflecting on the history of CJP and their own peacebuilding work. A new episode drops every other week on the Peacebuilder website.

Rhodes begins the episode by looking back on her own introduction to conflict-related work, as a fresh 91����Ƶ alumna teaching in Russia. She tells of how one day, an argument between students came to blows during Bible class. 

“They didn’t have a sense of interpersonal peacemaking, and I had grown up with that as a Mennonite … they really trusted authority to always be the problem-solvers, the decision-makers,” Rhodes explains. She felt driven to know more – so she returned to the States to earn her masters and doctorate degrees in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University.

Rhodes has held several roles at 91����Ƶ over the last three decades, from coordinator of the Summer Peacebuilding Institute to a communications position to teaching undergraduate and graduate classes. One of the changes she’s been heartened to see over this time is the increasing number of female peace builders in the field.

Rhodes says that she, and CJP at large, have learned about self-assessment and acknowledging privilege. “As a white North American female with a PhD and middle income,” Rhodes said, “probably I’m not the right person to enter many situations as the expert, or as the person who might help to bring about change. So I think we all need to be able to ask those questions of ourselves. And I’d say that’s a change that has happened in our curriculum.”

Rhodes sees this as part of a larger movement at CJP to examine not only the technical processes of peacebuilding work, but the bigger picture of how practitioners and educators live out their values. She hopes this examination will continue in the years to come.

As a place of higher education, “we have legacies and privileges that go with that, that I think we are in the process of asking hard questions about that, but I think we still have learning to do,” Rhodes says.

A time capsule of 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) is in the works – not to be buried, but uploaded. The artifact in question is a podcast, which will feature ten CJP faculty and staff members reflecting on the history of CJP and their own peacebuilding work. The 10-episode series is set to launch on Wednesday Jan. 22, 2020, with a new episode dropping every other week on the Peacebuilder website.

The podcast is the creation of Patience Kamau, a 2017 graduate of the program and also chair of CJP’s 25th anniversary committee, who wanted to give students, alumni, friends and supporters of the graduate program an in-depth look at where CJP has been, where it is now, and where it hopes to go.

“For the sake of posterity, this is emerging as a gem,” Kamau said. “These voices are here right now, many of them were here 25 years ago, and given the simple trajectory of life, are unlikely to be here 25 years from now.”

But why a podcast, specifically?

“It’s a way that a lot of people are consuming information these days. I think it’s a necessary long-form method of connecting with the audience,” Kamau explained, in contrast to the “fragmented” nature of social media posts. “When you’re doing it on podcasts, you can go into more depth, and you can connect with an audience in a different, more meaningful way.”

While the exact episode order is yet to be determined, Kamau said the pilot will feature Barry Hart. His interview acts as a primer to CJP, touching on elements like the Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding series and curriculum design, which other interviewees then dive into more deeply. “It’s like passing on a baton,” Kamau said. 

She asked each interviewee the same questions, based on the 25th anniversary’s theme of “celebrate, reflect, dream,” but of course “each one of them goes down a very unique path based on their own careers and life experiences.”

Kamau is an avid podcast consumer – she subscribes to at least eight, and regularly listens to others beyond those. That gave her an ear for what makes for a good listening experience, as she went into the project having to teach herself about audio production by looking up internet guides and tutorials.

Alumni Michaela Mast ‘18 and ‘19 have also helped breathe life into the podcast. Mast, co-host of the climate justice podcast , which is sponsored by the housed at 91����Ƶ, has lent technical assistance. Mullet, whose scores have been featured in recent documentaries and video games, is composing original music for the episodes.The podcast’s audio mixing engineer is Steve Angello who works closely with Mullet.  

“There’s something organic about it, just doing the work in anticipation of what will emerge. It’s a work of art, where the overall beauty lies in paying attention to the details” Kamau said.

The episodes will be also available on Apple Podcasts on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher, iHeart Radio, and TuneIn.

Featured voices

Each episode presents an interview with the following CJP affiliates, listed alphabetically by last name as the exact episode order is yet to be determined.

• David Brubaker, dean of 91����Ƶ’s School of Social Sciences and Professions and longtime CJP professor,
• Jayne Docherty, executive director,
• Bill Goldberg, director of the Summer Peacebuilding Institute,
• Barry Hart, professor of trauma, identity and conflict studies,
• Katie Mansfield, Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) program lead trainer,
• Janelle Myers-Benner, academic program coordinator,
• Gloria Rhodes, professor of peacebuilding and conflict studies,
• Carl Stauffer, professor of restorative and transitional justice and co-director of the ,
• Johonna Turner, professor of restorative justice and peacebuilding and co-director of the , and
• Howard Zehr, distinguished professor of restorative justice.

