2014
Dr. Ibrahim Sharqieh is a Foreign Policy Fellow at the Brookings Institution, Deputy Director of the Brookings Doha Center, and Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University in Qatar. Sharqieh previously served as senior project director at The Academy for Educational Development (AED), where he managed international development projects in several Arab countries including Yemen and Qatar. He also served as an academic advisor to the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Washington, D.C. and taught International Conflict Resolution at The George Washington, George Mason, and Catholic universities. His publications appeared in the New York Times, Financial Times, CNN, Christian Science Monitor, The National Interest, and Philadelphia Inquirer. Widely quoted on Middle East politics in Reuters and Associated Press, he is a frequent commentator on news channels, including NPR, CNN, Aljazeera (English & Arabic), and BBC. Sharqieh received his Ph.D. from George Mason University in Conflict Analysis and Resolution in 2006.
2013 - Susan Shearouse has over twenty years experience helping people resolve their differences, improve their organizations, and lead more effectively. Her expertise is in improving working relationships, creating a safe place for thorny conversations, managing strong emotions, and providing collaborative problem-solving processes.
Susan often explains that she earned a life degree in conflict - on the job, at home and in her community. When she decided there must be a better way, she entered a Master's degree program in conflict resolution at George Mason University.
After finishing that program in 1988, Susan applied her academic knowledge to real world challenges inside government agencies and major corporations as well as small businesses and nonprofit organizations.
Read more about her background and experience at www.frameworksforagreement.com
2012
Dr. Craig Zelizer is the Associate Director of the MA in Conflict Resolution within the Department of Government at Georgetown University. His areas of expertise include working with youth from violent conflict regions, civil society development and capacity building in transitional societies, program evaluation and design, conflict sensitivity and conflict mainstreaming, the connection between trauma and conflict, the role of the private sector in peacebuilding, and arts and peacebuilding. He has published several articles, and co-edited the book Building Peace, Practical Reflections from the Field (Kumarian Press, 2009).
He was one of the co-founders and a senior partner in the Alliance for Conflict Transformation, a leading non-profit organization dedicated to building peace through innovative research and practice. He has worked for/or served as a consultant with many leading development and peacebuilding organizations including the United States Institute of Peace, Rotary International, and USAID. He has received a number of fellowships and awards, including serving as a Fulbright Junior Scholar in Hungary for two years and as a National Security Education Program Fellow in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
He currently serves on the Editorial Boards of the African Peace and Conflict Journal, Journal of Conflictology and the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development and is the founder of the Peace and Collaborative Development Network an online network connecting 32,000 professionals in the fields of peacebuilding and development.
He also serves on the boards/advisory boards of several organizations including: Alliance for Conflict Transformation, Masterpeace, TechChange, International Peace and Security Institute, and Dance4Peace.
2011
Dr. Mary Jones Wade was born in Savannah, Georgia and raise in Philadelphia, Pa. She currently serves as Associate Minister at Wayland Temple Baptist Church. Born ten minutes after her twin sister Marilyn, Mary is the third of thirteen children born to Abraham and Mary Holmes Jones. She attended the Philadelphia public school system.
Mary’s education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology studying at the University of Maryland, Far Eastern Division, the University of Guam in the Pacific and graduating from the University of Dayton in Ohio. Later she received a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Boston University European Division, followed by the Doctor of Philosophy from George Mason Univ. Institute of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, in 2005. Her dissertation is Spirituality and Conflict Resolution: A Study of the Life and Teachings of Dr. Howard Thurman.
Mary has worked in many capacities. Her most interesting and loved position was the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Quaker United Nations Human Rights Representative where she covered the work of the Third Committee. