A description of the states:
In this bold anthem, feminist organizer and bestselling author Gloria Steinem and Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee share their parallel journeys as activists. … (Their) dual paths have inspired a friendship empowered by the principles of equality, progress, and hope for a new generation. Here, two friends come together to tell one uplifting story of girls and women strengthening one another and changing the world.

Watch the video of their appearance below!

About CBS Mornings

Each weekday morning, CBS Mornings co-hosts Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil, and Nate Burleson bring you the latest breaking news, smart conversation and in-depth feature reporting. CBS Mornings airs weekdays at 7 a.m. on CBS and streams at 8 a.m. on the CBS News app.

About Leymah Gbowee

Nobel Peace laureate Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist, social worker, and women’s rights advocate. She is founder and president of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa, based in Monrovia. As a writer, Gbowee is the author of the inspirational memoir Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War, and the children’s book A Community of Sisters. She is perhaps best known for leading a nonviolent movement that brought together Christian and Muslim women to play a pivotal role in ending Liberia’s devastating, 14-year civil war in 2003. Gbowee returned to EMU to deliver commencement addresses in 2014 and 2018, the latter year being when she was awarded EMU’s first honorary doctorate.

About Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem is a political activist, feminist organizer, and the author of many acclaimed books, including the national bestseller Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem. She is a contributor to the classic children’s book Free to Be You and Me. She is also the cofounder of the National Women’s Political Caucus and the Women’s Media Center. In keeping with her deep commitment to establishing equality throughout the world, Steinem helped found Equality Now, Donor Direct Action, and Direct Impact Africa.

She never imagined that desire, born from hours of long-distance conversation with her family members and prayer over the sufferings of fellow West Africans, would draw the attention and support of her university community – and a .

“Doing something was a way to help myself with the panic of thinking about my family and what was going on in my country,” said the economics major. “I didn’t want to be silent and just sit on my hands, so I started thinking, ‘What could I do?’”

That question quickly became “What can we do?” when shared with fellow members of EMU’s International Students Organization (ISO).

To Gray-Johnson’s surprise and delight, Liberian peace activist and ( ’07) learned of the fledging movement and enthusiastically agreed to headline a fundraising dinner.

at EMU’s Martin Chapel, with a seating capacity of 140, are $100, with $80 of that a tax-deductible donation to the Africa. Dinner guests will receive preferred seating at a public lecture later in the evening in Lehman Auditorium.

A freewill offering will be taken at the lecture, with an for those who cannot attend.

To those who need most help

“She is helping us raise awareness, but at the same time, we know that this money will go through her organization to those who most need it, [to] the children who have lost family members or been displaced,” Gray-Johnson said.

Gbowee, who received the 2011 prize for her work in ending Liberia’s civil war, says that her country’s decade-long peace is threatened by Ebola.

“We must face another enemy from within,” she wrote in an in Britain. “…Ebola is resurrecting old traumas from those who survived the war.”

Since the Ebola outbreak began, Gbowee’s Monrovia-based non-profit has contributed to community-based, . Donations from the EMU fundraiser will be shared by the foundation with two Liberian organizations founded by alumnae of : GSA Rock Hill Community Women in Monrovia, founded by Vaiba Flomo (CJP Grad. Cert. ’13), and Messengers of Peace, a youth outreach group founded by Gwendolyn Myers (CJP Grad. Cert. ’14).

Gbowee’s visit kicks off a series of events planned by the in March, including a color run, chapel talk, and movie showing.

Kaltuma Noorow, ISO co-president, said students have rallied to the cause, inspired first by Gray-Johnson’s willingness to share how she and her family were personally affected by the outbreak.

Wilfred Gray-Johnson, Winifred’s father, is executive director of the . During the outbreak, he and his team travelled frequently to rural areas “to work on an early warning and response mechanism to ensure that Ebola did not lead to a national conflict,” Gray-Johnson said. “While in the field, he could see firsthand what was happening.”

At later ISO planning meetings, student organizers discussed “the stigma of disease and who was getting aid and who wasn’t, which led to conversations about who needed help who wasn’t getting it. We’ve all seen that in our own countries,” said Noorow, a junior peacebuilding and development major from Kenya.

