The 28th Biennial conference of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) is being held January 11-15 in a hybrid format (online and in Nairobi, Kenya), and registration has been made completely free for all undergraduate and graduate students this year. If you would like to register, simply fill out the form below and email it to internationalpeaceresearch.sg@gmail.com.
Swarthmore Hosts Aspiring Academics of Color at Mellon Mays Conference
The Communications Office
14 November 2019
Jayanti Owens ’06 and Sa’ed Atshan ’06
Jayanti Owens ’06 (left), a professor at Brown University, will speak at the conference, organized by Assistant Professor of Peace & Conflict Studies Sa’ed Atshan ’06. Both are MMUF alums.
Jayanti Owens ’06 credits the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) program with playing a “defining role” in her Swarthmore experience and in her decision to pursue graduate school.
Now the Mary Tefft and John Hazen White, Sr. Assistant Professor of Sociology and International & Public Affairs at Brown University, Owens is returning to Swarthmore to share insights from that journey when she gives the first keynote address at this year’s MMUF Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference this weekend. About 80 people are expected to attend the event from Swarthmore as well as Bryn Mawr, Haverford, Cornell, Princeton, and the University of Pennsylvania.
“I will be talking about pulling back the curtain on graduate school applications and navigating the ‘hidden curriculum’ for success in graduate school,” says Owens, who graduated from Swarthmore with honors in political science and educational policy. “My hope is that by sharing both my personal experiences and the evidence base of social science research around the unique challenges faced by many students and faculty of color in the academy, students will leave with some strategies and a larger sense of some of the factors they might think about as they set out on their own journeys.”
Swarthmore is one of eight founding members of the MMUF Program, which primarily aims to increase diversity in the faculty of institutions of higher learning. In the program’s more than 30-year history at Swarthmore, nearly 150 students have graduated as MMUF Fellows. Of them, 47 have earned doctorates or are in the process of doing so, in addition to those who have earned law or medical degrees.
“The conference is a wonderful opportunity for students, faculty, and staff who care about the MMUF program in our region to connect,” says conference organizer and Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies Sa’ed Atshan ’06. “The student presentations are the heart of the conference, where the fellows will be able to showcase their excellent research and to engage in dialogue and intellectual exchange with each other.”
In addition to the support that she received to conduct original research and to attend intensive writing retreats to complete her dissertation, Owens cites the program’s fostering of lifelong friendships with peers and mentors that supported her journey through graduate school and beyond. She also credits Swarthmore’s first MMUF coordinator, Sara Lawrence Lightfoot Professor Emeritus of English Literature Chuck James, with providing unfailing support and advocacy. “I will be forever grateful to him,” she says, “and to MMUF and all the colleagues and friends I have formed through its network.”
Atshan, also an MMUF alum, is now in his first year as coordinator of Swarthmore’s program. “This is a tremendous honor and such a dream come true,” he says. “I would not be here today if it was not for Swarthmore and the MMUF program, and I feel that this is my moral responsibility to give back for this rising generation.”
To learn about Swarthmore’s commitment to access and inclusion, visit lifechanging.swarthmore.edu.
The upcoming Peacemaking Conference at Swarthmore Presbyterian Church features several members of the Swarthmore College community, past and present! The conference is open to the public and within walking distance of our campus.
Swarthmore Presbyterian Hosts Free Peacemaking Conference October 18 -20, 2013
A three-day peacemaking conference, “Conflict, Faith, Peace,” October 18, 19, and 20, at the Swarthmore Presbyterian Church (SPC) will be led by Dr. Patrick Henry, former member and elder of the church and professor of religion at Swarthmore College from 1967 to 1984.
Download a poster or conference schedule.
Dr. Henry will introduce the overall scope of the conference at 7:30 on Friday evening, October 18. He says that “The conference will portray peacemaking and the life of faith in a way that neither masks the ambiguities nor despairs at the difficulties, so that people are inspired and energized for effective and sustained individual and collective effort.”
Saturday morning will feature brief presentations by Dorie Friend, president of Swarthmore College 1973-82; Doug Bedell, a journalist and former elder of the church; and Susan Landau, a psychotherapist and a member of Congregation Mishkan Shalom in Philadelphia.
Saturday afternoon will begin with a production of a portion of the play Protest by Vaclav Havel, who in a short space of time moved from prison to the presidency of Czechoslovakia. There will be brief presentations by Albert Manwaring, a lawyer and army veteran who served in Iraq, and Anne Yoder, Mennonite and archivist of the Swarthmore College Peace Collection. The afternoon will conclude with a video on peacemaking created by youth in the church.
Dr. Henry, who from 1984 through 2004 was executive director of the Collegeville [Minnesota] Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research, will sum up the conference in SPC’s education hour at 9:30 Sunday morning and preach at the 10:30 service of worship.
