Guilford College on April 12 will host “Conceptualizing Peace,” a one-day forum for members of the education, faith and business communities in the region to explore long-term education and activity on matters of peace. The event is free of charge and registration is required.

Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley (pictured above) will be featured in a keynote conversation at the forum. She is a nonresident senior fellow at the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative of the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs and at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and is the former U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Malta. Also, she serves as President of the Middle East Policy Council and formerly served as the U.S. Department of State's Inaugural Chief Diversity Officer.

“Our objective is to have a productive discussion about strategies for investing in and sustaining peace, and Guilford College is the ideal setting for such a conversation,” says President Kyle Farmbry, who has organized the event. “In particular we want to explore how higher education institutions, including Guilford, can be leaders in long-term peace studies and action.” 

Other key speakers and panelists scheduled to participate in the event include:

• Francisco Burgos, Executive Director of Pendle Hill, a Quaker study and retreat center in Pennsylvania, who worked with Monteverde Institute and led a Friends School in Costa Rica and served with American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).
• Joseph Sany, Vice President of the Africa Center at the United States Institute of Peace, who has been working at the forefront of peacebuilding with civil society, governments, businesses, and international organizations in Africa for over 20 years.
• Bience Gawanas, Former Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa to the United Nations Secretary-General. Her career in law, human rights and social development spans more than 40 years and has been defined by multiple leadership roles.
• Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Professor of Peace, Human Rights & Cultural Relations at American University in Washington, D.C., who has conducted interreligious conflict resolution training and interfaith dialogue workshops in conflict areas globally.
• Tess McEnery ’06, Executive Director of the Middle East Democracy Center and former White House National Security Council and State Department staff member, who has expertise in conflict prevention, stabilization, fragile states, elections and political transitions. 
• Christina Repoley ’02, Vice President of Program at the Forum for Theological Exploration and former Executive Director of Quaker Voluntary Service who has also worked in peace building with AFSC.
• Diya Abdo, Lincoln Financial Professor of English and Creative Writing at Guilford College and founder of Every Campus a Refuge (ECAR), a second-generation Palestinian refugee whose teaching, research and scholarship focus on Arab women writers and Arab and Islamic feminisms.
• Najeeba Syeed '95, Augsburg University Interfaith Institute executive director and El-Hibri inaugural endowed chair, who was an associate professor at Claremont School of Theology and has significant executive experience in organizations focused on conflict resolution.
• Noor Ghazi, Director of the University Sponsorship Program Director for ECAR and lecturer at UNC Chapel Hill, who fosters collaborative efforts for peace building by creating inclusive platforms that unite diverse voices toward a more peaceful future for her native Iraq.
• Michael Conteh, noted academic and advocate for the marginalized and former Sierra Leonean asylum seeker in Namibia, who has over 20 years of leadership, academic, research and capacity-building experience in Southern and Western Africa, Europe and the U.S.

A schedule for the forum including information about various panels and additional speakers will be announced soon.