Learning from action-taking

In a year of new leadership and transition for the organization, Noorow credits ISO members for pulling together and taking on “huge responsibilities” to work on this fundraiser and the upcoming events in March, she said, adding that she’s reluctant for any one member of the group to be singled out for attention. “We’ve all learned a great deal from the process. It’s important that every member be recognized for their thoughts and all the time spent deliberating and processing.”

Her own involvement with the project has been empowering, Noorow added. “In class, we learn a lot of theory and just reading about it is great, but I’m interested in change. I’m a doer. This event shows that we students can actually do something given the platform. We never imagined it to reach this magnitude. It’s been a lot of work and a lot of time, but we’re all really excited.”

From following appropriate fundraising protocols to parsing out the correct wording for public relations releases and invitations, Gray-Johnson says the hands-on experience has taught her about the complex realities of fundraising for international causes.

“I’ve learned a lot about professionalism and credibility, about raising money for a cause,” she said. “It is important to me that the money raised here go through the right channels… [It helps that] Leymah’s giving us her credibility and that of her foundation.”

Noorow and Gray-Johnson both met Gbowee briefly when she came to campus in spring 2014 to deliver the commencement speech and celebrate the graduation of her son, Joshua Mensah, a major. They are looking forward to learning more about Gbowee’s peacebuilding experiences from the woman herself.

Gray-Johnson hopes to share the experience with her 14-year-old sister, Addy, who moved from Liberia this summer to Maryland, where she’s living with an aunt.

“The story of the Good Samaritan reminds us that those who serve most effectively are not typically the most respected among us, nor do they often come from the ranks of those with obvious power,” said Swartzendruber. “Servant leaders are those who frequently did not seek leadership roles but act out of deeply held values which are often then noticed by others.”

Swartzendruber linked his message to several alumni who have made an impact as servant leaders across the world, including: , a 2007 graduate of and a ; Eliza Barnhart Burkholder, a 2009 nursing graduate who received the first in Harrisonburg; , a 2007 graduate and DREAM Act advocate; and , a 2007 graduate who is leading an environmental effort in Borneo to stop palm oil producers from taking over the rain forest, among others.

In distinguishing EMU from its peers as a “Christian university like no other,” Swartzendruber noted its diverse program base.

“There are five Mennonite colleges in the U.S. and EMU is the only one that embodies a seminary, a Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, a , and with the advent of the new this fall, a total of ,” said Swartzendruber.

EMU also includes an to prepare non-native speakers for futher academic study and a popular .

In closing, Swartzendruber issued a promise to students that an education at EMU is more than just a one-way “dissemination of information” that can be found on podcasts and mass lectures.

“Our promise is that for your tuition payments, you will have every opportunity to become an educated person, one who will be prepared to serve and lead in a global context. And we will fulfill that promise by seeking to be ‘like no other.'”

Cross-cultural sending

The convocation closed with a commissioning for students who left campus Wednesday on fall semester cross-cultural seminar to New Zealand and .

, professor of , and his wife Kathy, will lead a group of 22 students to New Zealand to explore the variety of sustainability issues facing the island country.

The program will have two themes—cultural and environmental. The cultural studies will center on homestays and the book, “The Sociology of Everyday Life in New Zealand.” They will spend time in urban and rural areas, focusing on specific environmental issues and applying them to their particular interests and fields of study.

The majority of the stay will be in the mountainous and agricultural environments of the South Island.

The South Africa and Lesotho group, led by Harlan de Brun, instructor in physical education and recreation, and assisted by EMU alumni Denay Fuglie and Kelsey Yoder, will study the values and norms of South African culture, learn about the African Independent Church movement, do elementary Sesotho language study and focus on community development and projects with particular attention given to AIDS issues.

The group of 21 students will read, hear lectures and journal about the history and culture of Southern Africa, including the Apartheid era and how religious beliefs affected government policy. They return to campus Dec. 5.

‘Shenandoah Welcome’

Returning students, faculty and staff gave new members of the EMU community a traditional “Shenandoah Welcome” as they wended their way through a human “tunnel” of smiling faces and clapping hands accompanied by Appalachian bluegrass music.