All parts of the conference are free and open to the public, thanks to contributions to SPC’s peacemaking committee in memory of Barkley Fritz and Margaret Getaz, lifelong peacemakers and members of the church, which is located at 727 Harvard Avenue in Swarthmore. Advance registration is requested. (Phone: 610.541.0113 or 610.544.7447 or email peacemaking@swarthmorepres.org)
On the Sunday preceding the conference (October 6), SPC will host Dr. Jennifer Karsten, executive director of Pendle Hill in Wallingford, who will speak at the education hour. She will reflect on the peacemaking efforts of the Quaker education, retreat, and conference center since its founding in 1930.
On October 27, a week after the conference, Shervin Malekzadeh, a member of the political science faculty at Swarthmore College, will lead a discussion on the current situation in Syria and the Middle East at 9:30 a.m. Guests are welcome at both sessions and for worship immediately following at 10:30.
Over 200 people from 70 student campaigns nationwide are coming to Swarthmore for a Fossil Fuel Student Convergence organized by Swarthmore Mountain Justice. Guests include speakers from communities fighting extraction, socially responsible investment funds, and programs focused on intersectionality and environment. There are several events open to the wider community, and the organizers are excited to invite people from all different perspectives to participate.
Here’s a schedule of the weekend:
FRIDAY 2.22
Silent Solidarity March// Location and time tbd
Swarthmore students, faculty, staff, and alumni will join together for a march through campus during the Board of Managers meetings to urge powerful action on climate change through fossil fuel divestment.
(For more information, contact swarthmoremj@gmail.com)
SATURDAY 2.23
“Before Rachel Carson: Workers and the Origins of Environmentalism in the United States”
Sci. 181 // 9:30 & 10:30 AM
Chad Montrie is a Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts–Lowell, and author of To Save the Land and the People, Making a Living, and A People’s History of the Environment. His talk confronts mainstream visions of environmentalism, focusing instead on working class resistance to extraction. (Sponsored by Environmental Studies & History Dept.)
“Resisting Fossil Fuels: Voices from the Frontlines” – Panel Discussion
LPAC//11:30 AM
Crystal Lameman, Beaver Lake Cree Nation, tar sands resistance, Canada
Yudith Nieto, Tar Sands Blockade, TX
Junior Walk, Coal River Mountain Watch, WV
Deirdre, anti-fracking organizer, PA
Michael Bagdes-Canning, Marcellus Outreach Butler, PA
“Growing Stronger: From Divestment to Climate Justice” – Keynote
LPAC//7:30 PM
Crystal Lameman, Beaver Lake Cree Nation, tar sands resistance, Canada
Aura Bogado, The Nation, NY
Ellen Dorsey, Wallace Global Fund, Washington DC
SUNDAY 2.24
Divest the Nation Action
1PM // Meet in Front of Parrish
Join students from across the country in a monumental show of support for the national divestment movement, frontline communities, and international action for climate justice!
“What We Can Learn from Economic and Immigrant Justice Work”
Location TBA // 9:30 & 10:30
Chris Hicks (Jobs with Justice)
Unite Here! Organizer
Erika Nuñez (DREAMer and Bryn Mawr Student)
(personal outreach only at this point) “Environmental Justice in Chester” Panel –
Location TBA // 9:30 & 10:30 AM
Speakers: Ciara Williams (Swarthmore student), Desire Grover (community media maker and organizer), Mike Ewall (Energy Justice Network)
If you have questions about the weekend or the events, feel free to send an email to Swarthmore Mountain Justice at swarthmoremj@gmail.com
I hope everyone’s summer is off to a fine start and congratulations to all of our seniors who graduated yesterday.
Time to start thinking about next year already!
The 2012 Peace and Justice Studies Association Conference will be held October 4-6 at Tufts University in Medford, MA, which is within driving distance of Philadelphia (about 7 hours). The theme this year is “Anticipating Climate Disruption: Sustaining Justice, Greening Peace”
We are exploring student and faculty interest in driving a van or two up from the Tri-Colleges, probably departing on the morning of October 4 and returning on Sunday, October 7. Stay tuned for information about accommodation and registration. Information about the conference is available at http://www.peacejusticestudies.org/conference/ If you are interested in going on the trip, please fill out the form at http://bit.ly/tricopjsa12 We will be in touch with more information as it becomes available. Contact Lee Smithey at lsmithe1 if you have questions.
Please indicate your interest in attending by filling out the form below by midnight Wed. Sept. 6. Thank you! (You can also access the form at http://bit.ly/PJSA2012 )
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The Peace and Justice Studies Association 2011 meeting is being held at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, TN, October 20-23. The PJSA has partnered with the Gandhi King Youth Conference to design a joint conference this year.
You can follow the conference online. Follow and contribute to the #pjsa-gkc hashtag on Twitter, or watch the conference Livestream embedded on this page. The schedule for the conference is also available online.