At work in Wauseon, Ohio, Roth is just as multi-faceted. He is director of information technology with Solana, a company that provides business management software and related IT support services for agencies that serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Roth has been with the company since 2003. (He worked at Jenzabar after graduation for two years and then in Wauseon, with Fulton County Health Center, for one year before joining Solana as a network administrator and software developer.)

Solana serves more than 130 providers in 23 states (one of its Virginia-based customers is Pleasant View home in Broadway, a ministry of the Virginia Mennonite Conference). The company is owned by Sunshine (formerly Sunshine Children’s Home), a non-profit, faith-based service provider for the developmentally disabled in northwest Ohio. The company was started in 1997 by Lynn Miller, a Hesston and Goshen graduate who developed the ProviderPro software that is the basis of the company’s line.

Roth, who studied at Hesston College before transferring to 91����Ƶ as a junior, enjoys the variety in his work. “Being a part of a small company, and working on the IT and programming side, really keeps things interesting,” he said. “I like to do all of it, but it’s hard to have a wide scope any more with how much there is to know about everything now. This role allows me to do some of each.”

A constant challenge for Solana’s clients is managing data specific to their needs, ranging from the usual business basics such as human resources and payroll, to more specific tracking of billing information, fundraising, client demographics and incident reports.

“We work with our clients to help them find more efficient ways to do their business,” Roth said. “That may be something as simple as adding electric time clocks instead of handwritten paper time sheets, so they can digitally track everything they are doing. We make our software as easy to use as possible, and the trainings short and simple to accommodate staff turnover.”

Recently, Roth has led the implementation of a virtualized data center that allows for upgrading hardware and handling hardware failure with little or no downtime, and a secondary data center that would function if the Wauseon site experienced a major disaster. He’s also helped design single-page web applications that “work on any device from a phone, tablet, or PC with a load balanced back-end” to accommodate new growth.

“We’re always developing new products or improving older products, designing new things and looking ahead to technologies we want to work on in the next few years,” Roth said, in a statement that encapsulates his creative and technical endeavors, from software to 3D carriage wheels.

Both Byler and Docherty are veteran peace practitioners, focused on conflict transformation and development efforts both domestically and abroad. Byler comes with extensive experience in leading non-profits and Mennonite church initiatives, including fundraising. Docherty has extensive academic institutional experience, with teaching stints at three universities.

Byler has directed programs for in Washington D.C. and the Middle East. He will be coming to 91����Ƶ in July 2013 from Jordan where he has lived since 2007, coordinating peacebuilding projects run by MCC’s local partners in Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Palestine.

Impressed by CJP alumni in Middle East

In the Middle East, Byler has seen the work of dozens of CJP alumni. He says he has been inspired by these alumni, noting how CJP “transformed the way they think about conflict and the way they are integrating the principles and experiences learned at 91����Ƶ in the challenging Middle Eastern context.”

As director of MCC’s Washington Office from 1994 to 2007, Byler met regularly with policymakers on Capitol Hill, the State Department and White House.�� Prior to that, he spent six years as a staff attorney in Meridian, Miss., while serving as senior pastor for , an interracial congregation. He brings to 91����Ƶ significant fundraising experience, including leading a capital campaign for .

Byler holds a Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia, where he also did graduate business coursework. He earned two degrees from 91����Ƶ, an MA from the in 1985 and a BA in in 1979.

Experiences in Burma/Myanmar

On the CJP faculty since 2001, Docherty spent much of 2008-12 working with groups in Burma/Myanmar on supporting the transition from a military dictatorship to a more democratic form of governance. Prior to this, she worked for three years with the Institute for Peace and Justice Education at Lebanon’s American University to develop a peacebuilding training program for young leaders in that country. She has led workshops on peacebuilding topics in a dozen other countries.

Docherty will continue to teach quarter-time as professor of leadership and public policy at 91����Ƶ. She has also taught at George Mason University and Columbia College in South Carolina. She earned her PhD at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason and holds an undergraduate degree in religious studies and political science from Brown University. She studied theology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Lynn Roth to Mennonite World Conference

Byler is replacing , who has been named the North American representative to Mennonite World Conference. In the new CJP leadership configuration, both the executive director and program director are three-quarter-time positions.