Senior Lindsay Acker, Nicole Litwiller ’19 and Luke Mullet ’19 also presented their project , which includes stories from survivors of sexual violence, visual art and audio accompaniment. Acker and Litwiller are now studying at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, while Mullet has joined 91����Ƶ’s admissions team. Junior Aaron Horst was also present.

The following article from the August 5, 2019, issue of Mennonite World Review is reprinted with permission.

ELSPEET, The Netherlands — More than 200 peacebuilders launched a Global Anabaptist Peace Network at the second Global Mennonite Peacebuilding Conference and Festival June 27-30 at Mennorode retreat center.

Rooted in Mennonite World Conference’s Peace Commission, the network hopes to share prayer and advocacy requests, empower one another, develop a membership directory of peace-related Mennonite organizations and create spaces for encounter.

During the conference, panels, workshops, concerts, live theater, poetry reading, singing, prayers and other activities explored the theme “On the Way of the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace,” building on an ecumenical initiative promoted by the World Council of Churches.

One of the goals was to create a network of people from different contexts and fields related to Mennonite peacebuilding. Renate Enns, one of the volunteers, was moved by how connection grew during informal moments.

“Everyone engaged with each other anytime,” Enns said. “You saw people from different ages and contexts talking with each other. That made this conference special. It showed that people really wanted to listen to each other.”

Paulus Widjaja spoke about the challenges of working with Christians and Muslims in Indonesia.

“Peacebuilding is not meant to just end conflict but to prevent future conflicts by building strong infrastructure,” he said.

Widjaja’s reference to infrastructure exemplified the importance strengthening relations among Mennonite peacebuild­ers, learning from peace practices and discerning together about ways to engage with different contexts.

Presenters, panels and artistic performances addressed racism, colonialism, discrimination, exclusion and gender-based violence. Theatre of the Beat’s play #Churchtoo confronted people with issue of sexual abuse in churches. It was a catalyst for weighty questions, and many people were brought to tears.

Comforting for peace

One activity was “Comforting for Peace,” under the guidance of Jeannette Stenvers and Marjan Huisman. Participants contrib­uted to stitching comforters for refu­gees. One was made around the theme of “Mennonites and Peacebuilding.”

More than 100 participants designed single patches to be sewn into a comforter and offered to the World Council of Churches as a sign of how Mennonites are joining the ecumenical “Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace.”

Jeannette Stenvers was moved not only by the number of people who joined to let their hands work for peace but also by the connections people made during this work and the many stories it brought out.

As the Global Anabaptist-Mennonite Peace Network was launched, Fulco van Hulst, a representative of the emerging network, said: “In God’s grocery store we cannot buy things like world peace and the end to hunger but only the seeds of peace to spread across the world.”

The first conference was organized in 2016 by Conrad Gre­bel University College in Waterloo, Ont. 91����Ƶ in Harrisonburg, Va., has expressed willingness to organize a third conference in 2022 but welcomes a bid from an institution in the Global South to host instead.

Aaron Erb, who earned his undergraduate degree in peacebuilding and development and a master’s degree in conflict transformation at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, received the awards during ceremonies in October and November.

Erb is the restorative justice coordinator at the Center for Victims in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In that capacity he coordinates a community mediation program and, with a coworker, provides victim-offender dialogue facilitation services to ACJC’s Victim Offender dialogue program. After receiving the ACJC award, he was nominated by ACJC assistant chief probation officer Kim Booth for the statewide award.

“It’s not possible for me to name all the ways 91����Ƶ prepared and inspired me for this work,” Erb said.

In undergraduate studies, his program’s emphasis on the interdisciplines of philosophy, economics and international relations “helped prepare me for a job that requires openness to new experiences and understanding of the multitudinous factors affecting people engaged in the juvenile court system,” he said. Professors such as Gloria Rhodes and Carolyn Stauffer “demanded that I examine myself as a product of privilege even as they illuminated that my gifts and skills had a place in the world.”

As a graduate student at CJP, his professors modeled conflict analysis to understand the roots of conflict in order to facilitate transformative dialogue.

“I find myself having surges of gratitude for my CJP community when I find my way through difficult situations in my work,” Erb said. “I was given a framework to be a restorative justice practitioner that I’m learning is a very rare thing for others within my professional circle.”

“Aaron thrives in helping people and is truly passionate about the juveniles involved with his program,” JCJC deputy director Robert Tomassini wrote in the award program. “He understands and listens to the unique circumstances and situations of the program participants and meets everyone with an unbiased manner, open mind, and genuinely caring heart.”

Earning trust is a challenge whether working with victims or offenders, Erb said.

