Hello PACS Students,
I hope that everyone is doing well with their classes and that everyone is staying healthy and warm in this cold weather. Below, I have attached events, job opportunities, and resources you might use.
Hello PACS Students! I hope that everyone is settling into their semester well as the third week of classes is underway. This newsletter contains job opportunities, events, and resources you might use in the coming weeks and months.
Notre Dame Student Peace Conference
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.
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.
After finishing her joint honours Peace and Conflict Studies and Legal Studies undergraduate degree, Sage Streight enrolled in a Juris Doctorate (JD) degree at the University of Ottawa. Sage appreciates the focus on Indigenous law and compassionate approach to the degree, and hopes to move into a peacework role after graduation.
Photo credit: Billy Tusker Haworth - 2019
Photo of the UN Buffer Zone - Nicosia, Cyprus
In the Peace and Conflict Studies Department at Conrad Grebel University College and the University of Waterloo, Visiting Assistant Professor Eric Lepp is finding the deeper meaning behind graffiti, specifically in places affected by conflict. Lepp, along with his international co-researchers, Birte Vogel, Catherine Arthur, Dylan O’Driscoll, and Billy Tusker Haworth analyze the relationships between graffiti and socio-political commentary at a local level.
Rebecca Chinamasa, a second-year Master of Peace and Conflict Studies student, recently became a member of The Record's Community Editorial Board for 2020-21. Chinamasa joined the MPACS program with a background in healthcare and passion to combine the theory and practice of peace and conflict studies with healthcare services.
By Marlene Epp, Professor of History and Peace and Conflict Studies
Marlene Epp is a professor of history and peace and conflict studies at Conrad Grebel University College at the University of Waterloo. She lives, works, and plays on the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat, Attawandaron, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples.
It is somewhat ironic that the Land Back Camp underway at Victoria Park is just a short walk from the Schneider Haus on Queen Street.
The Land Back Camp is where a group of local Indigenous activists began occupying a small area of the park on National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21). They are claiming land that was a traditional meeting ground for Indigenous peoples, used for trade, ceremony, and relationship building. The land was taken away by white colonizers and settlers, but in 1784 the Haldimand Tract (10 kilometres on each side of the Grand River from end to end) was granted by the British to the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations), to support them in perpetuity.
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’.