“Daryl will be giving administrative leadership to CJP with a primary focus on building external relationships, networking with key university and external stakeholders, and developing resources for CJP’s growth and success,” said Provost Fred Kniss upon announcing Byler’s appointment. Kniss also expressed appreciation to departing Roth “for his years of wisdom and servant leadership to CJP.”

Concerning Docherty’s role as program director, she will “oversee the development, integration, funding, delivery and evaluation of CJP’s various programs,” said Kniss. “This includes the coordination of the academic and practice programs of CJP, and giving leadership to curriculum development.

“I am eagerly anticipating working with this new CJP management team,” said Kniss, “as they provide innovative leadership and vision to ensure that CJP remains a global leader in the peacebuilding field.”

The leaders of announced the founding of the Zehr Institute at the end of the fall 2012 semester, after persuading Zehr to let the institute carry his name. They also asked Zehr to remain a faculty member in a non-teaching role with the title Distinguished Professor of Restorative Justice.

Zehr has taught restorative justice at CJP since 1996. He also served as the center’s co-director for five years, 2002-2007.

Zehr, who shies away from the word “retirement,” says he always planned to stop teaching before he lost his edge, and he wants to make space for others to step in. “Sometimes the only way you can do that,” he says, “is to get out of the way.”

The Zehr Institute will spread knowledge about restorative justice and be a resource to practitioners, while facilitating conversations and cultivating connections through activities like conferences and webinars, according to CJP executive director . The institute will be co-directed by Zehr and , assistant professor of development and justice studies at CJP.

Zehr and Stauffer say they intend for the institute to offer space to explore “frontier” topics, like the intersection of the arts and , and the ways that trauma and restorative justice are connected. They plan for it to tap the expertise of practitioners who aren’t scholars, but have much to offer.

And though the institute will not focus on academia, Stauffer believes it will benefit graduate students by growing a program in which students are not only taught the skills of restorative justice but are trained to see and respond to larger, systemic issues.

“We want to graduate students who’ve studied restorative justice who could run a circle [process] or victim-offender conferencing or a family group conference,” says Stauffer. “At the same time we want them to apply their education to a whole system, so that they could walk into a school and say, ‘What would a restorative justice system look like here?’”

Restorative justice, both Stauffer and Zehr believe, is not a just a social service, but a social movement.

As he moves to quarter-time employment at 91����Ƶ, Zehr is looking forward to a schedule where he spends less time in meetings and more time with another passion of his, photography.

Alerted by email that Zehr is wrapping up his formal teaching career, former students have responded with appreciative messages.

Fadi El Hajjar, a 2006 master’s graduate of CJP who manages a project in Lebanon, praised Zehr for his “considerable contribution… to the peacebuilding world through teaching, training and writing.”

Mack Mulbah, a 2009 graduate working for , wrote to Zehr, “I am sure you will be missed in the classroom, but glad that your new journey will open more doors for further moving RJ [restorative justice] to another level for us practitioners.”

The first group of students in the included 12 women from Africa�� (Liberia, Kenya, and regions in and around Somalia) and the South Pacific (Fiji and Solomon Islands) at the 2012 under .

After returning home, the participants will be provided with mentors and will take two additional classes in their respective home regions before earning a graduate certificate. An additional eight Somali women who did not receive visas to attend SPI this year are also enrolled in the program’s first cohort.

“I’m grateful, I’m overwhelmed to be a part of this,” said Gwendolyn Myers, a 21-year-old activist and journalist from Liberia who was selected for the program. “I want to bring this key message to the group: prioritize young people! Young people can contribute positively towards peace and development, if given the chance.”

She said her SPI classes taught her how to analyze and “map” conflicts and to bring all parties involved “to the table,” enabling her to act more strategically in Liberia in the future.

Myers is executive director of , a nonprofit organization that works with university students and youth to promote peace, reconciliation and a spirit of volunteerism in Liberia.

Hiba Mohamed Ismail, an instructor with the in Hargeisa, Somaliland, echoed Myers’ thoughts: “I was so lucky to be chosen.” She spoke of the benefits of being granted a safe, hospitable place to gain wider knowledge while reflecting on the social situation at home.

