Backward/Forward: Reflections on Peace, Conflict, and Human Rights

Thursday, October 11, 2018 7:30 pm - 7:30 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Conversations with the 2018 recipient of the Conrad Grebel Distinguished Alumni Service Award - Dean Peachey '82,'86

Dean Peachey
This conversation, hosted by Associate PACS Professor Reina Neufeldt, will focus on Dean's current work and some reminiscing on the early years as the PACS program was emerging at Waterloo.

Dean is currently the Acting Executive Director at Global College, at the University of Winnipeg where he is coordinator of the Human Rights Program, and is a member of the joint committee administering the Joint MA in Peace and Conflict Studies between the University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba.

Join us for this conversation and the award presentation, followed by a reception.

Dean's wife, Melissa Miller, will be joining us for this event. Dean and Missy were Senior Residents from 1978 to 1980 while Dean was completing his MA in Psychology from UW in 1982 and then finished a PhD in Psychology in 1986 at UW.

Dean’s roots were in the Mennonite community in Belleville, PA. He had a passion for active peacemaking as a student. As a student organizer Dean played a key role in a Symposium on Non-Violence, hosted at Conrad Grebel from January 14-17, 1975 that included Gene Sharp as a keynote presenter. The transcripts for this conference were recently donated to the archives by Grebel alum, Ralph Torrie '79.

The impetus for this symposium helped to lay the ground work for what would become the Peace and Conflict Studies Institute at Grebel and soon became part of the academic offerings in the Faculty of Arts.

Dean taught as a sessional instructor was an adjunct instructor between 1990-2000 in PACS in courses like  PACS 302A GE – “Community Conflict Resolution”. During this time Dean laid the ground work for establishing the Network for Conflict Resolution, which emerged from a coalition of community-based conflict resolution agencies across Canada and hosting national conferences. Dean Peachey became the national coordinator and in 1992, the Network moved to office space at Conrad Grebel College, where it remained until summer 2002.

Read more about Dean Peachey.