International Conference on Conflict Resolution Education (CRE) "Developing and Implementing Culturally Inclusive Conflict Resolution Education Policies and Practices in K-12 and H.E." June 11 – 16, 2014 Fairfax, Virginia, USA

Workshop Presenter Bios Friday, June 13th and Saturday, 14th, 2014

Please note - All presenters wrote and submitted their own bios. The Conference planning committee are not responsible for the summaries listed below.

Dr. Lauren Abramson is a psychologist who has worked in urban communities for the past 30 years. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Community Conferencing Center (www.communityconferencing.org) in Baltimore, MD and is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. Lauren brought Community Conferencing to Baltimore in 1995, and advances conferencing as a means of building social justice on many levels, including 1) empowering individuals and communities to resolve their own conflicts, 2) providing a meaningful alternative to the criminal justice system and racialized mass incarceration, and 3) mobilizing the existing untapped human assets in communities. Dr. Abramson has published articles on the conferencing process.

Dr. Mohammed Abu-Nimer is the President and Founder of the Salam Institute for Peace and Justice, a DC-based international non-profit organization that engages religious actors and institutions in peacebuilding and development. He is also a professor in the American University's International Peace and Conflict Resolution program and serves as Director of its Peacebuilding and Development Institute. He has conducted interreligious conflict resolution training and interfaith dialogue workshops in conflict areas around the world, including Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Northern Ireland, the Philippines (Mindanao), and Sri Lanka. In addition to his articles and publications, Dr. Abu-Nimer is the co-founder and co-editor of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development.

Dr. Ali Askerov is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. He has been teaching in the areas of peace studies, international relations, political history, public international law, and political ideas. He received his Ph.D. from the A. V. Mauro Centre for Peace and Justice, the University of Manitoba. His publications include numerous articles on peace education, ethnic conflicts, international politics, as well as a book: Chechens from Past to Future. His research fields include ethnic conflict, peace education, theories of conflict resolution, qualitative research methods, and the history of political ideas.

Dr. Katrien Beeckman has been the Head of the Principles and Values department of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), in charge of guiding the membership on the promotion of a culture of non-violence and peace, since 2008. Dr. Beeckman is the founder of the IFRC’s flagship initiative, Youth as Agents of Behavioural Change (YABC). Prior to joining IFRC, Dr. Beeckman worked on education, human values and human rights within academia and with the UN (UNESCO, UNOHCHR, Committee on the Rights of the Child) and NGOs in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. She has a Ph.D. from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva where she focused on “The Child’s Right to Basic Education in Africa” (2002). She is a mother of 3, Amélie (12), Anaïs (8), and Eliam (2).

Buddhadeb Biswas is a researcher with more than 7 years experience in social science and participatory and action research within non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including research project design and reporting. He completed his BSS and MSS degrees in Sociology from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Mr. Biswas started his career with the WBB Trust in 2005 where he conducted research on “The Economic Contribution of Women in Bangladesh through their Unpaid Labor.” This study was then replicated by three organizations in Nepal, India, and Vietnam. In 2007, he joined SAMATA, a land rights organization, to conduct a research study on marginalized, landless peoples. Later in 2007, Mr. Biswas began working with Caritas Development Institute (CDI) as Senior Research Fellow. At CDI, he was involved in a dozen research studies, including “Village Voices: Role of Traditional Institutions in Resolving Conflict in Rural Bangladesh.” In July 2012, he immigrated to the U.S. and is currently working as a freelance researcher in New York.

Marsha S. Blakeway, MSCM, is a Conflict Resolution in Education specialist providing consulting, training, and facilitation for K-12 school-based peer mediation and other conflict resolution and related programming. She is an Adjunct Instructor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR) at George Mason University, as well as in the Educating for Change M.Ed. Program at Trinity Washington University in Washington, DC. She has been the co-coordinator of the peer mediation program at Alice Deal Middle School in Washington, DC since 1996. She served as Chair of the Association for Conflict Resolution Education Section from 2004-2007 and served on the committee to revise the Recommended Standards for School- Based Mediation Programs in 2007. She was the recipient of the William Kreidler Award from the Association for Conflict Resolution in 2007 and the Peacemaker Award from the National Peace Foundation in 2003.

Marge Bleiweis retired in 2008 as the Conflict Resolution Specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). There she developed peer mediation programs and worked to promote restorative justice in the school system. Her experiences include training staff, mediating disputes, facilitating RJ conferences, and developing school-based CRE programs. During her time with Fairfax County, she also worked as a school counselor and peer mediation coordinator. Ms. Bleiweis helped develop and run the FCPS Student Mediation Conference. Currently, she works as a mediator, mediating family, court, and community disputes. Since 1990, she has been mediating with the Northern Virginia Mediation Service (NVMS) where she is currently a mentor mediator. In Virginia, she is a court-certified mediator in General District Court, Circuit Court-Family, and J & DR court. She also is a restorative justice facilitator and a member of the NVMS RJ task force leadership team. Working with the NVMS Restorative Justice task force, she facilitates RJ conferences for Fairfax County Schools and serves on the Board of Directors of NVMS and the Fairfax Partnership for Youth. She is an Adjunct Professor at Trinity (Washington) University and a member of the Virginia Mediation Network and the Association for Conflict Resolution.

Marc Brenman teaches civil rights history, human rights, public policy development, and advocacy at Evergreen College. Has spoken at many conferences and is the co-author of The Right to Transportation and Planning as if People Matter: Governing for Social Equity with Tom Sanchez. He was the Executive Director for the Washington Human Rights Commission from 2004- 2009 and a Senior Policy Advisor for Civil Rights with the Dept. of Transportation from 1995-2004. He has served with the Office for Civil Rights as an investigator to the Division Director, was a Committee Member with the Health Equity and Civil Rights Project, The City Project, a Regional Advisor with the School of the South and Co-Chair of the Diversity Standards Task Force, Society for Human Resources Management. More recently, he has worked on issues related to race, limited English proficiency, disability, sex discrimination, LGBT rights, culturally appropriate ADR, corporate social responsibility, international human rights, and other social justice issues.

Martha A. Brown is pursuing a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from Florida Atlantic University. She has published and presented her research in the fields of correctional education, restorative justice, and the school-to-prison pipeline, and advocates for the inclusion of restorative justice in teacher education. Ms. Brown's dissertation research agenda focuses on determining if restorative approaches in schools decrease disproportionate minority contact, improve student achievement, and create positive school climates that meet the social-emotional needs of all students. She is a member of the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice (NACRJ), the National Association of Multicultural Educators, the Correctional Educators Association, and the International Community Corrections Association. Additionally, Ms. Brown has been an active volunteer with Kairos Prison Ministries International since 2005.

Dr. Iryna Brunova-Kalisetska, is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the Tavrida National V. Vernadksy University. For 10 years, she has been working with peace education programs in the regions with identity-based conflicts as a trainer, educator for teachers, and evaluator of Peace Education programs in Ukraine, Kyrgystan, Moldova, etc. Dr. Brunova-Kalisetska has served as a coordinator of educational projects, researcher, trainer, and developer of curricula related to peace and multicultural education. She was a co-author of the educational course, “Culture of Neighbourhood,” and of seminars and trainings for teachers and educators (http://ciet.org.ua/eng/_jointprojcts/culture/index.htm). Since 2008, she has been a coordinator of Peace Education projects of the Eastern-European branch of the International Network of CSOs “Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflicts” and as such, a member of the Global Working Group on Peace Education. She has been involved in the promotion and elaboration of similar educational changes in other regions of Ukraine, as well in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova-Transnistria, Montenegro, and the Udmurt Republic of Russian Federation. Since 2011, she has been a coordinator of the multilingual education project in Crimea.

Kyra Buchko is a conflict resolution expert with 20 years of experience in the international legal reform arena. From 2008-2012, she was based in Dhaka, Bangladesh where she served as Senior Advisor to the country's National Human Rights Commission, counseling on organizational development and training commissioners on conciliation and mediation. She was a Lead Researcher with Caritas Bangladesh on a groundbreaking study in 2011-2012 of traditional dispute resolution practices in villages around the country. At the Asian University for Women, the first women's liberal arts college in South Asia, Ms. Buchko provided training in conflict resolution skills and peacebuilding. She also served on the Advisory Council of ACR's International Section from 2005-11. From 2006-08, Ms. Buchko worked in the Republic of Moldova to introduce conflict management practices to NGOs and universities, helping to establish the country's first community mediation center and national mediators' association. From 1999-2006, Ms. Buchko provided training, business development, and project management services to local and international organizations in emerging democracies around the world. She began her international development career at the American Bar Association, where she directed rule of law reform programs in the former Soviet Union from 1992-99.