Ismail trains at-risk youth – many of them homeless, battling drug addictions or recently released from prison��– in conflict management and vocational and social skills.

As a follow-up to SPI, experienced leaders in the peace field will act as mentors for each sub-group of women, helping them to integrate their academic training with their day-to-day work.

The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding received more than 100 applications for spots in the first cohort of the women’s leadership program and has already begun planning for future sessions. Working with its funding partners, and the German development organization, EED/, the peacebuilding center is expecting a larger group from the South Pacific next year, and it hopes to bring more Liberian and Somali women as well. Plans are also underway to add a new cohort of women leaders from Burma.

“The leadership of both women and men is vital to developing, implementing and sustaining robust peacebuilding processes at all levels of society,” said , director of the Women’s Peacebuilding Leadership Program. “More and more organizations and countries are realizing that the participation of women in leadership is vital to their well-being.��This program is assisting countries and regions in developing the capacity of women to take up these leadership roles that are so needed.”

Three of the women in the program – Asli Ahmed Mohamoud, Amina Hassan, and Priscilla Singh – spoke appreciatively of having the support of their husbands for their peacebuilding work. In their home regions, it is almost unknown for a husband to care for the children in the family to enable a wife to play a public role, but their husbands have been exceptional. Mohamoud has three children, Hassan has five, and Singh has two.

Mohamoud, employed by , is the founder of a radio program called “Voice of Women,” which draws on the oral tradition of the Somali community to mobilize women to participate in their country’s peacebuilding process. She also writes a weekly newspaper column to encourage women.

Trained as a schoolteacher, Hassan founded Women for Peace and Development in Mandera, the northeast district of Kenya, in 1998. “Twenty or 25 years ago, you would hardly see a woman participate in activities beyond the family,” she said. “Some changes have been realized.” She said frequently recurring droughts – probably due to climate change – have forced some of the changes. Her people are seeing the end of the tradition of men supporting their families by owning herds of camels and other animals.

“Men are becoming idle and not knowing what to do or where to start over,” she said. Hassan’s group has doled out small loans – “we started with 100 women receiving 5,000 Kenyan shillings (about 60 U.S. dollars)” to empower women to start supporting their families through setting up market stalls and other small businesses.

For her efforts at reducing violent conflict and seeking other ways for her people to survive, Hassan has received the Head of State commendation in Kenya. She is planning to run for a seat in the nation’s parliament.

As the first woman to be elected to local government in her region of Fiji, Singh faced bullying and came to realize that women need to form a “critical mass” in government in order not to feel alone in the “lion’s den.” Singh is working to increase the role of women in the next national election and plans to run for a national office herself at some time in the future.

All of the participants in the Women’s Peace Leadership Program made the point that women and men must be respectful partners if there is to be lasting social change, for the betterment of all. “Promoting leadership for women is also promoting collaborative leadership for men,” said Jenner.

Though they were together at SPI for just a month, these first participants developed strong bonds and friendships, said 26-year-old Philma Zaku, a youth coordinator for the surrounding Honiara, Solomon Islands.

“You’re able to communicate with people who have the same passion … for making the world a better place,” said Zaku, whose job includes a significant focus on reducing and preventing domestic violence against women.

Zaku made a point of linking peace to other issues affecting the Pacific Islands, notably climate change and rising sea levels, which threatened the islands’ very existence.

, the executive director of 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, said he hopes the women’s leadership program marks the beginning of the participants working together over their entire lifetimes, sometimes in collaboration with 91����Ƶ.

Zaku agreed: “This first cohort of the women’s leadership program is just the beginning of something that must continue for the betterment of the world.”

Other members of the first Women’s Peacebuilding Leadership Program at SPI were: Amal Yasin Ibrahim, who works with the in Somaliland; Windor Dorko, executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights and Democracy in Liberia; Vaiba Flomo, featured in the documentary “” as one of the founding members of the Women’s Mass Action Campaign in 2003, which was instrumental in ending war in Liberia; Grace Jarsor, who was also one of the founding members of the Women’s Mass Action Campaign in Liberia, works for her government’s Ministry of Gender and Development; Jerolie Belabulie, a monitoring and evaluation officer employed by the in the Solomon Islands; and Alita Waqabaca, clinical practice leader for in Fiji.

