KSC Professor Among Scheduled Presenters At Peace Education Conference in Rwanda

A Keene State College professor and scholar is among the presenters at an upcoming peace education conference in Kigali, Rwanda.

Dr. M. Therese Seibert, who teaches sociology, anthropology, and criminal justice at the College, will speak at Peace Education in an Era of Crisis, a three-day academic conference and interactive skills workshop for educators and practitioners July 11-13. Kent State University, the University of Rwanda, and Aegis Trust, a nonprofit, are the event sponsors.

Delegates from 14 nations and nine U.S. states, including a large group of Kent State educators and students, are expected to attend. Dr. Seibert will present as part of a session called “Never Again Rwanda’s Societal Healing and Participatory Governance Program: Results From Schooling and Non-Schooling Youth Peace Dialogues.”

“The worldwide demand for peace education has risen exponentially over the past few decades because it is recognized as a response to the challenges of social division, polarization, environmental destruction and rising levels of conflict facing specific societies and the international system,” said Neil R. Cooper, Ph.D., director of Kent State’s School of Peace and Conflict Studies.

The aim of the conference, Cooper said, is to bring together educators, researchers and those who operate non-governmental organizations, to share best practices and insights and to help better equip students and others with the skills they need to build peaceful communities, including dialogue, mediation and empathy.

Dr. Seibert came to Keene State in 1998 with a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas in Austin along with years of teaching experience in the areas of social statistics, ethnic relations, and gender.

Dr. Seibert also teaches in the area of Holocaust and genocide studies. During the summer of 2007, she traveled to Rwanda on a Marion and Whiting Foundation Grant for the purpose of developing a course to be taught in Rwanda on Rwandan society and genocide. The grant also helped her launch research on the topic of rescue during the Rwandan genocide.

She has also presented at the biennial Summer Institute on the Holocaust sponsored by the Cohen Center for Holocaust Studies since 2002 as well as a number of other Holocaust institutes and conferences.

For more information about the Peace Education in an Era of Crisis conference, visit https://peaceedconferencerwanda.com.