Gail Burnaford is a Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Culture and Educational Inquiry in the College of Education at Florida Atlantic University. She teaches masters and doctoral courses in the college in research, program evaluation and pedagogy. She also teaches community and faith-based courses on peace education with emphasis on Palestine/Israel. Her work includes program evaluation on arts integration initiatives with youth in urban schools as well as participatory action research. She has just completed a month-long visit to Palestine/Israel focused on education, curriculum and the plight of children under occupation with visits and interviews in Ramallah, Bethlehem, Hebron, and Sderot, as well as a number of West Bank villages and East Jerusalem.

Tami Carsillo is the Information and Communications Services Specialist for the Virginia House Delegates. Her responsibilities include public information and civics education programming for the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia. She is a supervisor for the House of Delegates Page Program, Capitol Semester College intern program, and she created Project CAPITAL, a Pre-Service Teacher Institute now in its 6th year. She is a graduate of West Virginia Wesleyan College, Montclair State University, and she received a Master’s of Teaching from Virginia Commonwealth University and is a licensed Secondary Social Studies educator. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Education at George Mason University, specializing in International Education with an emphasis in Education Policy and Conflict Analysis and Resolution. Her research interests include integrating education and civics and history curriculum with social and economic infrastructure development in conflict-affected areas.

Bill Casey has been mediating disputes for the past twelve years, primarily with the Federal Sharing Neutrals program in the Federal Government. He is certified by the Virginia Supreme Court for mediations at the General District Court level. For the last eight years, Bill has worked as a Restorative Justice (RJ) practitioner in Northern Virginia. In the mid-2000s, he served as a volunteer facilitator in the Prince William County Restorative Justice Program. He currently co- chairs the RJ program at the Northern Virginia Mediation Service, which provides RJ services to the public schools, the police department, and the juvenile and court in Fairfax County, Virginia. Bill is a member of the Virginia Mediation Network and the Restorative Justice Association of Virginia. Bill worked for 34 years as a Federal Government executive over a variety of employment programs. He holds a B.A. from Villanova University and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California.

Sergeant Castillo serves as the Community Policing/Support Services Sergeant for the City of Oregon Police Department. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Lourdes University. Sergeant Castillo possesses 24 years of law enforcement experience. He is a training Sergeant, SWAT Team Commander and Firearms Instructor in the state of Ohio. He is also a certified ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) trainer and ALICE/RAIDER trainer. Sergeant Castillo also serves as a coordinator for the Preventing Bullying = Creating Safety Initiative, which is a partnership between the Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio and WGTE-TV. Sergeant Castillo lends his expertise to the Department of Justice’s efforts toward preventing and responding to emerging and chronic crime problems.

Lena Choudhary is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at Anne Arundel Community College. Her interests include global education, humanitarian perspectives in nursing, and lateral violence in the workplace. She is the recipient of a U.S. Institute of Peace Public Education for Peacebuilding Support Award. Her project focused on incorporating international and humanitarian perspectives into community college nursing experiences. Choudhary works with the Consortium for Humanitarian Service and Education in providing undergraduate and graduate humanitarian learning opportunities and has published on this experience for nursing students. She has a B.A. from Loyola University Maryland, a B.S. from Stevenson University, an M.S. from the University of Maryland, and a J.D. from the University of Maryland. She is an R.N. licensed in Maryland and Washington, DC and has worked in a number of public and community health settings.

Coriana Close is Assistant Professor and Photography Area Coordinator at The University of Memphis. She has a B.A. in Cinema Studies with Honors in Studio Art from Oberlin College, and an M.F.A. in Photography from The University of Arizona and has exhibited and lectured in universities and galleries across the United States. Close’s art practice explores historical landscapes, cultures of violence, and environmental destruction. She creates both digital photographs and new media works which she calls “video weaving.” These videos showcase contemporary American culture using hallucinatory abstractions woven from found footage. The photographic works originate from archival research and draw on a fine art documentary tradition. The work is often shown in a series or an installation.

Carole Close is the retired director of one of the oldest and few district-wide conflict resolution education programs in the country, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s (CMSD) Winning Against Violent Environments Conflict Resolution Program (W.A.V.E.). The award winning, internationally recognized W.A.V.E. Program has been featured in Instructor Magazine, The American School Board Journal, Ohio State University’s Theory Into Practice Journal, The New York Times, New Moon Magazine, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Washington Post and Baldwin’s Ohio Law Journal. Carole is an internationally known social studies teacher who provides conflict resolution training and program implementation, and diversity and social justice workshops. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the National Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution’s Margaret Herrman Founders Award and The Liberty Bell Award from the Cleveland and Cuyahoga Bar Associations for her work in mediation. Carole is a member of The Global Issues Resource Center Advisory Committee. She currently volunteers with W.A.V.E. and is an independent CRE, SEL, diversity and peer mediation consultant.

Sylvia Clute is the Program Coordinator for the Alliance for Unitive Justice and a former trial attorney and leader in legal reform. For over two years, she has helped create and implement an alternative justice program at a Richmond, Virginia high school that incorporates unitive justice principles. Presently she writes and lectures on unitive justice as a parallel model of justice. She holds graduate degrees from Harvard Kennedy School of Government (M.P.A.), Boston University School of Law (J.D.) and the University of California at Berkeley (M.P.A.). She is the author of Beyond Vengeance, Beyond Duality: A Call for a Compassionate Revolution and the novel, Destiny Unveiled. A former Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal, she was co-founder and Chair of the Board of Women’s Bank and has been a citizen activist throughout her career.

Jane Connor is a certified trainer in Nonviolent Communication and has been sharing this work and a variety of other processes in the field of Restorative Practices for over 10 years. She is currently Coordinator of Restorative Practices at High Point High School, Prince George’s County, Maryland. Previously, she taught Psychology and Human Development at the State University of New York at Binghamton for over 20 years. Her specialty there included Multicultural Psychology and Compassionate Communication. She is co-author of the textbook Connecting across Differences: A Guide to Compassionate, Nonviolent Communication which has been used in a number of colleges and universities and is now also available in German. She is co-author of several dozen articles in academic journals and has most recently led workshops on the theme of Restorative Practices and Dropout Prevention at the International Association for Truancy and Dropout Prevention. Her biggest passion now is sharing conflict resolution and conflict prevention skills with youths and adults to bring greater understanding, peace and caring to families, communities and institutions.

David Deal is a lawyer and a trained, certified, and practicing mediator. As co-coordinator of the NVMS Restorative Justice Program, Mr. Deal is also a trained and practicing restorative justice facilitator, trainer and mentor. Mr. Deal has written several “lessons learned”-type restorative justice papers and made presentations before myriad audiences including, the International Institute of Restorative Practices, the Association for Conflict Resolution, the American Ethical Union, the U.S. Department of Education, and the National Conference on Restorative Justice. Mr. Deal serves on several mediation panels in the Washington, DC area and the Virginia Mediation Network Board, chairing its Standards of Practice Committee.

Naté Dearden has a B.S. in Family & Human Development from Utah State University and a J.D. from Brigham Young University. Prior to moving to Washington, DC, Dearden provided in- home counseling services to families in crisis in Salt Lake City, UT and completed an Equal Justice Works Internship with Equip for Equality’s Special Education Law Clinic in Chicago, Illinois. Currently, Dearden is a Secondary Transition Specialist within the Division of Specialized Education at the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) where she provides training and technical assistance around areas such as inclusion, the IEP process, and secondary transition.

Einav Dinur, originally from Israel, began her involvement in CISV twenty years ago as an 11- year-old attending an international peace education camp in Norway. Since then, she has participated in 9 international programs, mentoring over 200 youths in programs held in Israel, Germany, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Spain. Dinur has also held various organizational roles, both nationally and internationally – all roles done in a volunteer capacity. Today, her focus in the organization is on her passion – leadership training. Having a genuine interest in conflict management and feeling like CISV lacked specific training content on the topic, she developed and wrote a booklet called Confronting Conflict in 2010 during a 6-month internship with CISV branch in Sweden. The booklet includes various frameworks for constructive conflict management. Since 2010, Dinur has conducted training on this topic in various forums, both nationally and internationally in the USA, Brazil, France, Sweden and Germany. Outside of CISV, she currently lives in Chicago and works as a strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) – a global leader in management consulting. She has an MBA from the University of Chicago and a law degree from Tel Aviv University.