Make it your home, too: Join us this fall and become a part a transformative, internationally-known graduate program in conflict transformation at the (CJP) at 91����Ƶ.

Our students have the opportunity to learn��in an interdisciplinary, faith- and values-based program that offers courses in restorative justice,��psychosocial trauma, organizational leadership, strategic peacebuilding and international and community development. Students will join a network of more than 400 alumni from 60 countries around the world.

“From local communities and churches to state and UN assignments, CJP graduates are forming an important network of alumni that are making a difference,” said Lynn Roth, director of CJP.

You are invited to join this diverse worldwide community of learners who are practicing conflict transformation on a daily basis.

Degrees and tracks

• : a 45-hour program with concentrations in restorative justice, psychosocial trauma, strategic peacebuilding, organizational leadership, and community and international development
• available in conflict transformation; nonprofit leadership and social entrepreneurship; and theology for peacebuilding
• Low-residency options available through the (SPI), which offers short-term intensive courses each May and June.

Admission

Students are admitted on the basis of their practical experience as well as academic abilities. Preference is given to applicants who have at least two years’ experience in mediation, working with traumatized individuals or communities, restorative justice initiatives, community development, disaster relief or humanitarian assistance.

Applicants must submit official transcripts, three letters of recommendation, a resume and an essay outlining what draws them to the program and how it fits into their long-term goals. Two references should come from writers who can attest to the applicant’s experience in or connection to the peacebuilding field.

Applications are processed on a rolling basis as long as space remains.

More information

For more information about the graduate program in conflict transformation, or to apply, contact Lora Steiner at 540-432-4689 or ctprogram@emu.edu.

For those wishing to visit campus, CJP will reimburse half a plane ticket, up to $200 for admitted students and $100 for prospective students.

Gbowee, the leader of a women’s movement that helped end 14 years of warfare in Liberia in 2003, earned a from the (91����Ƶ) in 2007.

“In many societies where women used to be the silent victims and objects of men’s powers, women are throwing down the walls of repressive traditions with the invincible power of non-violence,” Gbowee told listeners at the Nobel Peace award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, including in row 27.

“Women are using their broken bodies from hunger, poverty, desperation and destitution to stare down the barrel of the gun. This prize has come at a time when ordinary mothers are no longer begging for peace, but demanding peace, justice, equality and inclusion in political decision-making.”

Swartzendruber said he found Gbowee’s speech to be “inspiring and passionate.” His host in Norway, international peace scholar Peter Wallensteen of Sweden, felt similarly, calling it “powerful.” Gbowee asked for a moment of silence for women who have recently died while working for peace, including of Kenya.

Gbowee and Abdi last met when they joined 18 other women peacebuilders from nine countries in June 2011 to discuss whether 91����Ƶ should host an educational program tailored to women working for justice and peace around the world. As a Kenyan-Muslim woman of Somali ethnic origin, Abdi was known for her peace skills and interventions throughout East Africa. She was a former student and instructor at under its Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP).

“In collaboration with CJP graduates and partners, we have determined that women peacebuilders will indeed benefit from a program focused on the distinctive needs, skills and strengths of women,” said CJP executive director Lynn Roth. “We will be launching this program in our .”

Also attending the ceremony from 91����Ƶ was Joshua Mensah, a sophomore, who is Gbowee’s first-born child.

Gbowee created the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace movement, working to end the rape and other violence that erupted during the second Liberian civil war in 2003. She is sharing this year’s peace prize with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkul Karman, a Yemeni women’s rights activist.

“Everything I’ve done and continue to do is not because I expected an award. I see my work as a calling from God,” Gbowee told the Daily News-Record in October.

Gbowee, now 39, earned a master’s degree in conflict transformation from 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding in 2007.

“It’s an exciting time for 91����Ƶ and obviously for Leymah,” Swartzendruber said. “We’re proud to claim her as one of our alums. Certainly, her work on the ground as a relatively young person really mobilized both Christian and Muslim women.”

