2024 — What a Year!
Sowing Justice, Cultivating Peace
Our roots have a way of providing comfort, strength, and inspiration when we most need it. The great peacemakers also teach us that our roots often exist in relationships with one another.
In recent conversations with students, I’ve noticed how they talk about the Center for Peacemaking as a home away from home — a place that is giving shape to their values, where their deepest beliefs and convictions are taking root.
Below is a peek into some of the ways we are engaged in active peacemaking at Marquette, in Milwaukee, and beyond.
Peacemaking at home and abroad
This year students traveled near and far to explore the power of nonviolence through the Center’s immersion programs.
In the first weeks of the new year, a cohort of students examined interreligious peacebuilding in India and a delegation of students, staff, and community members learned about trauma and resilience in El Salvador.
In May, a group of students traversed the southern United States on a Civil Rights Pilgrimage. Three student-athletes participated in the program and were recognized as the Blue & Gold Student-Athletes of the Month for June and July.
The pilgrimage stopped at iconic museums such as the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN; arranged access to small, relatively unknown sites such as William Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Ruleville, MS to watch the documentary Fannie Lou Hamer’s America inside the church that was central to her activism; and met with many veterans of the movement such as Frank Figgers, who was a Freedom School student in the summer of ’64 and has dedicated his life to working for education and civil rights ever since. In the video below, Ryan shares about the impact the trip had on him and an unexpected connection he found to his hometown.
Throughout the summer, student peacemaking fellows completed projects in locales ranging from Milwaukee to El Salvador, Morocco, and Nigeria. Val Martinez completed an internship with Programa Velasco focused on women’s empowerment through entrepreneurship in El Salvador. Connor Baldwin engaged in an interfaith pilgrimage across Morocco, and two grad students — Kingsley Ezeuwa and Colman Nwokoro — conducted research on contemporary social movements and peace processes in Nigeria. In Milwaukee, Quan Muirhead conducted documentary research of organizations and establishments that serve as safe spaces for LGBTQ+ individuals.
While the above students were starting their projects, summer 2023 fellow Alex Gambacorta’s ongoing project took another exciting turn, as was detailed in the recent Marquette Magazine.
Over fall break, Dr. Louise Cainkar led the Countering Islamophobia, Engaging Muslims immersion. Students visited sites in Dearborn, Detroit, and Hamtramck to learn and experience the area’s cultural and religious diversity. The participants compiled a travel diary to document their travels and meetings.
Meanwhile another group stayed in Milwaukee for fall break to engage in the community service-based Near West Side immersion in which the Center partners with the CAMPus Impact and MARDI GRAS student organizations.
Later in October, a team of students visited the Catholic Ecology Center on our first EcoJustice retreat collaboration with Campus Ministry. Retreatants learned about the importance of caring for our common home through the framework of Laudato si’ during a peak fall weekend.
Building a trauma-informed Milwaukee
2024 was a milestone year for Milwaukee’s Near West Side, highlighted by the Concordia 27 and SWIM Hub grand opening in June. This was a culmination of years of work by the Near West Side Partners, Center for Peacemaking, and partner organizations — including a team of Marquette Nursing professors.
TMJ4 covered why this is a significant development for 27th Street, neighborhood residents, and businesses and organizations in the area.
Throughout the school year and especially in the summer, Marquette students engaged in a multitude of programming. To support neighborhood beautification efforts, students led weekly clean-ups. Undergraduate students also played a key role in achieving record participation in the resident and housing surveys, which drives the development of future community projects and initiatives.
In September, we had lots of fun during the annual Near West Side Week events and activities.
Scaling Wellness in Milwaukee
The SWIM Hub opened and began offering trauma healing and resilience services to residents and organizations in June. Partners and providers operating out of the SWIM Hub now include: Academy of Health, A Moment of Retreat (AMOR), Bloom Art & Integrated Therapies, CeLani Skin and Wellness, Grace Healing and Wellness Center, Marquette Physical Therapy ComMUnity Clinic, National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Southeast Wisconsin, and SKY Schools.
This fall, Jill Drzewiecki joined the team as SWIM’s program coordinator. Also, another cohort of nonprofit professionals completed SWIM’s Trauma Informed Workplace Training and are busy implementing changes in their organizations.
Peace Works
The Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) Success Center continues to be the largest and most comprehensive implementation of the Peace Works social emotional learning and peace education program. The program has developed a unique and effective model in which schools recommend students to the MPS Success Center to work on coping with trauma, developing resilience, and ultimately getting reintegrated back into their home school.
During the year, a team of Marquette faculty, Center for Peacemaking staff, and community partners completed their study on this innovative approach to trauma-informed, restorative-based intervention in schools. Their article — published in Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology — provides an overview of the MPS Success Center’s model, impact, and potential to be scaled up.
Peace Works continued its summer MPS student employment program at the Success Center. Marquette senior Kristina Swanson worked closely with the MPS student employees on career development activities.
Building Resiliency in Childhood Education (BRICE) was a collaborative implementation of Peace Works in five MPS schools located within the 53206 zip code. In collaboration with BLOOM Art & Integrated Therapies, Inc. and Sebastian Family Psychology Practice, LLC., we supported 627 MPS students with mental health, academic, and/or behavioral challenges. Our MPS partners observed calmer classrooms, increased self-expression, and the development of social and emotional intelligence.
Last spring, Peace Works partnered with local schools to develop a program in which high school students serve as peer mediators for conflicts among middle school students. Fifteen students were trained as mediators, learning about the importance active listening, empathy, conflict resolution, respect, and confidentiality. The program has continued in the fall and numerous students have effectively resolved conflicts through peer mediation.
