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Please join us at the inaugural event of the Speaker Series on Peacebuilding around the World! Mason’s S-CAR and Shinnyo-en Foundation are proud to co-sponsor this event to feature Sixte Vigny Nimuraba (2012-2013 Shinnyo Fellow and a Mason’s doctoral student in Conflict Analysis and Resolution and Mainlehwon Ebenezer Vonhm (2014-2015 Shinnyo Fellow and a Mason’s doctoral candidate in the Department of Education. Mr. Nimuraba and Mr. Vonhm will share their stories on how peace can be possible in the war-torn, conflict-ridden countries such as Burundi and Liberia. Prof. Elavie Ndura, Presidential Fellow and Professor of Education, will moderate with Prof. Daniel Rothbart, a professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, acting as the commentator. Please arrive by 6:30 PM to secure your seat, as the seating is limited. Refreshments will be served prior to the presentations.
Sixte Vigny Nimuraba is currently the Dean’s Assistant and a Ph.D. student in the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR) at George Mason University (GMU). He is also the Genocide Prevention Program Assistant at S-CAR. He has been working with the Burundian Civil Society organization to prevent violence for the last two years and he helped create the “Inama” network which is a coalition of more than 20 organizations in Burundi. He was a 2012-2013 Shinnyo Fellow, which is a university fellowship to promote peace through service sponsored by Shinnyo-en Foundation in San Bruno, CA. During his Fellowship, he designed and developed the peace and service project called, “Building inter cultural Bridges at GMU,” in which he brought together international and American GMU students through dialogues. Currently he works closely with the Burundian Civil Society, and national and international organizations to prevent violence before, during and after the 2015 presidential election in Burundi. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of Ngozi (Burundi) and a Master’s degree in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University.
Mainlehwon Ebenezer Vonhm is a Liberian national. In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, while he was a student at Florida State University (FSU), he organized a seminar on campus to mitigate tensions between Christian and Muslim students, didactically using his experiences as a victim of terror. In recognition of his efforts, he received the Southern Poverty Law Center's Rosa Parks Tolerance Award. In April 2009 he established the Center for Peace Education (CPE), a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to helping children affected by the war acquire the knowledge and attitudes to peacefully coexist. That same year he returned to Liberia where he taught peace education for two years in schools and communities. Today, several religious and traditional leaders have requested CPE interventions in their communities. Mainlehwon is a Shinnyo alumnus and currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the College of Education and Human Development at George Mason University.
Discussant
Daniel Rothbart is professor of conflict analysis and resolution at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University [GMU]. Professor Rothbart specializes in identity-based conflicts, ethics and conflict, civilians in war, and the Darfur region of Sudan. In addition to serving as director of the program on ethics and conflict at his home institution, he currently chairs the Sudan Task Group, an organization that seeks to build long-term peace in this East African country. His academic writings have led to more than forty articles and book chapters in scholarly journals and volumes. His recent publications in conflict analysis and resolution include the following books: Identity, Morality, and Threat: Studies in Violent Conflict (co-edited), Why They Die: Civilian Devastation in Violent Conflict (co-authored), Civilians and Modern War: Armed Conflict and the Ideology of Violence, (co-edited), and Violent Conflict and Peacebuilding: The Continuing Crisis in Darfur, (co-authored). He is currently exploring the power of moral emotions—shame, humiliation, dignity, pride—as central to protracted conflicts or to their resolution.
Moderator
Dr. Elavie Ndura is a tenured Professor of Education and immediate past Academic Program Coordinator of the Multilingual/Multicultural Education program (MME) in the George Mason University's College of Education and Human Development (CEHD). She earned a Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction with emphasis in Bilingual and Multicultural Education from Northern Arizona University, USA; a M.Ed. in Teaching English for Specific Purposes from the University of Exeter, England; and a B.A. in Arts and Social Sciences with emphasis in English Language and Literature from the University of Burundi, Africa. She taught English Language Arts, English as a Foreign Language, English as a Second Language, and French in culturally diverse secondary schools for 17 years in Africa and the United States. She has been teaching college graduate and undergraduate Multicultural Education and TESOL courses in teacher preparation programs for many years. She is the coordinator of the Shinnyo Fellowship for Peacebuilding through Intercultural Dialogue at GMU. Professor Ndura joined the CEHD faculty at George Mason University in 2005 from University of Nevada-Reno.
Professor Ndura was a 2010-2011 Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and the recipient of the Peace and Justice Association's 2011 Peace Educator of the Year Award. She was a Fulbright Scholar (1988, 1989-1993), and the recipient of the British Council Scholarship (1986-1987).