Gbowee’s son, Joshua Mensah, an 91����Ƶ sophomore, and Swartzendruber plan to attend the presentation ceremony, which is set for Saturday afternoon at Oslo City Hall.

Gbowee and Mensah were traveling Wednesday afternoon and were not immediately available for further comment, said Maria Hoover, a spokeswoman for 91����Ƶ’s peacebuilding center.

“We’re obviously very, very pleased for the recognition for Leymah,” said Lynn Roth, the center’s executive director. “I’m personally pleased that she got [the award] with two other women because that exemplifies that peacebuilding is obviously an important movement.”

Forty-three women overall have been awarded a Nobel Prize in science, medicine, literature or peace since the honors were first given in 1901, according to nobelprize.org.

Article courtesy Daily News Record, Dec. 9, 2011

Gbowee, who shares the prize with and , earned a master’s degree in conflict transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) at in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She attended CJP’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute in 2004 and participated in a round-table for Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (known as “STAR”) in 2005.

Gbowee led a nationwide women’s movement that was instrumental in halting Liberia’s second civil war in 2003.

“Leymah Gbowee mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women’s participation in elections,” noted the in making the award. “She has since worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war.”

Starting in the 1990s

Gbowee’s links to Mennonites began in 1998, when she received training in “trauma healing and reconciliation” and then worked at rehabilitating child soldiers. Perhaps unbeknownst to her, the first trainings in this subject in Liberia occurred when , a Mennonite with trauma expertise, arrived in Liberia in the early 1990s, with funding from and what is now called , both based in the United States.

Hart trained Lutheran church workers who, in turn, trained Gbowee. Hart also arranged for , who became Gbowee’s friend and mentor, to earn a graduate degree in conflict transformation at 91����Ƶ. In 1998 Doe became one of the earliest master’s degree graduates from what is now called the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, setting the stage for Gbowee to earn the same degree nine years later.

In her 2011 memoir, “,” Gbowee says she came to 91����Ƶ because it was “an American college with a well-known program in peace-building and conflict resolution. It was a Christian school that emphasized community and service.”

Responding to the Nobel announcement, 91����Ƶ President said: ��“The impact that Leymah was able to have, first in Liberia, then in West Africa, and now all over the world, shows that another, nonviolent reality is possible. This affirms the dreams and hopes of groups, educational institutions, and churches that are devoted to supporting peace work.”

“We plant what we call ‘seeds of peace’ as widely as we possibly can, usually through education in peace building theory and skills, and then trust that some of these seeds will bear fruit,” he added.

Seeds of Peace

The woman Gbowee calls her “true friend” and fellow founder of , Thelma Ekiyor, attended 91����Ƶ’s 2002 Summer Peacebuilding Institute, as did Gbowee’s first champion and employer in Liberia, Lutheran Reverend “BB” Colley, who attended the annual institute in 2000 and 2001. At Colley’s urging, Gbowee read “” by the well-known Mennonite ethicist John Howard Yoder.

Gbowee, who was named , is the central figure in a documentary co-produced by , “.” Completed in 2008, the documentary is part of a “” series to be aired over five successive Tuesdays in October 2011 on public television stations in the United States.

In her memoir, Gbowee credits with introducing her to the (WANEP), an organization that he co-founded and led after finishing his master’s degree at 91����Ƶ. (Doe received 91����Ƶ’s annual and now works for the United Nations. His daughter, Samfee, graduated from 91����Ƶ in the spring of 2011, overlapping for one year with Gbowee’s eldest son, Joshua “Nuku” Mensah, who enrolled in the fall of 2010.)

“WANEP, based in Ghana, emphasized using nonviolent strategies and encouraged women to join the effort to address problems of violence, war and human rights abuses,” wrote Gbowee.

WANEP supported the launch of , the organization through which Gbowee and her colleagues conducted the campaigns that played a key role in ending the civil war in Liberia. (This organization is the predecessor to Gbowee’s current organization, Women, Peace and Security Network Africa.) The WANEP-launched women’s network—plus , the grassroots movement led by Gbowee—laid the groundwork for the election of fellow Nobel Laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as president of Liberia, the first woman president of an African nation.