Shaden Dowiatt is currently the Program Coordinator for the Extended Learning Day Program at the Latin American Montessori Bilingual Public Charter School in Washington, DC. She is a graduate of American University’s School of International Peace and Conflict Resolution program where she focused on children and youth in conflict. During graduate school, Dowiatt spent a summer working for Wi’am, a conflict resolution organization in Bethlehem, Palestine. Between 2008- 2013, she gained valuable experience writing and implementing civic engagement and service-learning curriculum for Kid Power Inc., a youth-development organization located in Washington, DC. Prior to graduate school, Dowiatt spent considerable time at community-based organizations in the Gulf Coast post Hurricane Katrina through the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps Program. She has also promoted cross-cultural understanding and reconciliation among youth through work with Seeds of Peace and State Department sponsored Youth Exchange and Study Program. She received her bachelor’s of art degree from Butler University with a major in international studies and Spanish. Dowiatt speaks Arabic and Spanish.

Sarah Ellison is the Peace Corps Fellow leading the international service learning program at Latin American Montessori Bilingual Public Charter School (LAMB PCS). Sarah is currently in the Master’s of International Development program at American University’s School of International Service, where she received the Peace Corps Fellowship and is expected to graduate in May 2014. She is also the graduate grant-making intern at The Global Fund for Children and volunteers in leadership groups on campus. Prior to enrolling at American University, she served in the Peace Corps in Benin, West Africa from 2008-2011. She has received multiple awards for her research and academic work including the Graduate Student Research Grant, the Tinker-Walker Fellowship, and the American Evaluation Association student travel award. In March of 2013, Ellison presented at the Comparative International Education Society (CIES) conference on teacher-training in Namibia and is currently applying to present at CIES 2014 on gender equity in schools in South Africa. During the summer of 2013, Ellison interned in the office of the Global Campaign for Education in Johannesburg while conducting research in the townships. She received her bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2008 and is fluent in French.

Ariel Elihu Escobar Enriquez graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts with a specialization in Photography from the University of Guadalajara and is currently pursuing a 6th semester of studies in Anthropology at the same university. Elihú Escobar has been participating in activities to promote a culture of peace. He recently attended various workshops and university courses such as: “Escuela Metodológica Nacional” at the Instituto Mexicano para el Desarrollo Comunitario A.C, “Escuela de Paz jTatic Samuel” at Servicios y Asesoría para la Paz and “Peace and Conflict Resolution” at Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara; also attended to the meeting of graduates of Escuela de Paz jTatic Samuel. Since 2010 he has been an active member at “Colectivo de la Escuela de Paz Regional Jalisco-Michoacán” where he is working as a coordinator and facilitator.

Dr. Katherine Evans is an Assistant Professor of Special Education at Eastern Mennonite University where she teaches courses on learning theory and special education to pre-service teachers. Her research focuses on the intersections of race, disability, and school and classroom discipline, with a particular emphasis on restorative justice and peacebuilding in schools. She is a member of several restorative justice organizations, including the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice (NACRJ) and Virginia Educators for Restorative Justice, and is actively involved in advancing restorative justice in educational contexts both through scholarship and practice.

Dr. Paul C. Forage received his Ph.D. from the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Toronto. At Indian River State College, he oversees degree programs in emergency management and homeland security and has developed full-scale training exercises in Florida, Macedonia, and Haiti. His interests include emergency management practice, complex emergencies, and peace and stability operations.

Marvin Foster has been a mediator since the ninth grade and has been working in the field of conflict resolution for seventeen years. He has been a mediation training coordinator for sixteen years. Foster has attended and presented at numerous local, state and national conferences on behalf of The W.A.V.E. Program. He is currently a mediation training coordinator for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District in K-8 schools and specializes in training in high schools.

Valerie Glass is a graduate student in the Peace and Conflict Studies Department at the University of North Carolina – Greensboro. Her studies focus on conflict resolution and restorative justice in K-12 education with the goal of equipping teachers and administrators to effectively utilize restorative practices within their school community. When she is not studying, her three young sons provide ample opportunities for her to practice her conflict resolution skills.

Dr. Meridith Gould has 15 years of experience in conflict resolution, violence prevention, peace education, and girls education & development. She has a Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution with a focus on vulnerable and underserved youth. Dr. Gould serves as a national consultant for the National Girls Institute, The Bullying Academy and the Ben Marion Institute for Social Justice. Additionally, Dr. Gould’s Empower ME adolescent girls and The Peacemaker violence prevention curricula are implemented in schools, alternative education settings and after-school programs in Kenya and the United States. She recently completed a publication with the World Bank’s Education Resilience program, Learning and Resilience: The Crucial Role of Social and Emotional Well –Being in Contexts of Adversity. Dr. Gould is currently the Social Emotional Learning Technical Advisor for IRC and is the education team’s lead for Healing Classrooms and social and emotional well-being & learning, providing program design, curriculum development, and evaluation support to programs in Liberia, Cote D’Ivoire, Mali, CAR, Ethiopia, Kenya, Syria, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Sarah Grime has served as Conflict Resolution Specialist & Program Manager for SchoolTalk, a non-profit focused on special education dispute resolution in Washington, DC since 2011. Ms. Grime manages several initiatives and projects focused on increasing collaboration to ensure the successful transition of youth with disabilities from school into post-secondary education, employment, and independent living. She has recently been involved in implementing a Student-led Individualized Education Program (IEP) process in Washington, DC and has been focused on increasing youth leadership in the district. Grime received her Master of Arts in International Policy Studies, specializing in Human Rights and Conflict Resolution, from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in 2010 and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish and International Affairs from Skidmore College in 2008. She most recently worked for the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour with the technical specialist on child labour in armed conflict zones in Geneva, Switzerland. While working with IPEC, she helped develop a module of interactive art, education, and media activities aimed at teaching children about conflict resolution and the dangers of recruitment by armed forces and groups.

Barbara Sugarman Grochal is a Certified Professional Co-active Coach who brings a diverse background in education, facilitation and coaching to her work in ADR. As Director of the Schools Conflict Resolution Education Programs at the Center for Dispute Resolution, University of Maryland King Carey School of Law, she directs a statewide grant program funded by the Maryland Judiciary’s Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office in partnership with the Maryland State Department of Education. Her work assists Maryland schools in the development of conflict resolution programs for students, educators, and parents. A skilled mediator and trainer, she also assists in providing mediation training to federal, state and private organizations. Ms. Grochal has varied experience facilitating circles, conferences and dialogues. She facilitates community conferences involving juveniles through the Conflict Resolution Center of Baltimore County as well as a range of topics in organizations designed to resolve conflicts among collaborating partners. A volunteer, Ms. Grochal facilitates motivational circles with several Baltimore women’s homeless shelters. A licensed trainer with the International Institute of Restorative Practices, Ms. Grochal provides training to educators in restorative practices and the use of circles. She received a B.A. and an M.A.T. from Cornell University, and an M.B.A. from Loyola College.

Dr. Vesna Hart received her Doctorate of Psychology from the Combined-Integrated Clinical and School Psychology Doctoral Program at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, USA. She is currently a Visiting Faculty at James Madison University. She has taught populations across the lifespan and developed programs in the areas of peace education, social and emotional learning, conflict resolution, and trauma awareness. Dr. Hart focuses her research and practice on social and emotional development and learning, global and international education, peacebuilding, restorative justice, resilience, and intergroup dialogue. She currently implements intergroup dialogue and coordinates assessment for this program with undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty and staff at James Madison University.

John Hathcoat is an Assistant Professor in Graduate Psychology and an Assistant Assessment Specialist in the Center for Assessment and Research Studies at James Madison University (JMU). Prior to this position, he worked as a statistical analyst at Oklahoma State University where he also completed a Ph.D. in Educational Research and Evaluation. John has taught courses pertaining to statistics/research methods, performance assessment, and measurement theory. His research interests concern validity theory, educational assessment, institutional effectiveness, and the psychology of religion. John is also actively working to enhance the assessment capacity of student affairs professionals who coordinate programs with student learning and developmental outcomes at JMU.

Dr. Sherrill W. Hayes is Associate Professor and Director of the Master of Science in Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University. Dr. Hayes is an experienced conflict engagement scholar-practitioner, with an emphasis in high conflict family disputes and the development of university-community partnerships that advance the development of high impact education practices, community based conflict resolution programs, and public education about peacebuilding.

