Saturday November 13, 2010
22rd Annual Peace Studies Conference
SUNY Cortland, New York
Theme:
“Corporatization and Militarization of Education: A Threat to Democracy, Security, and Peace?”
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Conference Committee:
Ashley Mosgrove, Committee Member
Anthony J. Nocella II, Committee Member
Dr. Joseph Rayle, Committee Member
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Peace Studies Conference 2010 Flyer PDF
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22nd Annual Peace Studies Conference
Saturday, November 13, 2010
SUNY Cortland, New York, USA
Located in the New Wing of the Building of Education, Near Corey Union
First Floor
Paid Parking Right Across the Street
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8:30 to 9:00
Welcoming Table
Ashley Mosgrove, SUNY Cortland
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9:00 to 9:15
Welcoming Talk
Joseph Rayle and Andrew Fitz-Gibbon, SUNY Cortland
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9:20 to 10:50
SESSION 1
Global Peace
Facilitators: Nick Little and Kasey Reynolds, SUNY Cortland
1. “Building Peace Through a Music Dialogue”
Lesley Pruitt, The University of Queensland
2. “The Obsolescence of “Fast fashion”: Countering the Ecological Impact of Abandoned Apparel”
Amber E. George, SUNY Cortland and Le Moyne College
3. “The Outlook for Social Justice in Our Compulsory Schools: An Anarchist Forecast”
David Gabbard, East Carolina University
4. “The Peacebuilding Potential of Development-NGOs in Areas of Protracted-Conflict in Ethiopia”
Wondimu Mengistu, University of Cape Town
SESSION 2
Dis-Abling Education from Exclusive Teaching
Facilitators: April Selden and Amanda Murray, SUNY Cortland
1. “How Positive is School-wide Positive Behavior Supports?”
Deanna L. Adams, Syracuse University
2. “Dis-Abling education: Transforming Problem to possibility”
Robin Smith, SUNY New Paltz
3. “Regimes of Normalcy in the Academy: The Experiences of Disabled Faculty”
Liat Ben-Moshe, Syracuse University
4. “Teaching Creatively in Secure Facilities”
Maria Miller, Save the Kids
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10:50 to 11:15
Award Ceremony
Room: 1104
Presenters: Judy Bentley and Janet Duncan, SUNY Cortland
1. Peace Studies Undergraduate Paper/Project of 2010 – “Four to Life, with a Possibility of Parole” Jamal Scott, SUNY Cortland
2. Peace Studies Graduate Paper/Project of 2010 – “How Do You Convince Children that the “Army”, “Terrorists” and the “Police” Can Live Together Peacefully? A Peace Communication Assessment Model” Yael Warshel, University of California, San Diego
3. Peace Studies Faculty Paper/Project of 2010 – “The Outlook for Social Justice in Our Compulsory Schools: An Anarchist Forecast” David Gabbard, East Caroline University
4. Peace Studies Media of 2010 – “Acts of Conscience: World War II, Mental Institutions, and Religious Objectors” Steven J. Taylor, Syracuse University
5. 2010 Undergraduate Student Peace Studies Scholar of the Year, Ezra Scott Jr., SUNY Cortland
6. 2010 Graduate Student Peace Studies Scholar of the Year, Heather Pincock, Syracuse University
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11:15 12:00
Lunch
Corey Union Cafeteria
Food is not provided
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12:00 to 1:30
SESSION 1
School to Prison Pipeline
Facilitators: Richard Morin and Yannett Lluberes, SUNY Cortland
1. “Forty Years of Destruction: The PIC and Youth of Color”
Marshall “Eddie” Conway, Jessup Correctional Institute, Maryland
2. “Working From the Inside Out: Prisoners Addressing Youth and Violence”
Dominique Stevenson, American Friends Service Committee
3. “Four to Life, with a Possibility of Parole”
Jamal Scott, SUNY Cortland
4. “Now What? How the Juvenile Justice System Must Continue to Evolve to Stop the Violence & the School to Prison Pipeline”
James Czarniak, Hillbrook Youth Detention Center
SESSION 2
Military and Education
Facilitators: Christine Russo and Krystle Caggiano, SUNY Cortland