Victims “have to sense that I will treat their stories with respect and care, holding space for their emotional responses and allowing them to be fully where they are after being hurt by a young person,” he said. Offenders, too, must know that he cares and respects them, their own challenges and “their capacity to make good decisions in their lives … so they can bring their best self to dialogue with me and the people they harmed,” he said.

“As a facilitator, sometimes I feel like a weathervane in the stormy aftermath of a harmful incident,” he said, “but my energy is found in the moments of reconnection and restoration during and after dialogue,” in part through debriefing with colleagues who “bravely encounter these dialogues.”

“That second image there is what I think of when I think of community organizing,” Seidel told the group, gathered for the afternoon session of SPI Community Day at 91����Ƶ.

One thoughtful middle school teacher, who had driven several hours from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, had a different observation.

“Not all the fish in my classroom are swimming the same way,” he said, “and some of those fish are angry.”

Amid much laughter, there were also nodding heads.

Practical skills, positive energy

The interaction was SPI Community Day in a nutshell: thought-provoking discussion in an educational environment that emphasizes practicality and the experiences of those in the classroom, undergirded by the positive energy (and often good humor) of face-to-face interaction.

Seidel’s workshop was one of seven offered during the one-day event, which gave approximately 85 participants a taste of the learning opportunities and warm friendly environment of “SPI,” or .

Since 1994, more than 3,200 people from 120 countries — and a wide variety of professions — have attended the summer program, gaining concrete strategies and practical skills in organization, facilitation, reconciliation, restorative justice, participatory arts, trauma awareness and much more.

During its four sessions in May and June, academically credentialed practitioners teach five- and seven-day courses that can be taken for personal skills growth and training or academic credit. Three-day workshops are also offered.

‘Drums No Guns’ founder offers keynote

One of those practitioners who will teach this summer kicked off the Community Day event.

A drum welcomed the group into Martin Chapel for a keynote address, interspersed with guided meditation and a lecture on racial healing, by Dr. a Richmond-based educator and founder of Drums No Guns. In 2016, Bhagat was named Richmond’s Peacebuilder of the Year by the Richmond Peace Education Center.

More drumming ended the session, led by his son Shyamuu, who lives and drums in Colorado. Ten participants were lucky enough to enjoy a short bucket-drumming lesson that resulted in a soul-shaking version of the Bhagats’ signature beat, “Junkyard Jam.”

Bhagat, currently earning a postgraduate certificate in restorative justice, will teach Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (STAR) at SPI this summer.

Community Day participants: what they said

• Drew Miller, middle school principal

Miller’s middle school a few miles outside of Harrisonburg is working to instill a restorative culture model. Two teacher-leaders from Montevideo accompanied him to SPI Community Day.

His big takeaway from a session on conflict-competent leadership with Dr. Gloria Rhodes was a new perspective on conflict itself. “When used properly, fire can provide warmth and light, both positive things,” he said. “When not handled properly, it becomes destructive. As I’ve dealt with conflicts this week, I’ve kept that in mind.”

He added that the concept of “quiet centeredness,” taught in a peace education session with Dr. Ed Brantmeier, of James Madison University, was also useful in addressing conflict and wrongdoing.

• ��Lance Brown, career coach

Brown, of Westwego, Louisiana, combined his SPI Day experience with an exploratory visit to Eastern Mennonite Seminary. A career coach with the social enterprise-based organization JUMA Ventures, Brown introduces young adults ages 18-24 to career planning, employability and financial management skills and part-time employment.

“I appreciated the focus on the power people have and the necessity of strategic work to accomplish the work of peacebuilding rather than simply peace-praying,” he shared later in an email. These “skills of reconciliation are necessary to the work of the Kingdom of God.”

Brown also appreciated the awareness and recognition of historical and systemic discrimination and oppression of people of color.

His experiences helped move him into his abiding questions: “How do I do theology in a way that liberates me and allows me to fulfill my God-given potential? How I interpret scripture in a way that doesn’t oppress human beings and/or prop up unjust and inhumane systems? And how do I develop the relevant skills to live out a liberating gospel worth practicing?”

• Rebeca Barge, director of programs, Big Brothers Big Sisters

Barge, a regular attendee of the summer institute, offered SPI Community Day as a professional development opportunity. Two staff and two Big Sisters attended.

“One big take away,” she reflected, “was the importance of understanding and naming the different aspects that make up an organization’s culture, and identifying the blessings and barriers of that culture. The other take away from the lunch plenary session was how important it is to re-design and re-frame the problems or issues we are trying to address within Big Brothers Big Sisters to have more buy-in from staff and stakeholders.”