EMU’s fall semester ends Dec. 14.

(President Swartzendruber speaks at 12:50)

“It was an amazing experience and honor to join athletes, humanitarians, families, and supporters to highlight our collective talents and strengths,” said Gbowee in a post on her .

Gbowee received the Nobel Prize for her work in organizing a peace movement to end the Second Liberian Civil War. She shares the prize with and women’s rights activist .

A graduate of , Gbowee co-founded Women, Peace and Security Network Africa in the spring of 2006, with a fellow alumna, Thelma Ekiyor, and a third woman, Ecoma Alaga, who previously worked for an organization founded by two CJP alumni, the .

Now, the 21-year-olds  share another distinction — ˛ÝÝŽÉçÇř graduate. The brothers were among the more than 400 Royals who received diplomas on Sunday during commencement exercises at the liberal arts school.

conferred 426 degrees and certificates on graduates during Sunday’s ceremony, including 306 bachelor’s degrees and 97 graduate degrees.

“This is your day,” Swartzendruber told the graduates, before telling their families, “our students know full well your support has been an integral part of their success.”

Family Tradition

For the Rittenhouses, of Green Lane, Pa., attending EMU runs in the family. Their parents and a brother also graduated from the university, which factored into their decision to choose the institution.

The brothers have much in common and often were mistaken for one another when they first arrived on campus.

“People realized we have our own little quirks,” Justin said.

But they do have their differences.

Joel described himself as the dominant one of the two, to which Justin agreed. Naturally.

Justin, a education major, hopes to get a job at the after graduation.

“I’ve always liked to work with kids one-on-one instead of [in] a traditional classroom,” he said.

Joel majored in and his minor was in .

“I have no immediate plans, but I plan to stay in the area and pick something up,” he said.

Sunday’s commencement speaker was , granddaughter of Roy Disney and grandniece of Walt Disney.

Disney is a filmmaker and philanthropist whose credits include the production of “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” a film documenting the Liberian peace movement led by .

Gbowee, an EMU alumna, received the 2011 Nobel Peace prize for her work in organizing the women of Liberia to demand peace in their wartorn West African country.

Disney said women can play an important role in bringing an end to violence in the world by getting involved in the economic and political realms where decisions to go to war are made.

“We have to have the courage,” she said, “to imagine a different world is possible.”

Gbowee earned a from EMU’s in 2007.

.

’s journey to becoming a Nobel Peace laureate began, ironically enough, because she was angry.

Angry about the way women’s roles were reduced to little more than cooking, cleaning and taking care of the children. Angry about rampant rape and domestic abuse throughout her native Liberia. And angry about the country’s “senseless” civil war.

At James Madison University Saturday, Gbowee, a joint recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, told those gathered for the 2012 International Student Leadership Conference how important that anger was — and even more significantly, how she channeled it into a constructive plan of action.

“You must be angry,” said Gbowee, who mobilized women into an influential peacebuilding movement in Liberia. “[But] when you’re angry, there should be no talks of revenge.”

Gbowee’s anger, instead, led her to create the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace movement. The non-violent organization — some 2,500 women strong — helped bring the second Liberian civil war to an end in 2003 after four years of conflict.

“The need for people to answer ‘yes’ to lead change is so great,” said Gbowee, who has been in the United States since Feb. 26 speaking on average at two events per day. “In order to see the change you want to see, you cannot [contribute to a movement]. You have to lead.”

Gbowee was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October along with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Yemeni women’s rights activist Tawakkul Karman.

Local Ties

The weekend-long leadership conference, sponsored annually by JMU and ˛ÝÝŽÉçÇř, brought together about 200 international students and advisers from higher education institutions across the nation. Gbowee gave the event’s keynote address at JMU’s Festival Conference and Student Center Saturday morning, marking the second time she has visited the area since winning the Nobel. Even before her recent visits, Gbowee was no stranger to the central Valley. The 39-year-old earned a from EMU’s in 2007. And Gbowee’s son, Joshua Mensa, is currently an EMU sophomore.