1. “Military Recruitment and Students’ Rights”
Brian Trautman, Berkshire Community College
2. “In Memory of Bill Griffen: Keeping ROTC Off Campus-Faculty Referenda”
Kathryn Russell, SUNY Cortland
3. “Soldier-Students: Teaching Current and Former Military Personnel and their Families at Jefferson Community College”
Tim La Goy, Jefferson Community College
4. “Just say no’: Organizing Against Militarism in Public Schools”
Seth Kershner, Simmons College
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1:30 to 3:00
SESSION 1
Critical Animal Studies in Higher Education
Facilitator: Sara Anderson and Jessica Mohr, SUNY Cortland
1. “Bridging the Gap: Media, The Intellectual and the Community”
Dylan Powell, Vegan Police Radio
2. “Critical Animal Studies and the Ethics of Engagement”
Stephanie Jenkins, Penn State University
3. “Rescuing Critical Thinking through Critical Animal Studies: Building a New Tradition”
Brian Lowe, SUNY Oneonta
4.“Normalising the animal”
Colin Salter, McMaster University
SESSION 2
Imprisonment: The Dismantling of Community
Facilitators: Danielle Bishop and Jennifer Patten, SUNY Cortland
1. Justin Newsome-El, American Friends Service Committee
2. Wallace “Omari” Williams, American Friends Service Committee
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3:00 to 4:30
SESSION 1
Peace Education
Facilitators: Dan Fahey and Stephanie Vitale, SUNY Cortland
1. “Experiential Education and Engaged Community Projects”
Jim Dessauer, Le Moyne College
2. “Thinking Systemically About Peace Education”
Joseph Rayle, SUNY Cortland
3. “Academic Repression and Academic Responsibility: Some Personal Reflections”
A. Peter Castro, Syracuse University
SESSION 2
Class Matters in the Classroom
Facilitators: April Selden and Bethanie Hemingway, SUNY Cortland
1. “Dollar for Your Thoughts: Thousands for Your Silence”
Doreen Nieves, SUNY Cortland
2. “Social Connections: Resiliency and Persistence in Post-secondary Learning”
Jennifer L. Penland, Western Wyoming Community College
3. “Socio-Economic Factors of Incarcerated Youth ”
Christopher Petrilli, Save the Kids
4. “The Carceral Society: From Prison Towers to Ivory Towers”
Caroline Kaltefleiter, SUNY Cortland
SESSION 3
The Peace Corps. Experience, a Personal Legacy
Facilitator: Lynn Olcott, SUNY Cortland
1. A group of Peace Corp Volunteers will discuss their experiences
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4:30 to 4:45
Closing Talk
Kathryn Russell, SUNY Cortland
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2010 Peace Studies Conference
Presenters’ Biographies
Deanna Adams is currently working on her doctorate in Special Education, Disability Studies, and Women’s Studies at Syracuse University in New York. Her interests are in the critical study of special education and inclusion through a disability studies lens. She is currently doing research on school-wide positive behavior supports as a behavior intervention technique. Deanna has been a teacher in special education at the secondary level for nine years and is currently working as an instructor in a teacher preparation program in inclusive education at Syracuse University.
Judy K. C. Bentley, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Foundations and Social Advocacy at the State University of New York College at Cortland, and Editor-In-Chief of Social Advocacy and Systems Change, a peer-reviewed social justice journal. Her research interests include Symbolic Inclusion of individuals with disabilities, and the wisdom and competence of children with disabilities as architects of their own education.
Liat Ben-Moshe, Israeli, is a doctoral student in sociology, Disability Studies, and women’s studies at Syracuse University. She is the coeditor of Building Pedagogical Curb Cuts (SU Press, 2005) and a special issue of Disability Studies Quarterly (2007) on disability in Israel/Palestine. Liat is also a core member of Beyond Compliance, a student advocacy group aimed at raising disability consciousness.