WANEP is now led byof Ghana, a 2002 graduate of CJP.

CJP Teachings Credited

Gbowee’s memoir credits two of the founding professors of CJP, and , with strongly influencing her through their writings and teachings.

“I read Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi and the Kenyan author and conflict and reconciliation expert Hizkias Assefa, who believed that reconciliation between victim and perpetrator was the only way to really resolve conflict, especially civil conflict, in the modern world. Otherwise, Assefa wrote, both remained bound together forever, one waiting for apology or revenge, the other fearing retribution.”

As Gbowee began to attend international meetings pertaining to peace and feeling the need to “speak with more knowledge and authority,” she says, “I began amassing books on conflict resolution theory: ‘’ and ‘,’ both by .”

In May 2004, the summer after the Liberian peace accords were signed, Gbowee came to 91����Ƶ to attend classes at its annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute. “Those four weeks were another transformative time for me,” she says in her book, noting that she studied with Assefa at the institute and with, “who taught me the concept of ‘restorative justice.’”

“Restorative justice was… something we could see as ours and not artificially imposed by Westerners. And we needed it, needed that return to tradition. A culture of impunity flourished throughout Africa. People, officials, governments did evil but were never held accountable. More than we needed to punish them, we needed to undo the damage they had done.”

Women in Peacebuilding at 91����Ƶ

In June 2011 at 91����Ƶ, Gbowee participated in a by-invitation conference on the needs of women peacebuilders around the world. Participants included filmmaker Abigail Disney of the United States, of Fiji, of Afghanistan, and , a Kenyan-Muslim woman of Somali ethnic origin who received the 2007 Right Livelihood Prize. (Abdi died in a car accident after returning to Kenya in July 2011.)

“As a direct result of this conference, we will be launching a women and peacebuilding program at our ,” says , executive director of CJP.

The announcement from 91����Ƶ on the Nobel Peace Prize award can be found at .

Goldberg and Helbert are veteran employees of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, under which SPI operates. Goldberg has been employed in various capacities by CJP since 1999, Helbert moved into an administrative role with SPI in 2005 after working in other staff positions at 91����Ƶ for five years.

These co-directors are replacing Sue Williams, who is retiring from a staff role to return to consulting internationally, after directing SPI for the last three years.

Upon appointing the two new leaders, CJP executive director Lynn Roth said: “Their combination of skills and experience will ensure that SPI will not skip a beat in being one of the premier Summer Peacebuilding programs in the world. Their creativity and network connections should help SPI and CJP continue to develop new and innovative training initiatives.”

Since the institute’s 1994 founding, over 2,500 international workers in humanitarian, conflict transformation and other peacebuilding endeavors have taken part. During four week-long sessions – this year, until June 18 – they investigate many aspects of peace and conflict while forming cross-cultural friendships and working partnerships.

Halbert and Goldberg will lead the SPI program for the 2011-12 academic year, a time of review for SPI as the program has grown and 91����Ƶ looks towards its long term future.

Lynn Roth, executive director of 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, expresses gratitude for the spacious new CJP classroom and the significant contribution it is already making to the program. (Photo by Jim Bishop)

Amazing what acquiring some additional space can do to energize the learning process.

91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) dedicated a state-of-the-art 1,274 square foot classroom carved out of space on ground floor of Hartzler Library in ceremonies held Tuesday afternoon, May 25.

The JAMAR classroom with adjoining kitchenette facilities was completed in time for the start of the 15th annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI), which began May 10.

What’s in a name?

The new JAMAR classroom name comes from the first letters of the first names of the primary donors and long-time CJP supporters James and Marian Payne of Richmond, Va. The Paynes, both 1958 91����Ƶ alumni, are retired educators and church workers.

The couple were founding donors of the CJP program that began in 1994-95 and contributed $100,000 towards the new classroom construction.

, CJP executive director.

“It is hard to imagine the transformation that has taken place in the corner of the library that previously had no windows and was divided into several smaller rooms and hallway,” said Lynn Roth, CJP executive director.