Titled “Practical Tools for Hard Problems in Our Communities,” the day’s workshops will offer practical tools and build skills for peacebuilding, conflict transformation in the workplace, and facilitation and community organizing. The day will also include a morning plenary speaker, opportunities for networking, and a lunch presentation by regional community leaders.

The event is also designed to give participants a preview of the community atmosphere and courses offered at , a program of the (CJP). SPI’s five sessions in May and June focus on a variety of topics including trauma awareness, restorative justice, leadership, program management and responding to violent extremism.

More than 200 people from approximately 40 countries attend SPI each year. While the early years of SPI were geared more towards international participants, in recent years the program has also attracted local participants and responded to local situations.

“We want to support the efforts of local individuals in a variety of positions and occupations who are already engaged in addressing the hard topics in our communities,” said Christi Hoover Seidel, director of admissions for CJP. “We see SPI Community Day as an opportunity for support, expansion, and connection for those who are committed to peacebuilding, even if they don’t self-identify as ‘peacebuilders.’ Our goal is to offer practical tools to help sustain their work.”

The 72 participants in last year’s Community Day represented a wide range of professional interests: offender reentry, youth empowerment, adult career education, mediation, climate activism and filmmaking. More than half were from Harrisonburg, with the remainder from Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Workshops and presenters this year include:

• Transformative Leadership for Organizational Development, with Elizabeth Girvan, executive director of Skyline Literacy and , professor of organizational leadership, 91����Ƶ;
• How to be a Conflict Competent Leader, with , professor of applied social sciences, 91����Ƶ;
• Peace Education Prelude, with Ed Brantmeier, professor of education, JMU;
• Organizing Your Community for Change, with , professor of applied social sciences, 91����Ƶ;
• Building Resilience in Body, Mind and Spirit, with , director of the Strategies for Trauma Awareness & Resilience program, 91����Ƶ;
• Mapping the Justice Needs of Your Community, with , professor and co-director of the Zehr Institute of Restorative Justice; and
• The Relational Importance of One-on-One Meetings, with ,��professor��of Restorative Justice and Peacebuilding, 91����Ƶ.

Registration cost is $50 ($25 for students), and includes two workshops, a catered lunch, plus a $50 application fee waiver for SPI 2018.

Learn more about SPI Community Day .

In a recent blog post, Payne reflected her own growth as she ‘mimicks’ her experienced guides and then steps off on her own.

As a child, I played follow the leader. I mimicked the actions of others for fun.

As a college student, I find myself in a very similar situation. This cross-cultural is an extreme game of follow the leader.

Our leaders, Kim and Seth, model how to function in contemporary Europe. They guide us through cities and on public transportation. They gladly share their wisdom and calm our nerves. We follow. We learn by example.

These times of mimicking prepare us for times of independence. Almost daily we are given opportunities to explore or assignments to find specific locations. This is when the roles reverse. My peers and I will take turns directing, learning through practice.

Although this ever-changing game of follow the leader is fun and challenging, it has a specific focus. We are tracing the paths of our Anabaptist roots.

Besides the “Radical Europe” tour of Anabaptist sites in Austria, Germany and Switzerland, 91����Ƶ cross-cultural groups are in Bolivia, the Navajo Nation and Spain.

• The Bolivia group is led by Brian Martin Burkholder, campus pastor, and Linda Martin Burkholder, cross-cultural program assistant.
• The Navajo Nation group is led by Gloria Rhodes, chair of the applied social sciences department, and Jim Yoder, biology professor.
• The Spain group is led by Professor Adriana Rojas, of the language and literature department, her husband Patrick Campbell, and Barbara Byer, the department’s administrative assistant.

The 91����Ƶ cross-cultural experience, which has been part of the curriculum for more than 30 years, is very different from the typical “study abroad” program. Approximately 68 percent of all 91����Ƶ graduates go on an international cross-cultural trip; the remaining students fulfill the cross-cultural requirement exploring the vast diversity here in the United States. Most graduates name their cross-cultural experience as a significant part of their 91����Ƶ education.

Trips are led by faculty members who have deep roots in the countries and communities where groups travel. As an example of these deep roots, nearly 20 faculty and staff are “Third Culture Kids,” who spent significant years of their youth in another country/countries. Some 20 countries on six different continents are represented tin these experiences. Most 91����Ƶ faculty and staff have also lived and worked abroad for significant periods of time.