A. Peter Castro, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He is an applied cultural anthropologist specializing in community forestry, natural resource conflict management, rural development, and agrarian change. As a consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy, he prepared several publications dealing with conflict issues, including two co-edited books: Natural Resource Conflict Management Case Studies: An Analysis of Power, Participation and Protected Areas (2003), and Negotiation and Mediation Techniques for Natural Resource Management: Case Studies and Lessons Learned (2007). His field research in Ethiopia, Kenya, Bangladesh, and Somalia also explored social and environmental conflicts. His writing include: “Counterinsurgency and Socioeconomic Change: The Mau Mau War in Kirinyaga, Kenya” in Research in Economic Anthropology (in 1994, with Kreg Ettenger) and Facing Kirinyaga: A Social History of Forest Commons in Southern Mount Kenya (London: Intermediate Technology Publications/Practical Action Publisher, 1995). He is currently co-editing a book on “Climate Change, Indigenous Knowledge, and Threatened Communities.”
Marshall “Eddie” Conway is a former member of the Baltimore chapter of the Black Panther Party. In 1969, he uncovered evidence of the FBI’s infiltration of the Panthers as a part of the COINTELPRO initiative, and found himself locked away one year later, convicted of a murder he did not commit. Currently in his fortieth year of incarceration in a Maryland correctional facility, he has played a leading role in a variety of prisoner support initiatives, including the formation of the Maryland chapter of the United Prisoner’s Labor Union, and the ACLU’s Prison Committee to Correct Prison Conditions and the American Friends Service Committee’s A Friend of a Friend program. Mr. Conway is the author of two books, The Greatest Threat: The Black Panther Party and COINTELPRO, and his memoir, Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Black Panther to be released in February 2011.
James Czarniak is the Director of Juvenile Justice and Detention Services for Onondaga County. Previously James served as the Assistant Director at Hillbrook for two years and before that was the Vice President of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Syracuse. James is currently the Chair of the Advisory Board for Save the Kids, a newly formed Agency that focuses on youth violence and supporting youth who are involved in the Juvenile Justice System. James believes strongly that more therapeutic and home based strategies for youth are important in ending the cycle of violence and incarceration with our youth and that juvenile justice reform needs continued support to enhance outcomes for youth in our community. In recognition of his work with youth, James was awarded the Professional Youth Worker of the Year by Onondaga County and awarded the National Professional Service Award from the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
Jim Dessauer has extensive experience in the areas of education, community driven development, engaged youth development and communications.. Jim is currently Adjunct Associate Professor in Sociology at Le Moyne College and has taught at Cornell University, Syracuse University and Onondaga Community College. Jim has served as Executive Director of Eastside Neighbors in Partnership and Director of Housing, Planning and Community Development for the City of Binghamton; in each case with strong emphasis on community driven development and youth media production.
Janet Duncan, Ph.D. is the Director of the SUNY Cortland Institute for Disability Studies. Her research interests include international human rights for persons with disabilities in the context of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She is currently co-authoring a book on the life of self-advocate Michael Kennedy.
David Gabbard, Ph.D. has earned national and international recognition for his work in critical educational policy studies and democratic educational theory. Along with five published books, his record of scholarly production includes over fifty articles and book chapters. The first edition of his Knowledge and Power in Global Economy: Politics and the Rhetoric of School Reform received the Critic’s Choice Award from the American Educational Studies Association in 2001. He is currently working with more than fifty distinguished contributing authors in producing a second edition of that work, taking a new focus on ‘The Effects of School Reform in a Neoliberal / Neoconservative Age’. Professor Gabbard has also worked with Ken Saltman (DePaul University) in the production of Education as Enforcement:The Militarization and Corporatization of Schools , E. Wayne Ross (University of British Columbia) in producing Defending Public Schools: Education Under the Security State and Alain Beaulieu (University of Sudbury [Canada])in co-editing Michel Foucault and Power Today. Professor Gabbard also co-founded and co-edits Public Resistance: An Academic Journal to Confront the Lies of the Right with Karen Anijar-Appleton (Arizona State University). He currently serves as Program Coordinator for the Marxian Analysis of Society, Schools, and Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. He also sits on the editorial boards for The International Journal of Inclusive Democracy and The Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies.