Students experiment with nonviolence
The Peace Studies program continues to attract and challenge students from a range of colleges, including Arts and Sciences, Nursing, Communication, Education, and Business. Students in the Introduction to Peace Studies class developed nonviolent action campaigns on issues important to them, and students in the Peace Studies Capstone completed placements with organizations actively working for peace in Milwaukee.
Over the past year, the Center’s student programming assistants have lead a number of educational actions on campus to engage students in low-risk forms of activism. The actions they’ve planned include an Indigenous People’s Day teach-in, a chalk mural supporting undocumented and Dreamer students on campus, raising awareness of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) through an interactive cloth printing activity, tabling in the library during Banned Books Week, sharing affirmations with other students on World Mental Health Day, and more.
The 2024 Wisconsin Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies (WIPCS) Student Activism Award again went to Marquette students, this time to Leen Mortada and Amani Dalieh for their work on campus promoting peace and justice in Israel-Palestine.
Through all of these efforts, it is undeniable that a culture of peacemaking is spreading across Marquette.
Inspired by example
Beyond the skills that the Peace Studies program equips students with, peacemaking requires an additional essential component: courage. This year, we caught courage from the example of numerous distinguished nonviolent activists who visited campus.
The honorable former Archbishop of Guwahati, Thomas Menamparampil, delivered the Ignatian Peacemaking Lecture during the university’s Mission Week celebration. After his presentation on building peace and cooperation across ethnic groups, he sat down for an interview reflecting on his lifelong commitment to nonviolence and offered advice for burgeoning activists.
Former Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) activists, Mrs. Mary Sue Short and Mr. Eddie Short, delivered the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Lecture. They shared how they got involved in the movement and the heavy toll of organizing for civil rights in Mississippi in the 1960’s. Their activism challenging Jim Crow changed our nation forever.
In April, we were one of three campuses across Wisconsin to host the Waging Peace in Vietnam exhibit (the others were UW-Madison and UW-Oshkosh). This brought the story of GI resistance during the Vietnam War to the Raynor Library where thousands of students saw and engaged with the educational display.
Throughout the weeks that the display was at Marquette, we hosted a panel on soldiers in revolt featuring David Courtright, scholar of GI dissent, Ron Haeberle, photographer of the My Lai massacre, and Susan Schnall, president of Veterans for Peace; a panel on healing war’s legacies with Heather Bowser, whose father was exposed to Agent Orange, Chuck Searcy, founder of RENEW Vietnam, and Ngo Xuan Hien, whose career has focused on landmine clearance; and a keynote by 2024 Peacemaker in Residence, Le Ly Hayslip, humanitarian and author of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places and Child of War, Woman of Peace.
Later in April, we collaborated with a number of university departments to host a conversation on the current chapter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with scholars Mira Sucharov and Sa’ed Atshan. Following the event, the speakers engaged in a dinner dialogue with student leaders from the Jewish Student Union, Muslim Student Association, and Students for Justice in Palestine.
In October, David Kelly, C.PP.S., executive director of Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation, visited campus to deliver the Ignantian Peacemaker keynote as part of the Andrew Center for Restorative Justice’s annual conference. Fr. Kelly is a national leader in restorative justice and has graciously placed Marquette students with his organization.
In the lead up to the election, we collaborated with other departments to host Steven Millies, who presented on Catholic Social Teaching and the 2024 election. He encouraged students to engage in deep discernment over the intersecting expectations and responsibilities of faith and citizenship.
During a visit to Milwaukee in November, Col. (Ret.) Ann Wright visited campus to share about her career (29 years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves, 16 years as a U.S. diplomat, and almost 20 years as a peace activist). She encouraged students to work for peace at all levels of society and to center the importance of peace diplomacy in their advocacy and activism.
Excellence in research
Faculty and students affiliated with the Center for Peacemaking continue to engage in community-based research.
Past Rynne Faculty Fellows (Drs. Lee Za Ong and Louise Cainkar), graduate Bud Frankel Memorial Fellows (Thomas M’batna and Ann Tsvetkova), and student research assistants (Kayla Lewis and Fatima Farooq) have all been involved in programs supporting and reimagining refugee resettlement.
Over the summer, Rynne Faculty Fellow Dr. Enaya Othman conducted research on women’s activism through Palestinian cultural clothing. In the fall, she mentored students working with the Center who have designed a program on cultural activism in which students learn Tatreez (Palestinian embroidery). The program ties into the Center’s long tradition of engaging the intersections of art, culture, and nonviolence.
Additional faculty receiving funding through the Center for Peacemaking included: Dr. Gabe Velez, Educational Policy (Rynne Faculty Research Fellowship); Dr. Noelle Brigden, Political Science (Research Mini-Grant); Dr. Scott Dale, Languages, Literatures, and Cultures (Research Mini-Grant); Dr. Yoon Choi, Philosophy (Research Mini-Grant); Dr. Grant Silva, Philosophy (Research Mini-Grant), Dr. Desiree Valentine (Course Development Grant) and Dr. Irfan Omar, Theology (Course Development Grant).
Our roots make us who we are. They nourish us with courage and conviction. They reflect each of our experiments with truth. We are honored to have you along on this journey with us.
From the wonderful students, dedicated faculty and staff, and committed community, our blessings are too many to count. These relationships are the fuel that allows the Center to accomplish so much each year.
With gratitude and excitement, we are looking forward to 2025!