Doug Hernandez is an Early Childhood Special Educator with extensive experience as a teacher and caregiver in K-12 and higher education contexts. He has taught young children with varying exceptionalities, directed community-based programs for the Boys & Girls Club and the United Way, as well as created service programs for adjudicated youth emphasizing the value of home culture and language. His pedagogical expertise in educating culturally and ability-diverse learners has been recognized with a Special Educators Entering a Diverse Society (SEEDS) fellowship award and a United Boys & Girls Club Pat Wargo Memorial Award. Hernandez was awarded the selective Shinnyo Fellowship for Peace Building Through Intercultural Dialogue in 2011. As a Shinnyo Fellow, he developed and implemented a community-based project to foster inter-group dialogue with the use of collaborative art and personal narratives as conduits for diversity and cultural inclusion. This ongoing, transformative project has engaged over 500 participants in intercultural conversations since its inception. He has presented results from his transformative community-based project at national conferences including the Peace and Justice Studies Association annual conference and the Association of Library Communications and Outreach Professionals (ALCOPS).

Gerard Jameson is an award-winning minister experienced in facilitating interfaith and intrafaith dialogue. Currently, he is a minister with the United Methodist Church and is working toward a Master of Divinity at Drew University and a Certificate in Ecumenical Studies at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute. He recently received the Franz Hildebrandt Prize for Academic and Ministerial Excellence. While traveling, studying, and working abroad in Turkey, Ghana, and Switzerland, he has seen firsthand the successes and challenges to collaboration between interfaith and intrafaith communities, international models of community upliftment and sustainability through education, and ecumenical theory, education, and practice. Previously, Jameson worked for over 9 years in the Higher Education field at the student, paraprofessional, and professional levels at Temple University and Virginia Commonwealth University. He has earned a Bachelors degree in Social Work and a Masters degree in Urban and Regional Planning. With his social services, community planning, residential life and housing, and ministry experience, he has employed facultative, inclusive, and transformative mediation frameworks to solve more than 145 conflicts. His interests lay in promoting environments of religious pluralism and peace. His accomplishments in both ministry and mediation in higher education has given him unique insights into the complexities of identity formation and college student success, with an emphasis on student spirituality.

Megan Johnston manages program and partnership development as Executive Director of Northern Virginia Mediation Service (NVMS), a community dispute resolution center. She is also a General District Court mediator certified by the Supreme Court of Virginia. For the last several years, Johnson has worked with a team of talented volunteers from NVMS and colleagues in local agencies to grow Restorative Justice (RJ) programs, services, and accessibility in Northern Virginia. She chairs the Fairfax County joint RJ planning committee building collaboration among county schools, police department, juvenile courts, human services and NVMS around RJ programming, referral, and tracking for youth. She is President of the Virginia Association for Community Conflict Resolution and a member of the Virginia Mediation Network and the Association for Conflict Resolution. Megan holds a B.A. from The George Washington University, a Master’s Degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland, and an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University.

Heather Kertyzia is a peace education specialist currently completing her Ph.D. at the University of Otago in New Zealand. She recently completed her field work in Nicaragua, where she worked with the educational team at a secondary school that faced multiple challenges including gang-violence, drug and alcohol addiction, a large proportion of students experiencing sexual and physical abuse in the home, and chronic under-resourcing of the educational centre. As a former secondary school teacher, Kertyzia focuses her energy on helping teachers to define and develop their own peace education practice using participatory methodologies. She facilitates workshops on gender equity, violence prevention, racism, domestic violence, non- violent communication and conflict transformation strategies. She has worked with schools and NGOs on four continents, always focusing on developing peaceful strategies for change. Kertyzia firmly believes in working in partnership, facilitating a process that allows the individuals involved to develop their own strategies relevant to their context.

Shirin Khosropour is a Professor of Psychology and coordinator of Peace & Conflict Studies (PACS) at Austin Community College. She is a cognitive psychologist with an interest in cross- cultural studies, especially as it relates to peacebuilding and education. Khosropour has worked with various national and local organizations to expand the reach of conflict and peace education in community colleges. She incorporates peace and conflict topics in all of her courses, including online courses, and has been teaching an Introduction to Psychology course with a focus on Peace & Conflict for the past 3 years. Khosropour also provides support and consultation to faculty in multiple disciplines as they work to incorporate peace and conflict studies materials in their existing courses. Khosropour has led workshops for faculty on various aspects of higher education pedagogy and best practices. Her research on violence prevention and Iranian women has been presented at national and international conferences.

Jennifer Kleskie developed and facilitated an on-line Conflict Management Course in the Civil Military School in Philippines, engaging business professionals, government officials, military officers and the non-profit sector in August of 2013. In 2012, after teaching in their first newly designed training for joint forces, she was honored with the Diplomat-Warrior Award in April 2012 symbolizing their national endeavor to mitigate violence within the country. She has served on facilitation teams in Palestine and Israel; in Sydney, Australia; London, England; Greece and in various places across the United States, applying a method of “deep democracy” within large (300-400 participant) Worldwork Seminars. She most recently presented at the 2013 Oregon Mediation Association Conference, the Filipino-American Bi-National, Chambers of Commerce Convention, the Northwest Public Employees Diversity Conference, and the Convocation on Equality. She is developing in conjunction with the AFP, Civil Military staff, a culturally specific program to acknowledge and reach the multitude of cultural and legalistic pluralisms that exist within the country. These practices are designed to bridge interventions between the civil-relations-sector, the military, and counter-insurgency movement. These practices will be discussed and seek to inform global awareness and cultural sensitivity, democracy education, civic responsibility, community development and conflict resolution best practices.

Susan Koscis has been with Search for Common Ground since 1994 and has served as Vice President of Operations; Vice President of Arts & Culture; and as Director of Communications. She has been a certified mediator in the State of Virginia courts and has served as an arbitrator for the Better Business Bureau. She has been grants panelist for the U.S. Institute of Peace and for the National Endowment for the Arts. As VP of Arts and Culture, Koscis was responsible for the development of arts-based initiatives involving visual art, drama, music, dance and film, promoting peaceful coexistence, and created the Common Ground Film Festival and Series.

Eileen Kunkler graduated with a Masters of Arts in Slavic and East European Studies and Public Policy from The Ohio State University in 2010, where she specialized in Russian politics and policy formulation and implementation. She has worked as the assistant director at the Center for Slavic and East European Studies since May 2012. As part of her work at the Center, Kunkler oversees the development of an outreach program that covers the Midwest, working with K-12 schools, community organizations, and other higher education institutions to promote knowledge on Eastern Europe and Eurasia. During her time as a graduate student and as assistant director, she has delivered many presentations including participating in a roundtable at the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies’ national conference on outreach work with K-12 schools, presentations at community colleges on language study and international careers, and outreach events with K-12 students and teachers on a variety of topics related to Eastern Europe.

Markus Lang is a student and teacher of political science at Friedrich Schiller University, Jena and Chemnitz University of Technology. His professional interest focuses on citizenship and political thought across boundaries – across different world regions and historical periods. The virus of global citizenship infected Lang for the first time in 1990, when he left his home in southern Germany for a student exchange program in the United States, and returned the following year to a different, unified Germany. His double experience of global travel and peaceful revolution made sure that the fascination with intercultural experiences, global education, and the power of citizen engagement would never leave him. He volunteered for the foreign exchange programs of Youth for Understanding, coordinated the Erasmus exchange programs at FSU Jena’s department of political science and served as Campus Coordinator for the Melton Foundation at Friedrich Schiller University. Since 2011, he applies his academic and non-profit experience to developing and implementing The Melton Foundation’s Global Citizenship Development Program. He designs and delivers experiential learning programs that engage Melton Fellows with civil society locally and internationally through online and offline activities.

Demetria Lee is an undergraduate, honors student at Virginia Tech. She majors in philosophy, English, and political science, is an editor of the student research journal, Philologia, and is currently working on a research project dealing with tolerance.

Mishy Lesser is the Learning Director for the Coexist Educational Project. Coexist is an award- winning documentary film being featured on public television stations across the country in Spring 2014. Coexist examines the complex reality of post-genocide Rwanda and asks whether government mandated reconciliation can lead to true reconciliation. Dr. Lesser authored the four- lesson Coexist Teacher's Guide that serves as a companion to the film. She travels across North America leading professional development workshops for social studies and history teachers to prepare them to use the film and guide in their classrooms. The Coexist team is completing a year-long project at East Hartford High School in Connecticut, using Coexist to work with faculty and then students to strengthen the schools' leadership culture and foster social emotional learning. Dr. Lesser earned her doctorate in Education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, was a Fulbright Scholar to Ecuador where she also received her master's degree in Development Studies, and is a survivor of the September 11th, 1973 coup d'etat that crushed the government of President Salvador Allende. She has been a human rights activist for 40 years.

