News

Ryan Bromley is a 3A Arts and Business student with a Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) major. Ryan was a fall 2021 Enterprise Co-op pitch winner. Enterprise Co-op (E Co-op) is a co-op pathway that allows students to pursue an entrepreneurial co-op option in which students start their businesses while earning a co-op credit. Ryan’s original pitch was to create a “Peace to co-op” business that would teach university students critical personal and professional skills related to PACS. Throughout the work term, Ryan displayed incredible flexibility, drive, and vision in his journey through the term as he worked towards a dream that extends beyond the four months of the co-op.

With the worldview and perspective from Peace and Conflict Studies, combined with the understanding of systems and policy that Legal Studies provides, Anna is ready to take on the world. Anna is in her 4^th year, studying a double major in Legal Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies, as well as being in the co-op program. After taking PACS 202: Conflict Resolution, Anna Miedema realized the value in having Peace and Conflict Studies as part of her degree. Since then, she has been able to find new ways that PACS can apply to her everyday life as well as her co-op experience.

Entering her undergraduate program at the University of Waterloo, Stephanie Goertz had no idea how a Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) minor would fit into her career or life. Looking back, she reflects that her PACS education is not something she can fit in a box or summarize easily but contributed to an overall perspective. This perspective and mindset have impacted her ongoing learning and how she can connect with others to make a change in her community.

When Abbey began her co-op position last spring, she struggled to see how her Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) education could be relevant to her work. Now that she has finished her co-op position, she can hardly fathom a position where PACS would not apply – at least in some capacity.

Sandra Elgersma is an inspiration for all Undergraduate Peace and Conflict Studies students. Currently, she is a part of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). As a UW Alumnus with a Sociology major and PACS minor, she had a passion for helping people in need.

Samuel is currently a 3A student. In addition to his Major in Planning, he is taking a minor in Peace and Conflict Studies. Unlike the traditional co-op path, he set foot in his own route when he stumbled upon a new journey: Tree planting in British Columbia, in Western Canada.

Facilitating workshops, teaching undergraduate courses, mentoring students—Keith Regehr has contributed much to the Conrad Grebel University College community.

Conrad Grebel University College announces the appointment of Dr. Johonna McCants-Turner to a tenure-track faculty position as Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) at Grebel, beginning July 1, 2021. McCants-Turner currently serves as Assistant Professor of Restorative Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University’s (EMU) Center for Justice and Peacebuilding.

Lowell Ewert, Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) at Conrad Grebel University College and the University of Waterloo, has been honoured with one of the four UWaterloo 2020 Distinguished Teacher Awards. This award celebrates exemplary instructors with a record of teaching excellence over an extended period. In addition to intellectual rigour, criteria for the award include impact beyond the classroom, concern for students, and a favourable and lasting influence on students and colleagues.

In the Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) Department, we continue to follow the new wave of protests and movements for racial justice occurring across the United States. As a Department we recognize that events of racism, and systemic and structural violence are not something that simply happen ‘over there’.