Upcoming cross-cultural trips include:

• Israel/Palestine, fall 2018, with Bill Goldberg, director of the Summer Peacebuilding Insitute, and Lisa Schirch, research professor at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding;
• Guatemala and Cuba, spring 2018, with Byron Peachey, academic advocacy program adviser, and Lisa King, instructor in the nursing department;
• India, spring 2018, Kim G. Brenneman, psychology professor, and her husband, Bob Brenneman;
• Kenya, summer 2018, with Roxy Allen Kioko, professor of business, and her husband, Felix Kioko;
• Paraguay, summer 2018, with Greta Anne Herin, professor of biology, and Laura Yoder, professor of nursing;
• Marginal(ized) Europe: Bulgaria and Greece, summer 2018, with Andrew White, professor of English, and his wife, Daria White;
• Lithuania, summer 2018, with Jerry Holsopple, professor in the visual and communication arts department;
• , offered each semester in Washington D.C. allows for immersion into urban culture, while acquiring valuable work experience in an internship.

“I had experienced firsthand who these refugees are and the journeys they had been on,” says Aziz, who spent the two years prior to coming to CJP working with Syrian refugees in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, as a registration assistant and a senior resettlement assistant with the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR. “I was very familiar with the process.”

Hoping to educate local political leaders about how rigorous and time-consuming the resettlement process already was, Aziz joined a group that went to discuss the matter with staff at U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Roanoke). Afterwards, she began thinking about other ways by which she might more effectively introduce Syrian refugees to an American public that often misunderstands them.

“I realized that if they were to see these people, if they were to know them a little bit better before they got here … that might perhaps resonate,” says Aziz, who studied at 91����Ƶ as a Fulbright scholar.

Arts in Peacebuilding grant funds film

With some grant funding from CJP, Aziz returned to Lebanon in December, 2016, where she filmed interviews with Syrian refugees living in different parts of the country. After spending the next several months editing and translating the footage, she finalized a 25-minute documentary intended to put individual human faces and voices behind what has become a polarizing political issue in the United States.

“When you think of Syrians, you think of us as terrorists, as burdens,” says one young man interviewed in the film. “We are fleeing war. We are attempting to start new lives. Why would we create more problems for ourselves?”

After an initial screening at 91����Ƶ in April, Aziz is now pursuing a number of ways to make sure as many people as possible are able to see the documentary – including possible showings with congressional staff in Washington D.C.

“My biggest goal behind this video is to get more Syrian refugees resettled in the US,” says Aziz, acknowledging that those prospects for many refugees have grown even dimmer since President Trump took office. “They need us more than ever, because they’re unable to be here to talk themselves. If any Syrians living in the United States would like to collaborate or use this documentary, please don’t hesitate to contact me.”

Teaching fellow position is newly created

As that work continues, Aziz is returning to campus on June 1 to become CJP’s first-ever teaching fellow. During a one-year fellowship, Aziz will teach in the undergraduate program, assist with graduate-level CJP courses and help peacebuilding and conflict studies professor to develop a training program on conflict resolution in the workplace.

“Like many of our students, Myriam arrived at CJP with a good deal of field experience,” said Jayne Docherty, CJP academic programs director. “In working with Gloria Rhodes as a teaching assistant, she found she had a gift for teaching as well as a passion for it. Myriam also proved herself to be an able scholar with a flair for reflecting on the realities of working in the field.”

The arrangement will offer benefits to all involved, added Docherty, with Aziz gaining experience as an instructor, undergraduates learning from a recent CJP graduate with distinctive field experience, and the center receiving assistance developing the new training program.

“If this works well, we would like to create a yearly Teaching Fellow position for a recent CJP graduate,” Docherty said.

After finishing the teaching fellowship at 91����Ƶ, Aziz plans to eventually pursue a PhD and then, a career in the Lebanese Foreign Service.

“I’m very grateful to all the support I’ve received from CJP and 91����Ƶ,” said Aziz. “I feel like this teaching fellowship will guide me towards a good decision about my future.”

“91����Ƶ’s relationship with Graterford is very unique,” said , professor of and conflict studies who has accompanied the group several times. “We are very privileged to have this opportunity to interact with the men in the facility and learn from their experiences.”

, a professor at 91����Ƶ’s , made the initial connection between the university and the maximum security prison. In the early ’90s, Zehr created a program in which people serving life sentences met with families of homicide victims who wanted to engage in dialogue and ask questions. The result of this outreach was two books, each with photos and interviews: (1996) and (2001). [A joint art showing combining these two projects with the work of CJP graduate students can be viewed.]

The Alternatives to Violence Program began in 1975 as a collaboration between a group at Greenhaven Prison in New York and an area Quaker group. More than 1,500 incarcerated facilitators in 100 prisons work to transform their communities both while incarcerated and upon their release. In 2014, a total of 14,230 incarcerated citizens in the U.S. took the training in 2014.