Gbowee is also the co-founder of the and supported the creation of the . Her movements helped get Sirleaf elected the first female president of an African nation. Her work also was influential in creating a lawful definition for rape in Liberia, which previously did not have one. The west African country now has one of the strongest rape laws in the world, said Gbowee.

“I describe the world as upside down,” she said. “Good is seen as evil, evil is seen as good. People like yourself and myself [are] trying to tilt it upright through the tiny actions we do.”

Giving advice to college-aged leaders, Gbowee told them to be persistent, bold and selfless and to have focused goals.

“There is no way you can lead a change if it is all about you,” said Gbowee. “You cannot lead a change if you are not passionate about your issues because it is that passion that will wake you up when your knees are aching… when there’s no money in the bank account… [it will] keep your adrenaline pumping when you think about your work.”

As Gbowee regaled the audience with personal stories and advice, some audience members had barely noticed that 90 minutes had flown by.

“I didn’t feel time,” Lynchburg College freshman Karen Figueroa said with a look of awe on her face. “It’s the most inspiring thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”

As the event drew to a close, host Salorne McDonald asked students to “remember the words emblazoned on the back of your shirts.”

The words were a quote from Gbowee advising: “Don’t wait for a Gandhi, don’t wait for a King, don’t wait for a Mandela,” referring to a trio who are arguably best known peace activists of the 20th century.  “You are your own Mandela, you are your own Gandhi, you are your own King.”

, a philanthropist, scholar and award-winning filmmaker, will give the at ˛ÝÝŽÉçÇř (EMU), Sunday, April 29, at 1 p.m. “EMU is a remarkable institution, an island of sanity in a country that often has difficulty crediting the discourse of peace,” said Disney.

“It recognized in , an extraordinary gift for activism and principled nonviolent leadership long before either I or the Nobel Committee did, and for every Leymah that has risen to prominence from EMU I happen to know there are dozens of others quietly laboring in obscurity to build peace.”

More than just a last name

Granddaughter of Roy Disney and grandniece of Walt Disney, co-founders of the Walt Disney Company, Abigail Disney intertwined her longtime passion for women’s issues and peacebuilding in her first film, “” (Fork Films, 2008). Directed by Gini Reticker, the film shows how Liberian women forced their warring men to arrive at a peace settlement that led to the election of Africa’s first woman president.

The film focuses on the peace activism of EMU alumna and .

“War has never been a tidy, closed activity, taking place on a clearly demarcated battlefield between two uniformed entities, or when it has, that has been the exception,” Disney wrote on the “” PBS website. “Rather, war marches right through the center of everything—through house, hearth and field—ripping a hole into the center of things that can never be entirely repaired.

“To bring a woman’s eyes to the telling of the story of war—to turn the camera around and place it in her hands—is to fundamentally alter the way war looks, sounds and smells,” she added.

Previous ties to EMU

EMU first hosted Disney at a entitled “,” featuring Gbowee and women from around the world who are involved in peacebuilding. The event included previews of the five-part PBS television special, “Women, War & Peace,” , which premiered in October 2011. The series challenges the conventional wisdom that war and peace is a man’s domain, and features celebrity narrators Matt Damon, Tilda Swinson, Geena Davis and Alfre Woddard.

The forum was part of a larger gathering of women peacebuilders at EMU. Disney was one of 20 participants in a three-day conference that grouped female peace workers from nine countries to learn from each other’s experiences and explore the potential value of an educational program at EMU tailored to women peacebuilders.

During the public forum, Disney moderated a discussion by three influential women in peacebuilding: Leymah Gbowee; the late , a Kenyan-Muslim woman of Somali ethnic origin who received the 2007 Right Livelihood Prize (alternative Nobel Prize); and , an MA graduate of the and director of the .

Fostering female peacebuilders

In 2008, Disney launched “,” an organization supporting female voices and international peacebuilding through nonviolent means.

Peace is Loud organized a 2009 Global Peace Tour as part of the UN’s International Day of Peace. The tour brought “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” to hundreds of community screenings in churches, living rooms, community spaces, and forums in the U.S. and abroad, sharing the inspirational story of the women of Liberia.

