News

The Spring 2015 edition of Grebel Now, the newsletter for Conrad Grebel University College, was recently published. Included in this publication is an article by Rachel Reist, the Field Study and Internship Coordinator for PACS, on the lasting impact of international travel. The full article is below, and the Spring 2015 Grebel Now can be accessed online.

After its April meeting, the Conrad Grebel University College Board of Governors approved the hiring of Jennifer Ball as Assistant Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies(PACS), commencing July 1, 2015.

Ball comes to Grebel, most recently from a position at the University of Guelph, where she received a Ph.D. in Rural Studies. She is also a graduate of the University of Waterloo in Social Development Studies and Peace and Conflict Studies. 

Rachel Urban-Shipley is a fourth year PACS student, with minors in Music and Psychology. She originally came to UW to study peace and conflict studies for her interest in mediation, but as she learned more about the field and other issues within PACS, her options and interests have also grown.

Jessica was drawn to the MPACS program because of its interdisciplinary nature and to further explore what she feels “is something of a calling, to look at peaceful solutions to significant problems”. She completed her undergraduate degree at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, and then came to Conrad Grebel for the MPACS program after working for a few years with a consulting firm.  

As she nears the end of the 16-month program, Jessica is able to reflect on her time here. Through the small classes and flexible program design, Jessica found that it was:

An opportunity to study what you really feel passionate about and research the things you really love.

This is the sixth installment of a monthly feature on the PACS website. This monthly profile of PACS and MPACS students will give a small snapshot into the pursuits and experiences of our students.

Having first attended college to become a paramedic, to then pursuing a certificate in Indigenous learning at Algoma University in Sault St. Marie, to now studying PACS at Conrad Grebel with a political science minor, Hilary Sadowsky has a passion for learning. Although the PACS program wasn’t as clear cut about peace as she thought it would be, the flexibility and interdisciplinary nature of it was the right fit for her. She took advantage of the ability to petition courses from other disciplines to truly mold the program to match her needs and interests. She says,

Petitioning courses or overriding prerequisites has allowed me to do so much with my degree. I have never, not once, taken a course that I did not want to take, in my university career.

This is the fourth installment of a monthly feature on the PACS website. This monthly profile of PACS and MPACS students will give a small snapshot into the pursuits and experiences of our students.