Karen Lieberman is a restorative justice facilitator, trainer, and mentor. Having served in the Fairfax County Public Schools for 30 years, she last served as Restorative Justice Coordinator and Transition Specialist for Nontraditional School Programs. Her experience involves leadership in programs for students in need of short-term intervention and in schools serving students with emotional disabilities. Her experience includes teaching, facilitating counseling groups, advocacy, and planning and implementing student transitions. For Fairfax County, she has provided Behavioral Intervention and Restorative Justice training for clinical and administrative staff and is now working with schools to develop a new Restorative Behavioral Intervention Project.

Emily Linnemeier is Program Director at WJC, where she works with public schools to create conflict resolution education (CRE) programs. She has designed and implemented CRE trainings for students and educators and advised on peer mediations and referral systems. More recently, she has focused on content management for WJC’s new project, Haven, a social network for students and their advisors trained to build safe and welcoming schools. Linnemeier also provides conflict resolution training, dialogue facilitation, and technical assistance for other WJC programs. Prior to joining WJC, she was a field representative in the district office of California State Senator Debra Bowen. Previously, she worked as a Program and Editorial Assistant for the Middle East Policy Council in Washington, DC. Linnemeier has also interned with the City of Los Angeles Human Relations Commission on issues of public safety - including working on a safe-passage program for Locke High School in South Los Angeles - and with the Asian Pacific Dispute Resolution Center, where she received her mediation training as a conflict resolution specialist. She received her Masters of Science in Conflict Analysis and Resolution in May 2005 from the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.

Dr. Marc Lucht is Interim Director of the Undergraduate Research Institute, where he oversees the URI’s efforts to support student research, supervises the student editors of the undergraduate research journal Philologia, coordinates the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences’ student exchange programs with schools in Morocco and Turkey, and oversees the First Year Experience. Before his appointment as Interim Director, Dr. Lucht worked as Visiting Assistant Professor of Philosophy, and Education Coordinator at the Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, at Virginia Tech. Holding a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Philosophy from Bucknell University, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Emory University, his scholarly work focuses on moral philosophy, the philosophy of peace, phenomenology, animal rights, and the philosophy of art. He has published and delivered numerous conference papers on Martin Heidegger, Immanuel Kant, George Santayana, Hannah Arendt, Arthur Schopenhauer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Plato, and Leo Tolstoy. At Virginia Tech, he developed an innovative new undergraduate curriculum in peace studies and violence prevention. He is a member of the board of directors of the International Society for Universal Dialogue, and recently published a co- edited volume of essays dealing with non-human animals and other creatures in Kafka.

Holly Maassarani is the Associate Program Director for Key Bridge Foundation’s newest program, the Prince George’s County Community Conferencing Program. She has over seven years of experience working in the field of restorative justice. Former Director of the Youth Restorative Justice Initiative at the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County, Maassarani also oversaw the Dialogue Circle program there, which utilized peacemaking circles in the context of public schools. She is a graduate of American University’s School of International Service, with a master’s degree in International Peace and Conflict Resolution. Her graduate studies focused on reconciliation in post-conflict societies and community-based forms of justice.

Tarek Farouk Maassarani founded and continues to facilitate for the Prince George's Community Conferencing Program. Prior to this, he served as the Restorative Justice Coordinator for the Latin American Youth Center in Washington, DC, working to integrate community conferencing into local schools and the juvenile justice system. Maassarani continues to pursue these aims through the recently formed DC Alliance for Restorative Practices. He has taught graduate, undergraduate, and/or professional development courses related to the practice and theory of peacebuilding at American University, George Washington University, University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, Eastern Mennonite University, the U.S. Institute of Peace, and the National Peace Academy. Maassarani holds a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs, a J.D. from Georgetown University, as well as a B.S. in Environmental Studies and B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Dr. Gohar Markosyan has over 17 years of managerial experience in the NGO sector with significant input in Peace Education with youth, schoolchildren, and in-service and pre-service teachers in Armenia. Since 2002, Dr. Markosyan has been coordinating the “Peace and Conflict Resolution Education (P&CRE) in Armenia” project; she took part in the P&CRE course development for schoolchildren of Armenia, conducted corresponding training for pupils and teachers in 16 schools, as well as the students of Gyumri State Pedagogical Institute. Dr. Markosyan participated in a number of workshops and training courses in the area of Peace Education and Conflict Resolution. She has also conducted a number of workshops on Peace Education at such major international events as Inter-American Summit on Conflict Resolution Education (USA, 2007); International Conference on Conflict Resolution Education (USA, 2008), Eighth Annual Peace Education Conference (Canada, 2010), IPRA conference 2008, 2010 and others. Dr. Markosyan has published 25 articles. She is the co-author of the Peace and Conflict Resolution Education handbook for teachers and the Conflict Peaceful Resolution Education in Schools practical guide for teachers, as well as the author of the Evaluation report Impact of Peace and Conflict Resolution Education on Students in Several Years after the Studies. Dr. Markosyan is a member of various organizations, networks and coalitions including the International Network on Conflict Resolution and Peace Education (INCREPE), International Peace Research Association (IPRA), UNIFEM’s “Women for Peace Coalition in the Southern Caucasus ” and others.

John Marks is the Founder and President of Search for Common Ground and Common Ground Productions. He wrote and produced The Shape of the Future, a four-part TV documentary series that was simulcast on Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab satellite TV. Marks is also executive producer of Under the Same Sun, a feature film based on the premise that peace is possible between Israelis and Palestinians. He is also executive producer of The Team, a TV and radio series produced in 18 different countries, as well as numerous other TV and radio programs. He is a Skoll Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Peace in Costa Rica. He served as a US Foreign Service Officer and as Executive Assistant to the late U.S. Senator Clifford Case. A graduate of Cornell University, Marks was a Fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School. He is an award-winning author and a Senior Ashoka Fellow.

Thomas Matyók is an Associate Professor in the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at UNCG as well as its Director of Graduate Studies. He has been professionally involved in conflict resolution for over 35 years as a mediator, negotiator, facilitator, trainer, executive and conflict coach, dispute systems designer, researcher, and professor. He has consulted for private, civic, religious, and community organizations. Dr. Matyók has been interviewed for radio and television regarding international conflicts and national security issues. He has negotiated significant international agreements and has been recognized for his abilities by the United States Coast Guard and United States Army as well as national and international human rights organizations. He has presented and testified to industry and government officials regarding post-cultural conflict and slavery in the transnational merchant marine. His current research interests are violence, global citizenship, institutions of peace, and the academic preparation of international conflict workers. Dr. Matyók is co-editor of Critical Issues in Peace and Conflict Studies: Theory, Practice, Pedagogy (Lexington).

Adam Mazo is the Producer and Director of Coexist and the Project Director of the Coexist Educational Project. His work has been featured at film festivals, international conferences, universities, and schools around the world. Beginning in 2006, he spent time in Rwanda researching and shooting video around the country investigating the country’s reconciliation efforts. For the last decade he has worked as a television news journalist where his work has been seen on national broadcast networks including ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN. He was trained at the University of Florida where he earned a B.S. in television production. He came to Boston, which he now calls home, via Minnesota, Florida, and Paris.

Dr. Nina Meyerhof is president and founder of the nonprofit, Children of the Earth, and has worked as a special education director with several school systems in southern Vermont. Dr. Meyerhof has received many awards for her work, including The Mother Theresa Award, the Citizens Department of Peace Award, The International Educators Award for Peace, and The Vermont State Resolution for Peace recognition. She has worked in over 50 countries and has reached over 40,000 young people. Nina advocates for young people to go beyond cultural, ethnic, and religious differences and strives for altruistic ethics for building personal and outer peace. www.coeworld.org

Alison Milofsky is a senior program officer in the United States Institute of Peace’s Academy where she specializes in curriculum development and teacher education as well as training design, facilitation, and intergroup dialogue. Milofsky also develops curricula and workshops for the Institute’s Global Peacebuilding Center, which introduces young audiences to peacebuilding through multimedia exhibits and educational programs. Milofsky edited the Institute’s Peacebuilding Toolkits for Educators and provides workshops for educators on how to infuse peacebuilding concepts into their teaching. She has conducted programs for educators in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia, as well as workshops at conferences throughout the U.S. Milofsky teaches the Academy’s facilitation course and teaches intergroup dialogue at the University of Maryland. She regularly conducts trainings on communication and negotiation skills for U.N. peacekeepers in Africa. Before joining the Institute in 2002, Milofsky was associate director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Washington, D.C. regional office, where she designed and implemented anti-bias education programs and trained police officers on hate crimes and extremism. Earlier, she served in Peace Corps/Slovakia as a teacher trainer. Milofsky holds a bachelor’s degree from McGill University and a Doctorate in Education Policy, with a specialization in curriculum theory and development, from the University of Maryland.