Disney is the founder and the president of , a progressive, social change foundation that bestows grants to grassroots, community-based organizations working in low-income communities in New York City.

Disney earned a BA from Yale, an MA in English literature from Stanford University, and a PhD in English from Columbia University. She has served on the boards of the Roy Disney Family Foundation, The White House Project, the Global Fund for Women, The New York Women’s Foundation, the Fund for the City of New York, and more.

Learn more about Abigail Disney and her work

Gbowee, the leader of a women’s movement that helped end 14 years of warfare in Liberia in 2003, earned a from the (EMU) in 2007.

“In many societies where women used to be the silent victims and objects of men’s powers, women are throwing down the walls of repressive traditions with the invincible power of non-violence,” Gbowee told listeners at the Nobel Peace award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, including in row 27.

“Women are using their broken bodies from hunger, poverty, desperation and destitution to stare down the barrel of the gun. This prize has come at a time when ordinary mothers are no longer begging for peace, but demanding peace, justice, equality and inclusion in political decision-making.”

Swartzendruber said he found Gbowee’s speech to be “inspiring and passionate.” His host in Norway, international peace scholar Peter Wallensteen of Sweden, felt similarly, calling it “powerful.” Gbowee asked for a moment of silence for women who have recently died while working for peace, including of Kenya.

Gbowee and Abdi last met when they joined 18 other women peacebuilders from nine countries in June 2011 to discuss whether EMU should host an educational program tailored to women working for justice and peace around the world. As a Kenyan-Muslim woman of Somali ethnic origin, Abdi was known for her peace skills and interventions throughout East Africa. She was a former student and instructor at under its Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP).

“In collaboration with CJP graduates and partners, we have determined that women peacebuilders will indeed benefit from a program focused on the distinctive needs, skills and strengths of women,” said CJP executive director Lynn Roth. “We will be launching this program in our .”

Also attending the ceremony from EMU was Joshua Mensah, a sophomore, who is Gbowee’s first-born child.

Gbowee created the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace movement, working to end the rape and other violence that erupted during the second Liberian civil war in 2003. She is sharing this year’s peace prize with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkul Karman, a Yemeni women’s rights activist.

“Everything I’ve done and continue to do is not because I expected an award. I see my work as a calling from God,” Gbowee told the Daily News-Record in October.

Gbowee, now 39, earned a master’s degree in conflict transformation from EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding in 2007.

“It’s an exciting time for EMU and obviously for Leymah,” Swartzendruber said. “We’re proud to claim her as one of our alums. Certainly, her work on the ground as a relatively young person really mobilized both Christian and Muslim women.”

Gbowee’s son, Joshua Mensah, an EMU sophomore, and Swartzendruber plan to attend the presentation ceremony, which is set for Saturday afternoon at Oslo City Hall.

Gbowee and Mensah were traveling Wednesday afternoon and were not immediately available for further comment, said Maria Hoover, a spokeswoman for EMU’s peacebuilding center.

“We’re obviously very, very pleased for the recognition for Leymah,” said Lynn Roth, the center’s executive director. “I’m personally pleased that she got [the award] with two other women because that exemplifies that peacebuilding is obviously an important movement.”

Forty-three women overall have been awarded a Nobel Prize in science, medicine, literature or peace since the honors were first given in 1901, according to nobelprize.org.

Article courtesy Daily News Record, Dec. 9, 2011

Gbowee received the Nobel Prize for her work in organizing a peace movement to end the Second Liberian Civil War. She has become famous across the globe for mobilizing women and was named the head of the National Peace and Reconciliation Initiative in her home country of Liberia.

Gbowee shares the prize with and women’s rights activist .

EMU President Loren Swartzendruber will be in attendance and will present Gbowee with a card signed by the campus community, congratulating her on the award.

and of Gbowee from Homecoming and Family Weekend 2011 are posted at . In addition, hear why Gbowee said .

“Reconciliation is a personal, internal, collective journey that people must decide they are going to take, and I think Liberians are at that place where they want to move forward,” Gbowee said to the Voice of America following upon her appointment.