Amber E. George, Ph.D., is an educator, social justice advocate, and artist currently teaching courses in ethical and social philosophy at SUNY Cortland, Le Moyne College and Misericordia University. She received her Doctorate in Philosophy from Binghamton University in 2007. Her dissertation, “Interpreting Dislocation: Gathering a Sense of Belonging,” employs various visual and poetic metaphors to analyze oppression based on race, gender, and disability. Themes of her work center on challenging the systemic nature of oppression as it materializes in various cultural situations. Her life and work celebrates a kind of belonging for humans, nonhuman beings, and the environment with the hopes of achieving social change.
Andrew Fitz-Gibbon, Ph.D., is an associate professor in philosophy and chair of the Center for Ethics, Peace and Social Justice (CEPS) at SUNY, Cortland. He is bishop-abbot of the Lindisfarne Community, a neomonastic religious order in the broadly Anglican/Celtic tradition. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. His courses include Philosophical Approaches to Contemporary Moral Problems, War and Terrorism, Ancient Social Philosophy and Social and Political Philosophy. Fitz-Gibbon is Series Editor in social philosphy in the Value Inquiry Book Series with Rodopi. He can be reached at Andrew.Fitz-Gibbon@cortland.edu.
Stephanie Jenkins is a dual-PhD candidate in Philosophy and Women’s Studies. Her research and teaching interests include 20th century French philosophy, feminist philosophy, disability studies, critical animal studies, and bioethics. She received her Master’s degree in Philosophy from the Pennsylvania State University in 2007. Her Master’s thesis, “The Bodying of the Body: Levinas’ Theory of Embodiment” outlines and analyzes the role of embodiment in Levinas’ early work through Totality and Infinity. She is a recipient of the Weiss Fellowship, a Penn State scholarship awarded to students who excel in interdisciplinary work in the humanities and sciences. Currently completing her dissertation, “Enabling Biopower: A Genealogy of Able-Bodiedness,” she expects to complete her doctorate in May of 2011. As a feminist vegan living with a disability and as an advocate for an ethics of nonviolence, she combines her life experience and theoretical interests by striving to create strategic alliances between people with disabilities and nonhuman animals.
Caroline Kaltefleiter is Coordinator of Women’s Studies and Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the State University of New York College at Cortland and recent Director of the Sacco and Vanzetti Foundation. She has over twenty years of broadcast activism experience as a news anchor and producer for public and community radio stations in Texas, Georgia, Ohio and New York. She served as producer and director of the documentary “Burn Out in the Heartland,” a 60-minute piece that investigates the crystal methamphetamine culture among teens in Iowa and Nebraska. She continues to work on radio documentaries for National Public Radio and anchors a radio program titled The Digital Divide on Public Radio station WSUC-FM. She received her PhD from Ohio University in Communication and Women’s Studies. She holds an MA from Miami University and participated in the Center for Cultural Studies where she began her research on youth subcultures and activism including work on Youth Culture Capitalism, Post-Feminism, and Popular Culture. Her forthcoming text (Garland Press) Revolution Girl Style Now: Trebled Reflexivity and the Riot Grrrl Network, examines the Girl feminist movement and its use of alternative media forums such as ‘zines, websites, and mp3 musical recordings. Her current research project articulates cyberfeminism within a discourse of new media studies. The project examines the construction, manipulation and re-definition of women’s lives within contemporary technoscientific cultures.
Seth Kershner completed his B.A. in Philosophy at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in 2007. Currently a master’s candidate at the Simmons College Graduate School of Library & Information Science, his research interests include critical pedagogy; liberation theology; and peace history, particularly the history of counter-recruitment organizing in the United States . His reviews and interviews have been published in such journals as Z Magazine, Counterpoise, and Spare Change News. Seth also does pro bono translating services for the Italian magazine PeaceReporter. Since 2004 he has been employed with Recording for Blind & Dyslexic, a national nonprofit which for more than sixty years has helped provide a more equitable education for students with print disabilities.
Timothy M. La Goy, Ph.D. received his doctorate in United States History from the University at Albany in May 2010. Dr. La Goy’s dissertation concentrated on conscription and conscientious objection to military service in the United States and Britain during World War I. Currently, Dr. La Goy is revising his dissertation for publication. Conscience and the expression of conscience are at the core of Dr. La Goy’s current intellectual pursuits. His other research interests are masculinity and conscience, individual ethical behavior and capitalism, and peace movements in American history. Currently, he teaches as a full-time instructor at Jefferson Community College in Watertown, NY located ten miles from a major military base, Ft. Drum, headquarters of the U.S. Army’s Tenth Mountain Division.