Earl Zimmerman, assistant professor of Bible and religion, led the first trip of 91����Ƶ students to Graterford in 2003. Three days are spent at the prison, participating in a variety of activities with incarcerated men that focus on community-building and communication skills.

This year, Adrienne Derstine, a student in Professor ’s “Restorative Justice and Trauma Awareness” course, reflected on her learnings about healing, community-building, alternatives to incarceration and conflict transformation.

Turner’s course, required in the criminology and restorative justice minor, explores core principles, values and practices of restorative justice in three major ways:

• as a framework for healing trauma and interrupting cycles of victimization and violence,
• as a component of a broader movement against racialized mass incarceration in the U.S., and
• as a set of principles and processes for building connection, repairing harm and maintaining positive relations.

To learn more about the criminology and restorative justice minor, click here.

Read student reflections on the and .

A Trip to Graterford: Searching for Justice and Hope

I’ve never given much thought to what it would be like sitting between prison inmates, but I certainly never considered it would include building play cars out of tinker toys or laughing about fads like dabbing while sitting in a maximum security prison.

Over spring break, 16 students were privileged to go to Graterford prison in Pennsylvania as part of the Restorative Justice and Trauma Awareness course taught by Dr. Johonna Turner.

The experience was rooted in the Alternatives to Violence Program (AVP), an educational curriculum devoted to restorative justice education within the prison system consisting primarily of interactive exercises portraying the importance of restorative practices and transforming power traits within all relationships, all conflicts, and within interactions.

One required text for the Restorative Justice course at 91����Ƶ is The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander arguing that mass incarceration in the United States is the product of a racialized criminal justice system.

Rooting her thesis in a pertinent conversation through an extensive consideration of history it is undeniable that the current issue of mass incarceration is a system of racial control determined to silence people of color.

Society has the collective power to determine who has a voice, and while U.S. society silences those disadvantaged by the criminal injustice system, individuals with a voice must use it to speak out.

Despite the stereotypes of prison inmates as violent, harsh, and cold to the world, my experience of humbly holding stories about their their loved ones and witnessing their talents of writing, acting, ministering, and teaching demanded a changed perspective of who a prison inmate is.

Through the use of numbers and shaming tactics, the criminal injustice system attempts to negate the voice of valuable individuals, but programs like Alternatives to Violence focus on the humanity of people despite the choices they have made.

Overwhelming experiences such as my trip to Graterford engender feelings of guilt and helplessness, but in a society that rejects the incarcerated and people of color, paralysis is not an option.

However simplistic, my takeaway from this experience is to listen; not simply paying attention and nodding along, but deeply understanding and acknowledge the humanity in another through the profound process of listening.

Throughout the training it became clear that each resident participant exemplified valuable characteristics that have been suppressed through years spent in a dehumanizing system.

It might appear that locking people up is making society better, but without the voices of the talented individuals behind bars, society is losing far more than anything gained.

While listening seems minimal, genuine acknowledgement of the humanity of others can ignite passionate collaboration and embolden individuals to reach their full potential. Listening gives voice to the voiceless.

Without the contribution of all voices, we cannot expect creative solutions to the systemic problems plaguing society. So next time you are entrusted to hold the stories of another, listen.

“We want our students to understand and be aware of how the criminal justice system works, and be aware of alternatives that exist,” said , peacebuilding and conflict studies professor and Department of Applied Social Science chair.

Rhodes describes the program’s restorative justice perspective as one that “promotes justice as healing, wholeness and reconciliation for all parties touched by crime.” Coursework will introduce students to restorative justice as a growing field of practice that offers alternatives to the traditional criminal justice system.

, a longtime professor of restorative justice at 91����Ƶ, notes that many colleges and universities have begun offering programs in criminal justice as the industry has grown in recent decades.

“Most, however, are taught with a conventional and rather uncritical perspective of criminology that assumes that if crime is violent, then our response must be as well,” Zehr said. “It is both timely and appropriate that a university rooted in an Anabaptist tradition would incorporate the peacebuilding approach represented by restorative justice.”

Rhodes said the program will emphasize the practical applications of restorative justice in the criminal justice system.

“Restorative justice has become kind of a buzzword in Mennonite circles,” she said. “In this program, we’re saying that it’s not only a way of being or a philosophical or ideological commitment. We’re crafting a minor so people can think about restorative justice as being useful in their career path.”

As part of the 18-hour minor, 91����Ƶ will begin offering a new course in criminology, with elective options drawing from various disciplines, including sociology, theology and peacebuilding. The program has been under development for several years, and was motivated in part by increasing interest from prospective students in studying criminal justice.