Gbowee, who completed a master’s degree through in 2007, said Liberians’ inability to approach reconciliation has blocked their country from dealing with many pressing issues on the national agenda. Gbowee plans to talk with all Liberians and solicit the help of retired South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a fellow Nobel Peace Laureate. Tutu led the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission after the apartheid era officially ended. “I’ve been in touch with Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s office because I see the ‘Arch’ as one of those individuals who have all of the experiences when it comes to talking about reconciliation,” said Gbowee.

“The one thing that we are seeing happening is that our inability to approach the whole issue of reconciliation head-on has been adding more train to that gown,” said Gbowee. “So, we have one package – the issues of the war that haven’t been addressed and the issues of elections over the past few years…. Some of the other issues are disempowerment, the huge population of young people who cannot find jobs.”

“Leymah’s experience, peacebuilding skills, and above all her passionate commitment to the people of Liberia make her the right person for this position,” said , director of the practice and training institute at CJP.

Gbowee came to CJP in 2004 for its and returned for a round-table in in 2005. During 2006-07, Gbowee was in residence at EMU as she completed her .

Gbowee has been receiving widespread coverage in the U.S. media outlets, including a feature article in the December issue of Reader’s Digest and one in the Nov.  29, 2011 edition of Christian Century.

She officially started her new position on Nov. 29 with a Peace and Reconciliation Jamboree.

Learn more about and her .

Jon Stewart interviewed Leymah Gbowee of Liberia on The Daily Show on Nov. 14. The two-part video is available below.

Gbowee is one of three women jointly . She led a nationwide women’s movement that was Liberia’s second civil war in 2003.

Gbowee graduated from ˛ÝÝŽÉçÇř’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding in 2007 with a master of arts degree. She attended CJP’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute in 2004 and completed its Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience program in 2005.

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“From the moment I was announced as one of the core recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize, every night and morning I say my prayers [and] I ask, ‘Lord, keep me humble,'” said , a 2007 master’s degree graduate in conflict transformation. “By being humble I hope to touch more lives and can be an example for the next generation of peacebuilders.”

Describing 1991 grad , a former supervisor was quoted in an EMU publication as saying, “Glen Lapp was the ideal nurse, very self contained and capable, as well as extremely compassionate—and above all, humble about it.”

Over its , EMU held several events centering on its recognition of – she gave talks to public audiences five times over the weekend. Gbowee is the first Nobel Prize winner in the school’s 94-year history. Gbowee led a women’s movement that was instrumental in ending 14 years of civil war in Liberia in 2003. She is co-founder and executive director of Women, Peace and Security Network Africa.

Lapp, a volunteer with , was killed on Aug. 5, 2010, with nine others on the same team. They were returning from a difficult trip in which they provided health care in a rural mountainous region of Afghanistan. EMU awarded its annual , the first time the university has ever given an alumni award posthumously. Lapp’s parents, Marvin and Mary Lapp of Lancaster, Pa., and other family members accepted the award on his behalf.

A Noble Alumna – Leymah Gbowee ’07

During one of her weekend speeches, Gbowee said she will continue to pray for God’s blessing to stay humble with the continued media coverage and requests for interviews. In tongue-in-cheek fashion, later remarked that Gbowee was henceforth going to be in the worldwide spotlight due to receiving the Alumna of the Year award from EMU. The audience of hundreds laughed heartily at the thought that being “alumnus of the year” might overshadow her .

“As a peacebuilder we can never hold onto anger,” said Gbowee. “My journey has taken me many places. I have seen many things to make me angry and break my heart, but as I step from one place to another I see that if we must change our communities, change the world, [then] anger, pain and thoughts of evil cannot be a part of our mindset.”

A central figure in the peace movement that brought an end to the Liberian Civil war, Gbowee came to EMU in 2004 for three classes in the and then returned to the in 2005 to participate in a round-table of . She completed her MA in conflict transformation in 2007. In a press conference at the beginning of the weekend, Gbowee credited EMU with helping her to heal from the traumas she had experienced and with developing an understanding of the roots of violent conflict from a worldwide perspective.