Brian Lowe, Assistant Professor in Sociology at SUNY Oneonta, received his BAH and Master’s in Sociology from Queen’s University at Kingston, Ontario and his PhD in Sociology from the University of Virginia. Dr. Lowe’s research and teaching interests include sociological theories, animal and society, cultural and comparative-historical sociology and spectacular conflicts. He is the author of Emerging Moral Vocabularies: The Creation and Establishment of New Forms of Moral and Ethical Meanings (Lexington books, 2006) and several articles. In 2008 Lowe became Chair of the Animals and Society section of the American Sociological Association.
Wondimu Mengistu is PhD scholar at the Department of Social Development, University of Cape Town. I have been working as an instructor and as head of the department of Civics and Ethics, and then as Governance and Development, at Jimma University. Areas of specialization and research interest include peacebuilding and conflict transformation in post-conflict areas of Horn of Africa.
Maria Miller is the President of Save the Kids, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending institutional and community violence and keeping kids out of incarceration. She is also a teacher at Hillbrook Youth Detention Center, where she engages youth in creative educational activities including poetry, spoken-word, cultural awareness, group-building programs, and Hip-Hop Studies.
Justin Newsome-El, a proud father of one daughter. Well versed in the arena of prison politics, contributor to the soon to be released book Dimensions of an Outcast. Community activist and advisor, co/facilitator and contributor to the expansion of the F.R.I.E.N.D of a Friend mentoring project.
Doreen Nieves is a senior at SUNY Cortland who will be graduating in the fall 2011 semester. She is going to receive her BA in Childhood and Early Childhood Education with a concentration in the Social Sciences. She obtained her Associate in Science Degree at Broome Community College in the spring of 2009. Ms. Nieves is interested in debating, teaching, learning languages, and analyzing the society we live in today. She is a member of the Cortland debate team and the education club. She looks forward to becoming an elementary educator in the near future, after she graduates. She is also interested in obtaining her Masters and becoming an educator in an urban school. She hopes that one day she will have an opportunity to teach future potential teachers at the college level in addition to elementary aged students. Ms. Nieves’ caring family inspired her to achieve the best that she can in the world of academics. All the credit for her success in the academic world goes to her loving and understanding family members. When she has time to herself she enjoys: listening to music, talking to others, writing about concerning issues, taking nice long walks, and looking up at the sky for all the endless possibilities the world has to offer.
Anthony J. Nocella II teaches in Sociology, Criminology, and Education at SUNY Cortland and Le Moyne College and is a teacher at Hillbrook Youth Detention Center. Is interests include disability studies, LGBTQ studies, environmental studies, and critical pedagogy. He is the co-founder of the Institute for Critical Animal Studies and Save the Kids and is a board member of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). He has published more than twenty-five scholarly articles and is working on his eleventh book, co-edited with Richard Kahn, Greening the Academy: The Liberal Arts in the Age of Ecopedagogy (Sense Publishing, forthcoming). For more information about Nocella visit: www.anthonynocella.org
Lynn Olcott’s professional articles about teaching behind bars have been published in American Jail Association Journal, Phi Delta Kappan Journal and ESL Magazine. Some of her work has been reprinted in Educating Children with Exceptionalities annuals and in the Social Issues Firsthand series by Greenhaven Press. Currently Lynn Olcott teaches in a Pre-GED classroom at Cayuga Correctional Facility for the New York State Department of Correctional Services. She is also an adjunct instructor for the State University of New York College at Cortland in the Education Department, where she teaches graduate courses in education foundations and societal literacy. Lynn Olcott has taught in jail and in prisons since 2002. Prior to that she taught in public school in elementary and secondary settings. She trained teachers in East Africa for three years and taught for five years on the Navajo Reservation in a primary bi-lingual education project and at Navajo Community College. Her work in correctional education began with teaching in the Incarcerated Education Program in Onondaga County in upstate New York. She continues to do research at the Onondaga Justice Center concerning the attitudes toward education held by young offenders, their educational backgrounds and the reasons they left school.
