Lynn Roth, executive director of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding

Roth has been East Coast executive director of Mennonite Central Committee, an international relief and service agency headquartered in Akron, Pa., since 1989. In this capacity, he directs approximately 35 staff and service workers throughout the eastern U.S., administers a $1.6 million budget and program and coordinates a program and staff who receive over $9 million in annual contributions.

During a leave of absence in 2005, he developed a response program in cooperation with Mennonite Disaster Service for Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in the Gulf Coast region. Before his current MCC assignment, he was co-country representative for Mennonite Ministries in Gaborone, Botswana, 1985-89.

In his new position, Roth will give overall leadership to CJP and its three divisions – the masters program,the and the . He will provide leadership to internal administration, financial oversight and coordination, work within the university and its wider constituencies and assist with marketing and fundraising as part of the ongoing development and implementation of CJP’s vision.

For the past four years, the CJP program was co-directed by Ruth H. Zimmerman and Howard Zehr. Zimmerman and her husband, Earl Zimmerman, are leaving to become MCC country directors in India. Dr. Zehr, who asked to be relieved of his administrative duties, will continue to teach in the program as professor of restorative justice.

Roth earned a BA degree in political science from Fresno Pacific University, Fresno, Calif., and a masters in social work from Fresno State University.

He is married to Kathleen Roth and has four children – Rachel, Zachary, Adam and Sarah.

“Lynn’s skills and experiences complement very well those of CJP’s faculty and staff, and we believe that he will lead CJP to the next stage of excellence,” said Janice M. Jenner, director of The Practice Institute.

“I feel honored and blessed to be able to serve in this new role,” Roth said. “The CJP program at EMU has been a leader in the conflict transformation and peacebuilding field, and I look forward to carrying on that tradition and building upon it for the good of the church and society.”

The Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, founded in 1992, seeks to further the personal and professional development of individuals as peacebuilders and to strengthen the peacebuilding capacities of the institutions they serve. The program supports conflict transformation and peacebuilding efforts at all levels of society in situations of complex, protracted, violent or potentially violent social conflict in the United States and abroad. Open to people from all parts of the world and all religious traditions, CJP builds upon EMU’s Christian/Anabaptist faith commitments and strengths.

Fifty "Relief Kits" will soon be on their way to needy people in the flood devastated Gulf Coast region, thanks to another disaster response effort at 草莓社区.

Initiated by pastoral assistants and dubbed the "Katrina-Rita-Rama Relief Race," EMU students, faculty and staff were challenged to provide items for relief kits for (MCC).

The contest involved nine teams – the six residence halls, Parkwood Apartments, Commuter Fellowship and faculty/staff. Each team was assigned one or two items to collect for the kits over a three-week period.

An MCC relief kit consists of four bars bath soap, a package of sanitary pads, a plastic bottle of shampoo, fingernail clippers, a box of adhesive bandages, hairbrush, wide-tooth comb, toothpaste, laundry detergent and bath towel.

Hillside Residence Hall collected the most items – 93 bottles of shampoo – and received bottles of dishwasher liquid a poster of EMU’s "Friday Chapel Announcement mascots" (students Matt Pearson and Becka Rankin) for their efforts.

A student group from Northlawn Third South assembled the kits Tuesday evening, Nov. 1, to send to MCC.

Senior Carissa J. Sweigart of Harrisonburg, one of the student organizers, said she was "excited to see all the donated items coming in," noting, "Fifty kits may not sound like a lot, but with each one valued at $30, the EMU community raised nearly $1,500 on top of previous relief efforts."

An earlier student-initiated fund-raising project brought in nearly $3,400 by the end of September to help victims of Hurricane Katrina. The project was launched during a Sept. 9 chapel service by the (YPCA).

That money was sent to MCC headquarters in Akron, Pa., earmarked for (MDS) work in the Gulf Coast.