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Growing up on a small farm in Delhi, Ontario, food has always been close to Elle Crevits’ heart. But it wasn’t until her fourth year research seminar class in Peace and Conflict Studies that she really discovered what that meant.

Last fall, Elle devoted her final research paper to the topic of food waste and how we could reduce it.

My research triggered this overwhelming need for a solution to this problem, because we waste 40 percent of our food between farm and fork.  

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 fifth 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.

Kaylee Perez, currently an MPACS student at Conrad Grebel, has always been interested in cross-cultural interactions and global issues. Following high school, Kaylee took a year off to attend a Servant Leadership Institute, which led her to major in Global studies at Wilfred Laurier University. During her undergrad, she completed an international and a local field placement, first interning for 3 months at a refugee centre in South Africa and then returning to volunteer with the Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support, where she now works as a case worker.

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.

This is the third 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 PACS students.

Conrad Grebel University College will confer its first honorary doctorate to John Paul Lederach at its Convocation ceremony on April 13, 2014.