Jennifer L. Penland, Ph.D. is currently an Associate Professor of Education at Western Wyoming Community College. She received her Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership with a cognate in Higher Education and Multicultural Studies from Lamar University – Beaumont, Texas in 2007. For the past 22 years she has been a director of programs at Texas A & M University – Commerce, an assistant professor and supervisor at Dickinson State University in North Dakota, a science and social studies instructor at Lamar University – Beaumont, Texas, an elementary/ middle school science and technology teacher in Texas and Colorado and a curriculum coordinator and training consultant for Region 5 Education Service Center in Texas. She has published in such journals as The Journal of Mentoring & Tutoring, the National Forum of Educational Administration and Supervision, E-Learn, and The Qualitative Report. Dr. Penland is currently working on projects which involve her dissertation on educational resiliency and social equity. Jennifer enjoys traveling, hiking, writing, music concerts and astronomy.
Christopher Petrilli has been at Hillbrook Detention Center since June of 2009. Since that time he has become a HIPP trainer and Therapuetic Crisis Intervention trainer and an evening program instructor for Save the Kids. He is also a board member with Save the Kids. He is passionate about social and juvenile justice issues and believes that most of his success stems from a genuine love of what he does and a sincere empathy and sympathy for the children that he works with. “ …at times our task of helping improve the quality of life and teaching children accountability and responsibility seems futile, but when we see one child shine through and rescue himself of the juvenile justice system through self –realization it makes the journey worthwhile.”
Heather Pincock is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the Maxwell School, Syracuse University and active with Maxwell’s Program for Advancement on Research in Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC). Her research is broadly concerned with theories of democracy and citizenship, and her work examines how both citizens and the state seek to manage everyday conflicts in ways that conform to, reinforce, and challenge democratic values of autonomy, equality, and community. Her dissertation, “Does deliberation make better citizens? examines the social impacts and democratic significance of community mediation organizations in North America. In 2008-2009 she was a doctoral fellow at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Heather has assisted with and taught courses in conflict management and political science at Syracuse University and will be an adjunct professor at Utica College in Fall 2010. While pursuing her studies in Syracuse, Heather has practiced as a mediator, facilitator and trainer. She has served as the coordinator of PARCC’s Conflict Management Center (2004-2005) and as a volunteer mediator at New Justice Conflict Resolution Services in Syracuse NY (2004-2008). In 2004 she began her training with Alternatives to Violence Program (AVP) by taking workshops with inmates at Auburn Correctional Facility. She is currently an apprentice facilitator with AVP and has been volunteering regularly on facilitation teams delivering non-violence workshops inside Auburn and Butler Correctional Facilities since February 2010.
Dylan Powell, 25, is a History graduate from Brock University an animal activist living in St. Catharines, Ontario. He splits his time between organizing fundraisers, rescuing and fostering animals, volunteering for local Animal Rights organizations and co hosting the radio show The Vegan Police. Coming from a background in the skilled trades, and heavily influenced by diy/punk/hardcore music, he is interested in bringing a positive, workpersonlike approach to the vegan/animal rights community. http://theveganpolice.com
Lesley Pruitt completed her BA in Political Science at Arkansas State University in 2004. After graduating, she worked as a legislative correspondent for Senator Harry Reid until moving to Australia in 2005 to complete her Masters of International Studies in peace and conflict resolution at the University of Queensland (UQ). Following that, she worked for the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, to plan an international education policy conference. During the course of her PhD she worked as a teaching assistant at the graduate and undergraduate level and also undertook several projects as a research assistant and conference organizer. Lesley recently submitted her doctoral dissertation, The Use of Music in Youth Peacebuilding Projects, at UQ and will receive her doctoral degree in October. She is grateful to be able to do research alongside young peacebuilders who constantly amaze her with their talent and dedication.
Joseph Rayle, Ph.D., is an associate professor of Foundations of Education in the Foundations & Social Advocacy Department at SUNY Cortland. His areas of academic interest are: system theory, anti-intellectualism, and peace education. He is a member of the SUNY Cortland Center for Ethics and Peace Studies Advisory Board. He recently presented a paper on peace education at the Peace and Justice Studies Association’s Annual Meeting in Winnipeg, Canada, and is in the process of developing a peace education course for his department.