Quixada Moore-Vissing is a doctoral student in education at the University of New Hampshire where she studies public dialogue, civic engagement, and democratic education. She is the author of an essay in a recently published anthology on peace and teacher education called The Living Gandhi: Lessons for Our Times. She is the co-author of several entries in the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace as well as the New Hampshire 2012 Civic Health Index. Moore-Vissing was a fellow at the Ahimsa Center for Nonviolence at Cal Poly Pomona as well as an Emerging Engagement Scholar with the Engagement Scholarship Consortium. She has previously worked as a high school American Studies teacher, coordinator of a youth peace conference at the Fellowship of Reconciliation, and as a college access counselor. She currently works for NH Listens, a civic engagement initiative of the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey Institute, where she conducts research on assessment and evaluation of public dialogue processes.

Barbara A. Nagle is currently serving as President of the Board of Directors, Creative Response to Conflict, Nyack, NY. She co-developed curriculum and is a trainer with the New Jersey State Bar Foundation and is a trainer and partner in PeaceRoots, L.L.C. As a volunteer at a Catholic High School in Newark, NJ, she is cataloguing their library. She was an Associate Professor at Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ for over 25 years, is the Author of Conflict and Resolution, published by Aspen Law & Business, and was a practicing civil attorney for over 15 years.

Ilham Nasser is the principal investigator in the Salam Institute's Forgiveness Project and an Associate Professor in Early Childhood Education at George Mason University. She has spent over twenty five years in teaching and research in different educational settings in the U.S. and the Middle East. She completed a Ph.D. in Human Development and Child Study at the University of Maryland-College Park and worked for several years as a classroom teacher. She has researched and published on the topic of teacher development, including teachers' motivation, teacher preparation and professional development, and teaching for peace with a focus on foreign language teaching and bilingual education as means to promote peace education in early childhood settings.

Professor Elavie Ndura is an international education expert with over 20 years of experience in developing, implementing, and managing intercultural education and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) programs in the United States and Burundi, Africa. She is co-author and co-editor of five books including Exploring the Power of Nonviolence: Peace, Politics, and Practice; Building Cultures of Peace: Transdisciplinary Voices of Hope and Action; 147 Tips for Teaching Peace and Reconciliation; and Seeds Bearing Fruit: Pan-African Peace Action for the 21st Century. Professor Ndura’s signature work linking multicultural education and peace education has appeared in more than 30 book chapters and journal articles as well as numerous presentations at national and international professional conferences. Professor Ndura is a Fulbright Senior Specialist for Peace Education and Conflict Analysis and Resolution. She was a 2010-2011 Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the recipient of the Peace and Justice Studies Association’s 2011 Peace Educator of the Year Award.

Sixte Vigny Nimuraba currently serves as the Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE) Grant Administrator, the Genocide Prevention Program Assistant, and an S- CAR Executive Coordinator in the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR) at George Mason University (GMU). He is also a Graduate student in S-CAR, GMU. He has extensive experience working with Burundian civil society and non-governmental organizations to promote social cohesion in general and integration of returnees in local communities in particular. During his four-year tenure with Ligue Iteka, he collaborated closely with UNHCR and other national and international organizations to foster peaceful coexistence. As Regional Coordinator within Ligue Iteka’s Monitoring of Returnees Project, he first coordinated resettlement and social cohesion activities in five Northern provinces and was then promoted to the position of Southern Regional Coordinator covering the provinces which had a significantly larger population of returnees and a remarkably larger number of land conflicts to mitigate. Vigny held different positions in local and international organizations such as VISPE, Care International, and CNLS, which inspired his passion to dedicate his life to the quest for peaceful coexistence and social cohesion in Burundi and the African Great Lakes region. Vigny holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of Ngozi (Burundi).

Joan Packer retired in 2010 as the Conflict Resolution Specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools. Prior to this, she was a teacher, counselor, and coordinated a peer mediation program. For the last seven years, Packer has worked as a Restorative Justice (RJ) practitioner in Northern Virginia. She has been a member of the Restorative Justice Leadership team with Northern Virginia Mediation Service, which provides RJ services to the public schools, the police department, and the juvenile court in Fairfax County, Virginia. She is certified by the Virginia Supreme Court for mediations at the General District Court level and is a board member for Northern Virginia Mediation Service. She is one of the facilitators for the Fairfax Partnership for Youth presenting Bullying 101 for youth service providers. She is a member of the Virginia Mediation Network and holds a B.S. in teaching and an M.Ed. in Counseling from Virginia Tech.

Marina Pages has worked in Chiapas, Mexico since 1997 with the International Service for Peace (SIPAZ), a permanent international observation program in Mexico that, since its founding in 1995, has played a role in preventing socio-political violence in Chiapas as well as in Oaxaca and Guerrero. One area of its work is Peace Education (workshops, classes and meetings dealing with Conflict Transformation, Active Non-Violence, Peace, and Human Rights). From 1998 to 2000, Pages directed the peace education program and from 2000 to 2001, she served as the assistant coordinator. Since 2002, Marina has been the coordinator of SIPAZ.

Mariafé Panizo is a graduate student of Psychology from James Madison University. As a graduate assistant, she has worked with the Center for Assessment and Research Studies, The Office of International Programs, and the Department of Engineering, in different educational research and program assessment projects.

Jerry Park is co-founder and co-director of Little Friends for Peace (LFFP) and co-author of four books: Peacemaking for Little Friends, Creating a Peace Experience, Family Peacemaking, and the new Live Peace, Teach Peace (Vive la Paz, Enseña la Paz). He holds a B.A. in philosophy and a B.S. in nursing and has done graduate work in theology, religious education, and counseling therapy. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Andra Pradesh, India and did five- year stints as a director of religious education, a social worker with teen refugees, a Quixote Center Quest for Peace project organizer, and a staff nurse in the National Rehabilitation Hospital’s locked Brain Injury Unit. He provided home nursing care to private patients with Nutrichoice Partners from 2003 to 2012 and currently does end-of-life hospice nursing. In year- round, round-the-clock LFFP programs, including Peace Clubs and summertime Peace Camps; the afterschool Peace Room in DC; workshops for parents, families, teachers, and congregations; and conference presentations across the DC area, around the country, and increasingly, internationally, Park sees to it that participants laugh a lot. He also delights in inviting children to learn healthy habits like good nutrition and enjoy sports, gardening, and other outdoor activities.

MJ Park and her husband, Jerry, have won numerous awards, including the Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace Award (Recipients from other years include Dorothy Day, Daniel Berrigan, Sr. Helen Prejean, Martin Sheen, and Dom Helder Camara.) for their work with Little Friends for Peace (LFFP). For nine years after graduating from college with a degree in education, she operated Sundance Ranch, a residential children’s camp in northern Michigan with a staff of 16. The Parks co-directed the camp in the early years of their marriage, while also working as a teacher and director of religious education respectively. When the camp closed, they channeled their passion and experience into the design of a Peace Camp they could move to any community that called them. Out of their experience with their own six children and friends and neighbors who asked for help, they developed an array of materials and techniques and co-founded Little Friends for Peace in 1981. In addition to the groups and trainings they conduct for all ages, the Parks host service learning groups and other visitors from around the U.S. and abroad, at their city and suburban sites and at the Oasis of Peace in rural Accokeek, MD.

Lawrie Parker is the Executive Director of the Piedmont Dispute Resolution Center (PDRC) in Warrenton, Virginia. Ms. Parker has been involved in mediation and restorative justice for 24 years as a certified mediator, trainer and program developer. She is the current president of the Restorative Justice Association of Virginia (RJAV). Ms. Parker is a founder of the Piedmont Dispute Resolution Center and sits on the Supreme Court of Virginia’s Dispute Resolution Advisory Council and its Mediator Complaint Panel, the Board of Directors of the Virginia Mediation Network, and the Virginia Association for Community Conflict Resolution, as well as numerous local boards. She developed her agency’s restorative justice program in 1996. She trains students in school peer mediation programs and was involved in the Fauquier Schools 2010 strategic planning which adopted restorative justice as a long range goal. In 2001, Ms. Parker received the Supreme Court of Virginia Award for Outstanding Achievement in Community Mediation. In 2010 she was named one of Virginia’s 50 Influential Women by Virginia Lawyers Media and in 2011 she received the Distinguished Mediator Award from the Virginia Mediation Network. Ms. Parker holds a B.A. from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from the University of Mary Washington.