“Already this room has hosted students from throughout the world during the first two SPI sessions for peacebuilding education. This is only the beginning of hundreds who will be transformed through their educational experience in this room,” he added.

Paynes leaders among donors

Roth went on to express appreciation for the leadership that the Payne family has provided through contributions and support over the years.

“Your generous gifts for facilities, scholarships, program innovation and capacity building have been core to the tremendous growth that has made our program one of the premier peacebuilding programs in the world,” he told the Paynes, who were present for the dedication along with four of their five adult children.

Paynes’ dream of creating peace

Long-time CJP benefactors James and Marian Payne check out the new JAMAR classroom made possible by their support. (Photo by Jim Bishop)

In a response, Marian Payne said that she and James “have been blessed by our involvement in the CJP program and in the realization of our long-standing dream towards creating peace.

“My dream and vision of EMC, now 91����Ƶ, as a lighthouse on the hill for the world in its work for peace and justice is being fulfilled beyond what could have been originally dreamed. This day reveals its fruit,” Mrs. Payne added.

91����Ƶ President Loren Swartzendruber unveiled a recognition plaque in honor of the Payne family and led a responsive reading and dedication prayer.

Classroom well-equipped for instruction

Those at the dedication toured the new classroom and received a brief demonstration of the Smartboard and other technology that will allow new methods of teaching and student interaction.

Ryan Beuthin, a master’s student in the CJP program, demonstrates the broad instructional capabilities of the Smartboard to persons gathered in the new classroom. (Photo by Jim Bishop)

91����Ƶ CJP

91����Ƶ’s Conflict Transformation Program has seen more than 330 students finish its graduate program and 2,200 attend classes at its Summer Peacebuilding Institute.

Alumni from these programs work in significant peacebuilding roles in over 120 countries.Their successes have caused 91����Ƶ to be known as one of the top peace universities in the world.

Read Peacebuilder, CJP’s alumni magazine.

Rev. Tutu receives a quilted wall hanging from 91����Ƶ President Loren Swartzendruber that was created by sisters Brownie(l.) and Gladys Driver (r.) of Harrisonburg. Photos by Jim Bishop

At a mid-morning tree-planting ceremony at James Madison University, 91����Ƶ President Loren Swartzendruber thanked JMU’s Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence for including 91����Ƶ in welcoming Tutu, who is renowned for championing human rights and global peacemaking.

In brief remarks to Tutu and some 75 others present for the ceremony, Dr. Swartzendruber praised Tutu’s commitment to the cause of peace and reconciliation. “91����Ƶ, in the Christian peace church tradition, is also committed to this cause, believing that Jesus taught us to love our enemies and to find peaceful solutions to conflict,” said Swartzendruber.

The Gandhi Center was established in 2005 under JMU Professor Sushil Mittal “to promote a culture of nonviolence and peace worldwide based on universal values of justice, equality, freedom,” according to the center’s web site ().

The Gandhi Center selected Tutu to be the first recipient of its annual Mahatma Gandhi Global Nonviolence Award and chose to present the award on the International Day of Peace, Sept. 21.

‘Message of Peace and Non-Violence’

“We are proud to join with the Gandhi Center in promoting a message of peace and non-violence,” said Swartzendruber. “Thirteen years ago, 91����Ƶ established what is now known as the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding with an annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute. From three students in two countries – the U.S. and Burma in 1994-95 – our Center has grown to have more than 3,000 alumni living and working for peace in more than 103 countries, including 10 peacebuilder graduates in South Africa.”

Loren Swartzendruber presents Rev. Desmond Tutu with a CD-ROM of greetings from 91����Ƶ students who are studying in South Africa the fall semester.

Swartzendruber presented Archbishop Tutu with a CD of recorded greetings from 24 91����Ƶ students and two faculty members who are spending the fall semester in a cross-cultural seminar in South Africa. He also gave the archbishop copies of “Peacebuilder,” the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding’s semi-annual magazine, and books from the “Little Books on Justice and Peacebuilding” series.

“As a symbol of Mennonite’s strong belief in community,” Swartzendruber presented Tutu with a quilted wall hanging made by sisters Brownie and Gladys Driver, residents of the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community and members of Weavers Mennonite Church.