Kathryn Russell, Ph.D. specializes in social and political theory as well as history and philosophy of science. She teaches courses in race and racism, modern philosophy, philosophy of science, feminism, Marxism, and also interdisciplinary general education courses in science and society as well as prejudice and discrimination. Dr. Russell is current chair of the Philosophy Department. She was a member of Cortland’s Multicultural and Gender Studies Council from 1985-2002. She was Cortland’s Women’s Studies coordinator from 1987 to 1991. From January 1994 to January 1996, she was team leader for the campus wide two-year faculty development project funded by the American Association of Colleges and Universities, American Commitments: Diversity, Democracy and Liberal Learning and from 1997-2000 chair of the College’s General Education Committee . The Cortland College Student Association recognized her as Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year, 1992-93. In 1991-92, Dr. Russell was a Visiting Scholar at the Africana Studies and Research Center at Cornell University. She has worked with other faculty to coordinate summer training institutes, and has made presentations on curriculum diversification and exploring the connections among gender, race, and class. Her scholarly work includes: “Nomadic Travels: An Interdisciplinary Transformation of Composition and Philosophy,” co-authored with Victoria Boynton in Transformations, Fall 1999; “A Value-Theoretic Approach to Childbirth and Reproductive Engineering,” Science and Society, Fall 1994, which has been reprinted in Materialist Feminism: A Reader in Class, Difference and Women’s Lives, ed. by Rosemary Hennessy and Chrys Ingraham (Routledge, 1997); and “Curriculum Reform Through General Education: A Requirement in Prejudice and Discrimination,” co-authored with Patricia Francis in Transformations, November, 1993.
Ezra Scott Jr. graduated from SUNY Cortland with a BA in Sociology May 2010. Ezra is a substitute for Linda’s Lullaby Daycare and an intern at Walden’s Place Assisted Living Community, the new choice for seniors that offers attractive apartments with activities, personal care, transportation, and amenities within a beautiful community. Also Ezra is currently an intern at Hillbrook Youth Detention Center, a secure facility for youth between the ages of 10 to 16, bringing once a month college groups to speak and work with the residents. Ezra is a member of M.O.V.E (Men of Value and Excellence) and the Criminology Club at SUNY Cortland. He played for two years and was captain of Niagara County Community College Mens Basketball Team and he played one year for SUNY Cortland’s Men’s Basketball team. In his free time he enjoy’s hanging with friends, working with kids, reading, playing sports, and watching movies.
William Jamal Scott is an undergraduate student studying political science with a minor in Philosophy and Sociology at SUNY Cortland. Scott is a Resident Assistant at SUNY Cortland and has been involved in such organizations as the Caribbean Student Association (CSA) and the Leadership House. His overall interest includes being involved in peace and social justice. His career goal includes becoming a criminal defense lawyer and working to try to make positive social change within the criminal justice system. His overall career goal is to not only become a criminal defense lawyer, but also become a federal judge. Great thinkers that have influenced Scott include Aristotle on his virtues, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his commitment to nonviolence, and Malcolm X on his dedication to education and ethnic pride. However, Scott owes his overall inspiration to his Mother, Father, and older Brother. No one has been more of an example of hard work then his parents whom always found ways to land on their feet. Furthermore, his brother led him to realize that “even when the world brings you hardships and hard decisions a strong person can always prevail.”
Robin Smith, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Special education at SUNY New Paltz. Her research interests include Disability Studies, the ethical impact of policy and practice and practical implications, and disability humor.
Dominque Demetrea Stevenson is the Director of the Maryland Peace with Justice Program of the Middle Atlantic Region of the American Friends Service Committee in Baltimore, Maryland. She currently coordinates mentoring projects in three Maryland prisons that promote conflict resolution and teach personal development skills to incarcerated men. The program helps young men develop the skills necessary to navigate violent situations, and prepares them for a successful return to their communities. She is the co-author of a soon to be released book, Marshall Law: The Life and Times of a Black Panther, and has written a novel, Blues Before Sunrise. The mother of four children, Dominque currently resides in Baltimore, Maryland.