James Peal is a retired school and college administrator in public education, private education, and government. He was an Associate Professor of Education at Cheyney University in Cheyney, Pennsylvania and taught education as an Adjunct Professor at Trinity College in Washington, DC. He oversaw the acquisition of Middle States Accreditation when he was the principal of an elementary school in Washington, DC; he developed an orderly and purposeful alternative environment for at-risk high school students when he was the executive director of a private charter school in Washington, DC; and he recruited academically talented minorities at the GS5/7 level according to the guidelines set forth in the Civil Service Reform Act of 1981, when he was the College Relations Manager for OPM. Since 2009, he has worked as the Coordinator of the Restorative Justice Program of Prince William County, Virginia. Additionally, Dr. Peal is a Certified Mediator for Small Claims and General District Court by the Virginia Supreme Court and holds Federal Workplace Mediation Certification as well. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from Virginia State University in Petersburg, Virginia; a Master of Education degree and a Doctor of Education degree both from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Pescara-Kovach teaches courses in human development as well as graduate level seminars on the causes, consequences, and prevention of school violence. She is co-chair of the Anti- Bullying Task Force at The University of Toledo and author of School Shootings and Suicides: Why We Must Stop the Bullies. She serves as Ohio Director of Bully Police USA and also works as a bullying prevention consultant in many school districts. She has given invited presentations on the topic of bullying related suicides and homicides as well as causes and consequences of bullying at the regional, state, national, and international levels. She served as Hiram College’s Margaret Clark Morgan Scholar, an award reserved for scholars who make a considerable difference in their fields. She is the curriculum consultant for the Toledo-Lucas County Anti- Bullying Campaign, the Healthy Lucas County Community Bullying Prevention Liaison as well as content expert on the WGTE/Hospital Council of Northwest Ohio’s “Preventing Bullying = Creating Safety” campaign. She is currently working under a DOJ grant geared toward enabling colleges and universities to prevent and respond to emerging and chronic crime problems. To that end, she was recently selected to be an instructor for the DOJ’s College Campus Violence Prevention and Protection Plan.

Derek Peterson holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in Russian and history from the University of Georgia and a Master of Arts degree in Slavic and East European Studies from The Ohio State University (OSU). Peterson’s master’s thesis research focused on Soviet Central Asia, but he has also worked on cultural and social issues in Eastern Europe and Russia. Currently, he works as the outreach coordinator at the Center for Slavic and East European Studies at OSU, where he is responsible for organizing presentations and materials for K-12 and post-secondary institutions in order to assist them in integrating East European and Eurasian subject matter into their curriculum. He has also participated in numerous academic conferences throughout the Midwest and has given presentations on subjects ranging from Stalin to an introduction to Russia to all levels of K-12 students.

Leila Peterson has served as Executive Director for SchoolTalk, Inc, a non-profit specializing in special education dispute resolution, since 2008. Her practice focuses on public and community conflict, specializing in processes that allow individual, community, and government stakeholders to tackle difficult issues together. Recent focus areas have included utilizing Student-led Individual Education Plan processes to promote student involvement in decision- making and increasing the accessibility of conflict resolution practices for people with disabilities. Peterson also teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the School of Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University. Courses taught include Dialogue and Difference (CONF 325), Interpersonal Conflict and Resolution (CONF 320), and Practical Dialogue for a Global Society (CONF 690). Peterson received a Master of Science degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University in 1998 and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Earlham College in 1993. She is an Associate Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution and a member of the Mid-Atlantic ADA Leadership Network.

Timothy Phillips has launched several innovative organizations that address critical and emerging global issues. In 1992, he co-founded Beyond Conflict, a pioneering conflict resolution and reconciliation initiative that has made important contributions to the consolidation of peace and democracy around the world. Beyond Conflict brings together leaders from a broad spectrum of countries to share firsthand experience in ending conflict, building civil society, and fostering peaceful coexistence. Through Beyond Conflict, Mr. Phillips has contributed to the development of the soon to be published Shared Experience Methodology. Mr. Phillips has taught courses on the critical role of leadership in conflict transformation, most recently at Tufts University. He has published on transitional justice, conflict resolution, and national reconciliation and is a frequent advisor to governments, nongovernmental organizations and international organizations such as the Council of Europe and the United Nations. With Beyond Conflict, he has successfully participated in 70 initiatives in 22 countries including helping to introduce the truth commission concept in South Africa and fostering peaceful negotiation and national reconciliation among leaders in Northern Ireland, Central America and the Balkans.

Ian Proctor is a Master’s Candidate at American University in the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program. He is completing his capstone project on conflict resolution simulations for complex emergencies environments and has implemented the components of this project with the Consortium for Humanitarian Service and Education, with whom he has been involved since 2011. He is a Research Assistant with the United States Institute of Peace where he co-authored USIP Peace Brief 150: “Peacekeeping 2014: An Agenda for Enhanced Effectiveness.” Ian attended the University of Florida for his undergraduate education, where he double majored in Political Science and History and completed his honors thesis entitled: Peace or Polarity: A Study of UN Peacekeeping Missions in Africa During and After the Cold War.

Priscilla Prutzman is co-founder and Executive Director of Creative Response to Conflict (CRC) and has an M.A. in communications from The New School for Social Research in NYC. She has written numerous curricula, books, and articles and received awards for her work in the field from the National Conference on Peacemaking & Conflict Resolution, the National Peace Foundation, the Association for Conflict Resolution, and the Peace & Justice Studies Association. She serves on the Standards Committee of the Education Section of The Association For Conflict Resolution. She has been on the board of Ulster Sullivan Mediation, The Association for Conflict Resolution, The Consortium of Peace, Research, Education and Development, and is an advisor to The Network for Peace Through Dialogue. She has also been on the Fulbright Roster for Peace Education and Conflict Resolution. Birthe C. Reimers is a certified mediator, facilitator, educator, and Ph.D. candidate in International Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University, Georgia, USA. Through Mediators Beyond Borders and non-profit organizations, she has served as a community and family mediator and facilitated school-site conflict resolution trainings and victim offender restitution processes in Atlanta and Los Angeles. Her research interests include community engaged research and practice, conflict transformation, diversity, marginalization, and refugee resettlement. Ms. Reimers is a former DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) fellow and holds an M.A. in African American Studies from UCLA.

Cade Resnick is currently an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Stetson University and a high school teacher of psychology in Seminole County, Florida. Resnick’s focus has been to develop programs for systemic change. The transition program that Cade has worked to develop, which includes peer mentoring and peer counseling, is one that has seen success for both the mentee and the mentor. This work guided Cade toward his dissertation which is an analytical focus on the environment of poverty, with research into the length of time people remain in poverty. The analysis focused on the psychological effects that the length of time in poverty may have on people, which in turn creates their social cognitive reality. Resnick is focused on developing systems of change through mentoring and counseling to help guide students away from negative environments and to give them strength to move toward a new system of success.

Kathy Rockefeller joined the Mediation & Conflict Resolution Center (MCRC) at Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland as a volunteer mediator in 2005 and became Director in 2009. She has worked to build strong community connections between MCRC and partners like the Howard County District Court, the Howard County Police Department, the Howard County Public School System (HCPSS), the Department of Juvenile Services, etc. MCRC helps its partners choose the best conflict resolution strategy for each unique situation, including Mediation, Group Facilitation, Restorative Dialogues, Restorative Reflections and School Responsive Circles. Most recently, MCRC has worked closely with HCPSS’s Homewood Center, Oakland Mills HS, Hammond HS, and Reservoir HS, plus two middle schools and one elementary school, as they each design distinct plans for infusing Restorative Practices into their school communities. Rockefeller is a founding member of the Circle of Restorative Initiatives for Maryland (CRI), a non-profit group dedicated to advancing and supporting quality restorative practices throughout Maryland. She received her B.A. from Western Maryland College, attended the University of Maryland School of Law, and became a Member of the Maryland Bar in 1991. She lives in Ellicott City, Maryland, with her husband and three daughters.

Antonio Sanford has been a mediator since he was in the fourth grade and has been working in the field of conflict resolution for seventeen years. Antonio represented the Winning Against Violent Environments (W.A.V.E.) Program at President William Clinton’s White House Conference on School Violence. He was the only youth in this meeting. He currently is a training coordinator for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) in K-8 and high schools. He also works with CMSD High School students on the W.A.V.E. Training for Trainers Program, which is a leadership opportunity for experienced student mediators. For his outstanding work with youth in the field of peer mediation, Sanford received the Making a Difference Award from the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management in 2003. He has presented workshops at a variety of local, state and national conferences. In 2005, he was chosen to be in the Association for Conflict Resolution’s Mentee Program and was on the conference committee that year. In 2007, he was a member of ACR’s committee that revised the National Recommended Peer Mediation Model Standards. Currently, he is a student at Cuyahoga Community College working on an associate’s degree in Human Services and is a student moderator for the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network at the Tri-C Metro Campus.