The Archbishop told sisters Brownie and Gladys Driver, “I’ll hang [the piece] in my office so I can look at it and think of you when I am working.”

The tree planting celebrated the establishment of the Gandhi Center. The Anglican archbishop congratulated JMU on “establishing a center that seems a vibrant, lively institution” dedicated to the promotion of peacemaking and nonviolence.

Tutu Speaks on ‘Power of Goodness’

The evening of Sept. 21, Rev. Tutu spoke on “The Power of Goodness” at JMU’s Convocation Center with thousands of people attending, including many students, faculty and staff from 91����Ƶ.

Tutu’s remarks displayed his warmth, humility and disarming sense of humor, as this anecdote shows. While attending a ceremony for a 400-year-old school that was named in his honor in England, “a student came up afterwards and asked me if I was there when the school began.” Tutu chuckled at the recollection, then added this punchline: “A few years later, they changed the name.”

“I hold young people in the highest regard,” Tutu declared. “Many of them have an incredible passion for making this a more caring and sharing world through a most wonderful collaboration with God.”

91����Ƶ Well-Represented

Swartzendruber with his wife, Pat, sat at Tutu’s table at the banquet that preceded the convocation program. Present at other tables were executive director Lynn Roth and professor Lisa Schirch of 91����Ƶ’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, among other 91����Ƶ officials.

The Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir, associated with 91����Ƶ’s music department, treated the thousands in the crowd to a South African medley, “Freedom is Coming/Siyahamba” and “Abide With Me,” arranged by Celah Pence, an 91����Ƶ alumna.

Dr. Myron S. Augsburger, 91����Ƶ president emeritus and member of the board of trustees of the Gandhi Center, and alumnus Ron Yoder offered a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing on Archbishop Tutu at the close of the award ceremony. Yoder, the chief executive officer of Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, is also a member of the Gandhi board of trustees.

Lynn Roth, executive director of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

Roth has been East Coast executive director of Mennonite Central Committee, an international relief and service agency headquartered in Akron, Pa., since 1989. In this capacity, he directs approximately 35 staff and service workers throughout the eastern U.S., administers a $1.6 million budget and program and coordinates a program and staff who receive over $9 million in annual contributions.

During a leave of absence in 2005, he developed a response program in cooperation with Mennonite Disaster Service for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in the Gulf Coast region. Before his current MCC assignment, he was co-country representative for Mennonite Ministries in Gaborone, Botswana, 1985-89.

In his new position, Roth will give overall leadership to CJP and its three divisions – the masters program,the and the . He will provide leadership to internal administration, financial oversight and coordination, work within the university and its wider constituencies and assist with marketing and fundraising as part of the ongoing development and implementation of CJP’s vision.

For the past four years, the CJP program was co-directed by Ruth H. Zimmerman and Howard Zehr. Zimmerman and her husband, Earl Zimmerman, are leaving to become MCC country directors in India. Dr. Zehr, who asked to be relieved of his administrative duties, will continue to teach in the program as professor of restorative justice.

Roth earned a BA degree in political science from Fresno Pacific University, Fresno, Calif., and a masters in social work from Fresno State University.

He is married to Kathleen Roth and has four children – Rachel, Zachary, Adam and Sarah.

“Lynn’s skills and experiences complement very well those of CJP’s faculty and staff, and we believe that he will lead CJP to the next stage of excellence,” said Janice M. Jenner, director of The Practice Institute.

“I feel honored and blessed to be able to serve in this new role,” Roth said. “The CJP program at 91����Ƶ has been a leader in the conflict transformation and peacebuilding field, and I look forward to carrying on that tradition and building upon it for the good of the church and society.”

The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, founded in 1992, seeks to further the personal and professional development of individuals as peacebuilders and to strengthen the peacebuilding capacities of the institutions they serve. The program supports conflict transformation and peacebuilding efforts at all levels of society in situations of complex, protracted, violent or potentially violent social conflict in the United States and abroad. Open to people from all parts of the world and all religious traditions, CJP builds upon 91����Ƶ’s Christian/Anabaptist faith commitments and strengths.