“The pairing of restorative justice with criminology is reflective of 91����Ƶ’s social justice and Anabaptist faith-based perspective,” said Deirdre Smeltzer, undergraduate academic dean. “The restorative justice emphasis will help students learn theory and practice related to helping offenders acknowledge harm and strive to repair those harms; this is in contrast to the typical punishment-based approach of most criminal justice systems.”

The new undergraduate minor is the latest example of several academic programs 91����Ƶ has created recently in response to growing interest in restorative justice, including a restorative justice in education graduate certificate offered through the master’s in education program and a new , offered by the . In conjunction with the new minor, the university has also just approved an accelerated five-year BA to MA in restorative justice.

The event is also designed to give participants a preview of the community atmosphere and courses offered at SPI, a program of the which hosts five sessions in May and June on a variety of topics including trauma awareness, restorative justice, leadership, program management and responding to violent extremism.

Since 1994, more than 3,000 people have attended SPI from more than 120 countries. While the early years of SPI were geared more towards international participants, there has been a push in the last few years to attract local participants and respond to local situations.

“This is a way to give more focus to the local community,” says , admissions director.

Last year, a middle school teacher, veteran, pastor and community kitchen manager were among the 65 regional peacebuilders in attendance at SPI Community Day. After “such a positive response” last year, Roth Shank says the maximum attendance has been increased to 80.

The event includes a breakfast presentation on community organizing by Dr. , professor of restorative justice; two 90-minute workshops, a lunch presentation and a networking event.

“The underlying focus is going to be community organizing and leading,” says Roth Shank. “In the current political climate … people are looking for ways to build bridges and be engaged.”

Workshop offerings include

• Organizational Use of Circles, with Dr. ;
• Leadership and Management for the Common Good, with Dr. ;
• Conflict Coaching, with Dr. ;
• Program and Project Management, with ;
• Transforming Power of Identity and Dignity, with Dr. ;
• Faith-Based Peacebuilding: Structuring Hope Locally, with The Rev. Roy Hange.

Participants will depart with deeper networks and valuable skills related to organizational leadership, says SPI Director , while also learning more about the resources of SPI and the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

“I believe, as do many others, that in the coming years, communities are going to have to increasingly rely on their own organizations and service providers as there will be less help forthcoming from the federal government,” says Goldberg. “SPI Community Day is a great chance for 91����Ƶ to make better connections with these local providers, give them the skills they need to succeed and help them become better connected with each other.”

An expert in interfaith dialogue and Muslim-Christian relations, Almirzanah has a PhD and master’s degrees in theology from the Lutheran School of Theology, as well as a DMin degree from Catholic Theological Union, all located in Chicago, Illinois. She earned an MA in philosophy and a BA in comparative religions at State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Almirzanah is also sponsored by the , the William and Mary Greve Foundation, and an anonymous donor.

Almirzanah was carefully selected to meet the center’s objectives, says CIE Interim Director , who coordinated the logistics of the year-long application process with former director Ed Martin. CIE administrators sought a scholar of unique qualifications from Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world.

CIE and 91����Ƶ last hosted in the 2014-5 academic year. Professor Amir Akrami, of Iran, arrived in September 2012, and his wife, Professor Sedigheh (Sheida) Shakouri Rad came the next year. That three-year visiting scholar program was funded by the Henry Luce Foundation of New York City.

Expert in interfaith dialogue

Almirzanah was highly recommended by Professor Emeritus , with whom she had taught a class at her home university in Indonesia, as well as Georgetown University professor , founding director of the in the Walsh School of Foreign Service.

She is teaching comparative mysticisms and world religions courses within the Bible and religion department. In the spring, she will co-teach an Asian history course, and join Professor for a course on women, religion and social change in the .

Additionally, she will have opportunities to speak in local Christian, Jewish and Muslim houses of worship, as well as to local social organizations.

Nussbaum says Almirzanah’s studies and practice will help expand the definition of interfaith dialogue, beyond the stereotype of “theologians sitting in a room discussing scripture or holy text.”

“She brings a bigger picture, an expansion of the idea of interfaith engagement into something more practical and applied,” Nussbaum says. “Living as a person of faith in a community is always applied and Shafa does that well with her studies and her practice. Interfaith engagement is not only dialogue, it is also how you live, how you transform conflict, how you treat people near you, how you treat the environment, and how to learn to live together in different cultures and faiths.”

While 91����Ƶ has hosted many Fulbright Scholars, especially in 2004-06 when the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding partnered with the Fulbright Conflict Resolution Program to provide peacebuilding training, Almirzanah is the first teaching scholar.

A scholar who prioritizes practice

Almirizanah grew up in Indonesia with a mother and father who held different perspectives about their religion. “I was never forced to follow one or the other,” she said. “I just grew up knowing there were differences.”