Hal Saunders is the Director of International Affairs at the Kettering Foundation and Founder and Chairman of the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue. He served in the U.S. Government, 1956-1981, on the National Security Council Staff in the White House and as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. After the 1973 Arab- Israeli war, he drafted the Kissinger “shuttle” agreements, the Camp David accords, and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. He helped negotiate the release of American hostages from Iran, 1980-81 and received the President’s Award for Federal Civilian Service. After leaving government, he developed the Sustained Dialogue System and wrote, among other titles, Politics Is about Relationship (2005) and Sustained Dialogue in Conflicts (2011). He received an A.B. from Princeton and a Ph.D. from Yale.

Mara Schoeny is an Assistant Professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University and the Director of the School's Graduate Certificate Program. She teaches courses in research and evaluation methods, practice skills and the integration of inter- disciplinary approaches to conflict analysis and resolution. She was a 1998 USIA Visiting Fellow in the Curriculum Development Exchange Program, in residence at Yerevan State University, Armenia. As part of the grant, she developed and taught simulation courses for undergraduate and master’s level sociology and social work students in family, organizational, political, and community conflict. She is a former youth camp director with experience in traditional camp settings as well as dialogue and co-existence camps for youth from conflict areas. Her research and practice interests include nonviolence, education and training, and dialogue processes.

Dr. Joseph Sebarenzi was born in Rwanda, has a master’s degree in International Management, and a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law, and teaches conflict resolution at the School for International Training (SIT) Graduate Institute. Dr. Sebarenzi’s parents and seven brothers and sisters died in the 1994 genocide, yet he has been a vocal advocate of forgiveness and reconciliation. His book, God Sleeps in Rwanda: A Journey of Transformation (2009), has been praised for its account of the dynamics of interethnic violence in Rwanda and its insights into forgiveness and reconciliation. Dr. Sebarenzi has been a motivational speaker in the U.S. and Canada since 2004 and is a frequent speaker on the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) and the Voice of America (VOA).

Renat Shaykhutdinov is an Associate Professor of Political Science and the director of the Peace Studies Program at Florida Atlantic University. His areas of interest include the politics of nonviolence, ethnic and religious policies, power-sharing institutions, and the politics of post- communism. His publications appear in the Journal of Peace Research, the Journal of Peace Education, Politics and Religion, Problems of Post-Communism, Journal of Ideology, International Journal of the Humanities, Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, Canadian Slavonic Papers/Revue canadienne des Slavistes, and the European Journal of Economic and Political Studies.

David J. Smith is an adjunct faculty member at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University, a senior faculty member at the Consortium for Humanitarian Service and Education, and an independent educational consultant and peacebuilding trainer. During 2003-2004, while at Harford Community College, he was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar teaching peace studies and conflict resolution at the University of Tartu (Estonia). He was formerly a senior program officer and manager at the U.S. Institute of Peace where he focused on undergraduate and graduate peacebuilding education. He is a co-author of USIP Special Report 246: Graduate Education and Professional Practice in International Peace and Conflict and is the editor of Peacebuilding in Community Colleges: A Teaching Resource (USIP Press 2013). Smith has a B.A. from American University, an M.S. from George Mason University, and a J.D. from the University of Baltimore.

Dr. Mark Sorensen is a founding board member of the STAR School and received a fellowship from the Open Society Insititute in 2000 to develop policies and procedures based on traditional Navajo Peacemaking for Navajo students as an alternative to standard policies of suspension and expulsion. He has been an administrator of Tribally Controlled Schools since 1976 and has received numerous awards for his work in Native American education including the Principal of the Year award in 1993 from the Office of Indian Education in Washington, DC. He has trained faculty of many Navajo schools on the techniques of implementing Peacemaking in their schools. Dr. Sorensen has authored chapters of various books, the latest of which is Teaching Truly: Indigenizing Mainstream Education.

Dr. Irma Starr is the Director of Education for The Ben Marion Institute for Social Justice. Before joining The Ben Marion Institute, Dr. Starr was the Director of the Jimmy Prentiss Morris Jewish community Center, an intergenerational metropolitan Detroit facility. She was also the Director of SPACE for Changing Families, an educational life transitions peer support program for the National Council of Jewish Women, a national non-profit agency. In addition, for ten years, she served as Education Director for the Anti- Defamation League, an international non- profit civil and human rights organization. Her far-reaching expertise in, and understanding of, organizational management, program development, curriculum design, facilitation and training, as well as community relations, has made her a sought-after educational consultant and trainer. Additionally, she is a life coach and certified mediator for the State of Georgia. She holds a Doctorate and M.S. in Human Organization Development, a post-master’s degree in Gerontology, an M.A. in Guidance and Counseling and a B.S. in K-12 Education.

Phil Stewart is Secretary of the Board of the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue and Director of Community Programs. For many years he has been part of the leadership team of the U.S – Soviet, U.S. – Russian Dartmouth Conference, a co-moderator of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Sustained Dialogue, and a moderator/trainer for organization and community Sustained Dialogues in California and in central Indiana. He is active in teaching, mentoring, and publishing about Sustained Dialogue. For 26 years, he was Professor of Politics at The Ohio State University, followed by 12 years as Director and General Manager for Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union for the Kellogg Company.

Frannie Varker has her Master of Science degree from the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) in Community and Therapeutic Recreation and is a candidate for a Master of Art degree in Peace and Conflict Studies from UNCG. She has experience facilitating a wide variety of groups whose goals include developing leadership skills, team building, and conflict transformation skills. Her interests include community peace-building, utilizing recreation and experiential education philosophy and methodology, and the infusion of peace education with experiential education to provide those in protracted conflict a creative and innovative opportunity to begin to rebuild trust and relationships.

Mainlehwon Ebenezer Vonhm is a Liberian national who holds a B.A. in International Affairs from Florida State University and an M.A. in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from the School of International Service at American University in Washington, DC.. In 2012 Vonhm graduated from the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom with his M.Phil. in Education Research, which focuses on the role of education as a tool for building a culture of peace in post-conflict societies. He is currently a Ph.D. student at the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University. From 2005 to 2006 he was hired by the World Bank in Washington, DC to serve as a Consultant for its Community Driven Development Projects in Liberia. In 2007 - 2008, he returned to Washington where he worked for Catholic Charities Refugee Center in Washington, DC as their case manager and job developer for refugees and asylees. In 2009, Vonhm returned to Liberia where he established the Center for Peace Education, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to teaching peace education in Liberian schools and communities as a means of achieving harmony and peaceful coexistence.

Thomas Walker, Jr. is a founding board member of the STAR School and recipient of a fellowship from the Open Society Institute in 2000 to develop policies and procedures based on traditional Navajo Peacemaking for Navajo students as an alternative to standard policies of suspension and expulsion. Mr. Walker has been a board member of several tribally controlled schools for the past 20 years. He was a member of the Navajo Nation Tribal Council for 8 years and has been designated as a Peacemaker by the Navajo Nation Courts since 2000. Mr. Walker is fluent in Navajo and English and is sought after to use his Peacemaking skills in many difficult tribal situations.

Denise Elaine Williams is a tenured Assistant Professor in the Negotiation, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding Program which provides campus and distance learning degrees including an undergraduate degree and an M.A. degree, as well as the Joint J.D./M.A. program enabling students to complete their J.D. at Southwestern Law School while simultaneously earning their M.A. degree in Negotiation, Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding from California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). She has founded and directed university-affiliated community dispute resolution centers, including the Dispute Resolution Center at CSUDH and the Isla Vista Mediation Program at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). For several years with each of those schools, she established numerous paid contracts and funded grants for these programs, successfully maintaining the programs, their services, affiliated undergraduate and graduate students, and related projects within local cities, counties, schools, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. She is the author of numerous publications on mediation, democratization processes, and consensus-building, among other topics. Over the past decade, she has focused much of her research and intervention work on institutional transformation and public policy and dispute resolution related to special needs children and adults.

Jennifer Williams currently serves as Youth Programming Director with Mid Shore Community Mediation Center, where she coordinates, develops, and implements conflict resolution and restorative practices in youth environments. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for Community Mediation Maryland. Williams earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy at Hood College in Frederick, MD and went on to complete a Master of Arts in Conflict Analysis and Dispute Resolution at Salisbury University. She has more than 10 years of experience working with troubled or disadvantaged youth in multiple contexts.