Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee to speak at WCSU

Nobel winner Leymah Gbowee to speak at WCSU

Students and faculty prepare for February 2017 PeaceJam

Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee will lead a public talk at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 24, in Ives Concert Hall in White Hall on the Western Connecticut State University Midtown campus, 181 White Street in Danbury.

Gbowee will visit WCSU as part of the 2017 PeaceJam Conference, in which university students and faculty provide practical learning for more than 100 high school and middle school students though workshops, focus groups and projects. PeaceJam’s award-winning programs are designed to nurture character traits, leadership and civic skills needed to create positive change in the world.

The PeaceJam Foundation is an international organization whose mission statement is “to create young leaders committed to positive change in themselves, their communities, and the world through the inspiration of Nobel Peace Laureates who pass on the spirit, skills and wisdom they embody.”

WCSU founded a PeaceJam chapter with support from Graves Kiely, an international financial adviser who encourages the project’s potential to confront and solve difficult world issues. A Connecticut PeaceJam Fest was held on campus in late September for students to learn how to become a mentor or to join the PeaceJam Scholars Club.

Liberian activist Gbowee led a women’s peace movement that helped end the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. Gbowee, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Tawakkul Karman were awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.”

PeaceJam is hosted by WCSU’s Center for Compassion, Creativity & Innovation; The Center for Student Involvement; Pre-Collegiate & Access Programs; and the Kathwari Honors program, led by Professor of Political Science Dr. Chris Kukk.

For more information, visit www.wcsu.edu/peacejam/ or call the Office of University Relations at (203) 837-8486.