For six years through graduation from high school, she attended a progressive Islamic boarding school with opportunities to interact with people of other faiths. “It was very close to a Buddhist temple, and there was also collaboration with a Catholic seminary. We often worked together with them, and people from the seminary would stay at the school, so I had many opportunities to encounter non-Muslims.”

Moving into interfaith work after her university studies was a natural progression. From 1996-2001, she was research coordinator for the (INTERFIDEI) which has provided the opportunity to become a practitioner of dialogue. She remains a board member of the organization.

“Teaching is OK for academic people,” she says, with a smile, “but I really wanted to engage with Catholics, Buddhists, Protestants and people of other faiths who want to build a more pluralistic society. The opportunity to teach courses on religion and conflict resolutions, to be among invited experts, to host a workshop on conflict resolution in a conflict area, and hold trainings on harmonious religion – this is very important to me.”

She has traveled to 23 countries during her scholarly career to speak about these issues, and has been a visiting scholar at several universities, bring with her years of experience teaching on a variety of subjects: approaches and methodology of the study of religions, introduction to Islam, religious minorities, hermeneutics, Sufism, interfaith dialogue in Indonesia, mysticism/Sufism in comparative perspectives, ethics, women’s roles, and Christian-Muslim dialogue, among others.

Personal growth through exploration of other faiths

Almirzanah says that religion has become the “biggest force in the world for worse or for better,” one reason why people need to seek greater understanding.

“I want to enrich myself and enrich others, so we are learning and always learning. I pass over from my tradition to other traditions to enrich and be enriched, and after that, I have to come back with a new horizon because of enrichment. So that I can criticize myself and our community. We must have the courage to criticize ourselves. But I like to say that ‘If you don’t know others, you cannot love. If you cannot understand the religion of others, you can’t understand yourself or your neighbor.”

Almirzanah has authored or co-authored nine books, including (Blue Dome Press, 2011), and edited many others. One of her more recent books, When Mecca Becomes Las Vegas: Religion, Politics, and Ideology (Gramedia, 2014), criticized the expansion of pilgrimage infrastructure in the holy city at the expense of its historical sites, a metaphor for the spiritual desert she views many Muslims living within.

She is also an active social commentator, contributing op-ed pieces to the Jakarta Post.

Among the countries represented are those where 91����Ƶ has sent cross-cultural groups; where��alumni, faculty, and staff live; and where students come from.

The concept of the hall was developed by Lee M. Yoder, chair of and a former vice president and professor of education at 91����Ƶ from 1975-1986.

The hall “gives visibility to the global context in which we teach and work,” Yoder said during opening ceremonies. “These national flags serve to welcome those learners who come to this campus to study and to enrich our lives. The national flags serve also to demonstrate the global destinations of 91����Ƶ students in their pursuits of a distinctive, life-changing cross-cultural program which is central to the core values of this university.”

The hall is named after , a Mennonite leader in the United States who led missions to other nations and was instrumental in the formation of many Mennonite institutions, including Mennonite Central Committee, that led Mennonites to serve in a global context.

Miller was also an important influence in Mennonite education. “Programs such as 91����Ƶ’s cross cultural seminars, services for international students, visiting scholars programs, mission and service trips, as well as many graduate��programs, including the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding were directly influenced through the work of Orie Miller through Mennonite Central Committee and Eastern Mennonite Missions,” said Professor , chair of the , who provided the welcome for the service.

After opening words from Yoder, Edgar Stoesz shared memories of working with Miller. A Minnesota native, Stoesz worked more than 30 years with Mennonite Central Committee in Akron, Pennsylvania, in various leadership capacities.

Several students shared their thoughts on what the hall means for the university.

“I think 91����Ƶ is very globally minded,” said sophomore Hannah Shultz. “This would be another representation of that, that’s very visible, very clear, right as a prospective student comes in. I think it will also bring life to the place, to have all that color and the flags.”

First-year Sebastian Rivas, a student from Colombia, felt similarly. “Right now this is very important to see, at least to remember, who we are,” explained Rivas. He said, “We as children of God and as Mennonites need to be together despite the borders, despite the conflicts that we’re seeing right now, because right now is the moment that we most need love.”

Faculty, staff, students, and the broader community have been invited to sponsor a flag of their choice for $90. The goal is to reach 100 flags. Those interested in sponsoring a flag can click .

The inauguration of the hall was a part of the 91����Ƶ leadership conference, “,” which brought several hundred particpants to campus over a three-day period to hear speakers such as Brian Welch, founder of Mother Earth News, and organizational leadership innovator Peter Block.

Portions of this article were reprinted from the April 1, 2016, issue of The Weather Vane.