Steven Taylor is Centennial Professor of Disability studies, Professor of Cultural Foundations of Education, Director of the Center on Human Policy, and Coordinator of Disability Studies at Syracuse University. He is also the Co-Director, with Arlene Kanter, of the Syracuse University Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies. Professor Taylor specializes in qualitative research methods, the sociology of disability, Disability Studies, and disability policy. Professor Taylor is the author or co-author of eight books, including Acts of Conscience: World War II, Mental Institutions, and Religious Objectors; Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods (3rd Edition), The Social Meaning of Mental Retardation, Life in the Community, The Variety of Community Experience, and In Search of the Promised Land: The Collected Papers of Burton Blatt, and numerous chapters and articles published in JASH and Research and Practice in Severe Disabilities, Disability & Society, the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Social Policy, Exceptional Children, the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, the American Psychologist, Qualitative Sociology, the Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and other journals. His writings have been translated into Swedish, Japanese, Spanish, and Portuguese. Professor Taylor serves as Editor of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD), which is published by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), and was recipient of AAIDD’s Research Award in 1997. In 1998, he was Visiting Professor at Keio University in Japan. He received Syracuse University Chancellor’s Citation for Exceptional Academic Achievement in 2003, and the Senior Scholar in Disability Studies award in 2008. As Director of the Center on Human Policy, Professor Taylor has been Principal Investigator on over a dozen major grants and contracts funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, the Office of Special Education Programs, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and other public and private sources.
Brian J. Trautman is a military veteran and an educator-activist. He is currently an instructor of peace and world order studies at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield, MA. Brian serves as membership chair on the board of the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA), as a member of the Global Economics Team of Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (HumanDHS), and as an associate editor with three publications: U.S. Peace Registry of the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation, Peace Studies Journal, and Academic Leadership Journal (ALJ). Brian regularly volunteers with different local and national peace and justice groups, including Veterans for Peace, Berkshire Citizens for Peace and Justice (BCP&J) and The Sanctuary for Independent Media. He resides in Albany, NY.
Wallace “Omari” Williams the father of four beautiful children, a student of Afrakan History and advocate of Pan Afrakanism. A community organizer, mentor and activist, a dedicated volunteer for the Urban Youth Initiative Project (U.Y.I.P.), also a Program Associate of the AFSC Maryland peace with Justice Program and co/facilitator and contributor to the expansion of the F.R.I.E.N.D of a Friend mentoring project.
Yael Warshel is currently an Assistant Professor of International Communication and Associate Faculty of International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University. Prior to that, she served as a Lecturer at the University of California, San Diego where she wrote her dissertation. She has also worked for UNESCO, the Truman Institute for the Advancement of Peace, the Center for International Development and Conflict Management and been a Visiting Fellow with the Center for Research on Peace Education. Her most recent publications addressed the contributions of communication and media studies to peace education, the opinions of Jewish-Israeli children about watching Israeli and Palestinian Sesame Street, and Palestinian children’s family mediated media practices. She analyzed the latter two topics in relation to the context of armed political conflict in which these children live. She has received awards for her work from communication, public service, African, Middle Eastern, Israeli and Palestinian studies organizations alike. Her BA, MA and PhD are from UC Berkeley, the Annenberg School for Communication of the University of Pennsylvania, and UC San Diego, respectively.Situated in debates about whether communication foments or ameliorates political conflict, Warshel’s research examines the interpretation and efficacy of efforts that use communication for social change – primarily to manage ethnopolitical conflicts. She refers to such efforts as “Peace Communication” – a subdiscipline she has been working to develop. Presently, she is engaged in two projects. One is the writing of a manuscript entitled, How Do You Convince Palestinian, Jewish-Israeli and Arab/Palestinian-Israeli Children that the “Army”, “Terrorists” and the “Police” Can Live Together Peacefully? It builds on her dissertation that investigated how these children’s experiences with conflict shaped their reception of Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian and American jointly produced versions of Sesame Street. Second, she is conducting on-going field research about Darija Arabic-speaking/Moroccan and Hassaniya Arabic speaking/Saharawi children’s co-construction of Moroccan citizenship.
