Student Engagement

The 4th annual Peace & Justice Week kicked off the main events on Wednesday, January 27. Prior to the beginning of the official events, Students for Global Peacebuilding worked to spark the imagination and interest of their fellow UCI students. SGP members achieved this through inviting students on campus to participate activities centered around the themes of environment, poverty and peacebuidling.
In addition to generating an interest in these events the students in Students for Global Peacebuilding work with the following organizations to plan and execute the events during Peace & Justice Week; UCI Blum Center for Poverty Alleviation, Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, Dalai Lama Fellows, Minor in Civic and Community Engagement, and International Studies

KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Environment, Poverty, & Peacebuilding: A United Nations Perspective

Peace & Justice Week 2016 began with a keynote address delivered by David Jenson, the Head of Environmental Cooperative Peacebuilding United Nations Environment Programme.

Peace & Justice Week always aims to incorporate artistic expressions centered around the themes of the event. Brennan Lagman, a student at UCI and a member of Students for Global Peacebuilding, kicked off the keynote address with a spoken word peace on the environmental and social aspects of peacebuilding.

​David Jenson went on to deliver a detailed presentation on the ways in which world issues can be addressed through a holistic, social and environmental approach.   

PANEL: Peacebuilding:Lessons from Bosnia to Syria​

The second night of Peace & Justice Week included a panel event with speakers offering perspectives from different professions including academics, lawyers and policy analysts. The panelists discussed their experiences from Bosnia and Syria, offering up their lessons learned on how the environment can be harnessed for peacebuilding and poverty alleviation.

​The speakers delivered their presentations before opening up to an open discussion on the environment, poverty and peacebuilding. The panelists invited students to participate in the discussion by posing questions to the panelists.   
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The speakers included; 
Holly Dunn
PhD Candidate, Political Science Department
University of Minnesota
Paivi Lujala
Associate Professor, Department of Geography
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Erika Weinthal
Lee Hill Snowdon Professor of Environmental Policy,
​Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University
Carl Bruch
Senior Attorney; Co-Director, International Programs
Environmental Law Insitute
David Jenson
Head of Environmental Cooperation for Peacebuilding United Nations Programme

Peace & Justice Action Summit

​On Friday, the final day of Peace & Justice Week, we offered a day full of smaller events including ​workshops and roundtable discussions. 
The morning began with an interactive alternatives to violence program presented by licensed instructors from AVP California. In this workshop, participants were introduced to skills for peaceful problem solving. The AVP program has been successful in interpersonal relationships, communities and within the prison system, to learn more visit avpcalifornia.org.

After breakfast, the day continued with a panel discussion on Mainstreaming Peace Education Globally with Leaders of Education for Global Peace. Panelists included the following;
Ernest Anemone, Executive Director of Project My Voice
Stephanie Knox Cubbon, Peace Education Lecturer, Chapman University & San Diego City College
Nadeem Ghazi, President of Peace Education Welfare Organization-Pakistan
Darla Kay Hill, Global Education Consultant and Speaker
Gal Kleinman, Co-Director of Education for Global Peace
Mohamed Walid Lofty, Researcher at the London School of Economics
Peggy Poon, Elementary School Teacher, Los Angeles
Cris Toffolo, Professor & Chair, Justice Studies Department, Northeastern Illinois University. Co-Chair of the Board of Peace and Justice Studies Association
Lauren Zumbrun, Education Manager at Leadership Development International, South Sudan

Following the discussion, Peace & Justice Week hosted the First Annual Conference of The Southern California Network for Peacebuilding. The SCNP coordinates knowledge and resource sharing to enhance efforts of all programs in peace education and practice. The conference gave participants an opportunity to meet and share information with the guests of Peace & Justice Week. 

The final event of the 4th Annual Peace & Justice Week at UCI was a talk by Lama Surya Das. Through this talk, participants learned about the practice of relationship meditation for intamacy, well-being and wisdom.