DAVENPORT, IOWA (August 27, 2019) — Nobel Laureate Leymeh Gbowee will provide the keynote address for the 16th annual Ambrose Women for Social Justice Conference, “War and Peace: Gender and Justice” on September 24 at the Rogalski Center of St Ambrose University.
The conference is free and open to the public. Registration begins at 9AM, and participants can take part in workshops at 9:25AM and 10:40AM; opportunities for activism and celebration beginning at 3:30 PM; and performances, 5:30-7:30PM.
Participants also can join a roundtable discussion at 12:15PM. An optional $12 lunch will be served. Go to www.sau.edu/awsj to register for the conference, sign up for lunch, and see the full workshop schedule.
Gbowee will give her keynote presentation at 2PM in the Rogalski Center Ballroom. Seating may be limited.
Gbowee won the 2011 Nobel prize for leading the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, which ended a civil war in 2003.
“She is the perfect speaker for the Ambrose Women for Social Justice Conference because her work in peace-making specifically brought together women from diverse backgrounds during a time when civil war was tearing the country apart based on tribal or ethnic lines,” said Associate Professor of Theology, Lisa Powell PhD.
She said Gbowee’s experience in getting people of different backgrounds and faiths to work on a common cause is extremely relevant today.
“We keep hearing, and feeling, how divided our country is on partisan lines, but there are so many things we need to work together to change. In light of the recent mass-shootings, I can't help but think about the need to end gun-violence and wonder if we could be inspired by Gbowee to bring together people from different backgrounds and contexts to work for change,” Powell said.
“At St Ambrose, we have a deep history in teaching non-violent resistance, said Katy Strzepek PhD, professor and director of the Women and Gender Studies program. “We are extremely excited to bring someone to campus who absolutely embodies nonviolent activism.”
In addition to Gbowee’s work as a peace activist, she is a trained social-worker and women’s-rights advocate.
Gbowee is executive director of the Women, Peace, and Security Program at Columbia University’s Earth Institute and established the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa to provide leadership and educational opportunities to women and youth.
She has played pivotal roles in several organizations, as a founding member and/or director, including the Liberia Reconciliation Initiative, Women Peace and Security Network Africa, and Women in Peacebuilding Network/West Africa Network for Peacebuilding.
Gbowee serves as a Sustainable Development Goals Advocate for the United Nations and member of the World Refugee Council.
In 2016, she received the Lifetime Africa Achievement Prize for Peace by the Millennium Excellence Foundation. In 2017, the UN Secretary-General selected Gbowee to serve as a member of his high-level Advisory Board on Mediation. In 2018, she was appointed to the Gender Equality Advisory Council during Canada's G7 Presidency.
Gbowee holds an MA in Conflict Transformation and a Doctor of Laws honoris causa and held distinguished fellowships at Barnard College and Union Theological Seminary.
Her role in the Women of Libera Mass Action for Peace is chronicled in her memoir, Mighty Be Our Powers, and in the award-winning documentary, Pray the Devil Back to Hell.
The conference is supported by Humanities Iowa, The National Endowment for the Humanities, The Baecke Endowment for the Humanities, The Kokjohn Endowment, The Institute for Person-Centered Care at St Ambrose University, and The SAU Master of Public Health program, The School of Social Work, and The Women and Gender Studies program.
The views and opinions expressed by this program do not necessarily reflect those of Humanities Iowa or the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The AWSJ Conference is first of a series of events, performances, discussions and presentations that reflect the St Ambrose University College of Arts and Sciences 2019-20 Academic Theme, War and Peace. The theme aims to develop greater moral clarity on the topic; change human consciousness on a local, national, and international level; and to reach a common goal of non-violence.