“Leymah Gbowee mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women’s participation in elections,” noted the in announcing the award. “She has since worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war.”

Gbowee co-founded with a fellow SPI alumna, Thelma Ekiyor of Nigeria. In her memoir, “,” Gbowee discloses additional EMU connections that influenced her work, including CJP professors , John Paul Lederach and .

“In honoring Leymah, you also honor Liberia,” said William V.S. Bull, Liberia’s Ambassador to the United States, during remarks following a celebratory luncheon with award recipient family and friends. “Thank you, EMU, for fostering peace and providing training for peacebuilding among people of this world.”

More information on Gbowee and her ties to EMU can be found at

A Distinguished Alumnus – Glen Lapp ’91

The words “compassionate, caring and humble” were used throughout Homecoming weekend when describing 40-year-old Glen Lapp.

The Distinguished Service award recognizes a life that “exemplified selfless service,” according to Duane Ringer, Lapp’s former colleague at Lancaster Regional Medical Center. In a prepared statement, the Lapp family said, “Glen was always looking ahead to the next thing and always felt there was something more he could be doing.”

Lapp and nine other workers from IAM were ambushed, robbed and killed when driving Land Rovers over rough mountainous terrain to return to Kabul after a relief trip in northern Afghanistan. Volunteering with MCC and assigned to IAM, Lapp was an executive assistant and the manager of its provincial ophthalmic program.  Lapp’s perspective on his assignment was recorded in his last report submitted to MCC: “[T]he main thing that expats can do is to be a presence in the country, treating people with respect and with love and trying to be a little bit of Christ in this part of the world.”

While at EMU, Lapp’s passion for life spilled into the gym. “Glen was probably the best setter we ever had, or close to it” said , assistant professor of education and former men’s volleyball coach. “Glen was the kind of person that everybody just followed because he was also very humble. I remember him being involved with people, caring about them. And I remember how focused he was. You knew that Glen would go on to do something important but you didn’t know what that would be. He had a concern for people and the world, you could see it back then.”

Lapp graduated from EMU as a math major and four years later earned a second bachelor’s degree, this time in nursing, at Johns Hopkins University. He did various types of work before volunteering in Afghanistan, including providing care to people of the Havasupai Nation in Supai, Arizona, and helping in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Trina Trotter Nussbaum ’99, who nominated Lapp for the EMU award, wrote, “What a fitting way to honor his life’s work! He offered his life up for service like Jesus did and ended up losing it, like Jesus did. Who knows how many people have been touched and inspired because of Glen’s witness and sacrifice?”

Lapp may best be summed up by EMU President Loren Swartzendruber, who stated during Saturday’s opening presentation, “the world needs more people like Glen.”

History of the Awards

The Alumnus of the Year Award, begun in 1967, recognizes an EMU graduate who has made a recent major achievement in his or her profession. The Distinguished Service Award seeks to honor an alumnus who “demonstrates in notable ways the Christian service and peacemaking emphases of the university.”

Photos, podcasts, and other information on the Homecoming and Family Weekend can be found at

Gbowee, who shares the prize with and , earned a master’s degree in conflict transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding (CJP) at in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She attended CJP’s Summer Peacebuilding Institute in 2004 and participated in a round-table for Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience (known as “STAR”) in 2005.

Gbowee led a nationwide women’s movement that was instrumental in halting Liberia’s second civil war in 2003.

“Leymah Gbowee mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women’s participation in elections,” noted the in making the award. “She has since worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war.”

Starting in the 1990s

Gbowee’s links to Mennonites began in 1998, when she received training in “trauma healing and reconciliation” and then worked at rehabilitating child soldiers. Perhaps unbeknownst to her, the first trainings in this subject in Liberia occurred when , a Mennonite with trauma expertise, arrived in Liberia in the early 1990s, with funding from and what is now called , both based in the United States.

Hart trained Lutheran church workers who, in turn, trained Gbowee. Hart also arranged for , who became Gbowee’s friend and mentor, to earn a graduate degree in conflict transformation at EMU. In 1998 Doe became one of the earliest master’s degree graduates from what is now called the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, setting the stage for Gbowee to earn the same degree nine years later.

In her 2011 memoir, “,” Gbowee says she came to EMU because it was “an American college with a well-known program in peace-building and conflict resolution. It was a Christian school that emphasized community and service.”

Responding to the Nobel announcement, EMU President said:  “The impact that Leymah was able to have, first in Liberia, then in West Africa, and now all over the world, shows that another, nonviolent reality is possible. This affirms the dreams and hopes of groups, educational institutions, and churches that are devoted to supporting peace work.”

“We plant what we call ‘seeds of peace’ as widely as we possibly can, usually through education in peace building theory and skills, and then trust that some of these seeds will bear fruit,” he added.

Seeds of Peace

The woman Gbowee calls her “true friend” and fellow founder of , Thelma Ekiyor, attended EMU’s 2002 Summer Peacebuilding Institute, as did Gbowee’s first champion and employer in Liberia, Lutheran Reverend “BB” Colley, who attended the annual institute in 2000 and 2001. At Colley’s urging, Gbowee read “” by the well-known Mennonite ethicist John Howard Yoder.

Gbowee, who was named , is the central figure in a documentary co-produced by , “.” Completed in 2008, the documentary is part of a “” series to be aired over five successive Tuesdays in October 2011 on public television stations in the United States.

In her memoir, Gbowee credits with introducing her to the (WANEP), an organization that he co-founded and led after finishing his master’s degree at EMU. (Doe received EMU’s annual and now works for the United Nations. His daughter, Samfee, graduated from EMU in the spring of 2011, overlapping for one year with Gbowee’s eldest son, Joshua “Nuku” Mensah, who enrolled in the fall of 2010.)

“WANEP, based in Ghana, emphasized using nonviolent strategies and encouraged women to join the effort to address problems of violence, war and human rights abuses,” wrote Gbowee.

WANEP supported the launch of , the organization through which Gbowee and her colleagues conducted the campaigns that played a key role in ending the civil war in Liberia. (This organization is the predecessor to Gbowee’s current organization, Women, Peace and Security Network Africa.) The WANEP-launched women’s network—plus , the grassroots movement led by Gbowee—laid the groundwork for the election of fellow Nobel Laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as president of Liberia, the first woman president of an African nation.

WANEP is now led byof Ghana, a 2002 graduate of CJP.

CJP Teachings Credited

Gbowee’s memoir credits two of the founding professors of CJP, and , with strongly influencing her through their writings and teachings.

“I read Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi and the Kenyan author and conflict and reconciliation expert Hizkias Assefa, who believed that reconciliation between victim and perpetrator was the only way to really resolve conflict, especially civil conflict, in the modern world. Otherwise, Assefa wrote, both remained bound together forever, one waiting for apology or revenge, the other fearing retribution.”

As Gbowee began to attend international meetings pertaining to peace and feeling the need to “speak with more knowledge and authority,” she says, “I began amassing books on conflict resolution theory: ‘’ and ‘,’ both by .”

In May 2004, the summer after the Liberian peace accords were signed, Gbowee came to EMU to attend classes at its annual Summer Peacebuilding Institute. “Those four weeks were another transformative time for me,” she says in her book, noting that she studied with Assefa at the institute and with, “who taught me the concept of ‘restorative justice.’”

“Restorative justice was… something we could see as ours and not artificially imposed by Westerners. And we needed it, needed that return to tradition. A culture of impunity flourished throughout Africa. People, officials, governments did evil but were never held accountable. More than we needed to punish them, we needed to undo the damage they had done.”

Women in Peacebuilding at EMU

In June 2011 at EMU, Gbowee participated in a by-invitation conference on the needs of women peacebuilders around the world. Participants included filmmaker Abigail Disney of the United States, of Fiji, of Afghanistan, and , a Kenyan-Muslim woman of Somali ethnic origin who received the 2007 Right Livelihood Prize. (Abdi died in a car accident after returning to Kenya in July 2011.)

“As a direct result of this conference, we will be launching a women and peacebuilding program at our ,” says , executive director of CJP.

The announcement from EMU on the Nobel Peace Prize award can be found at .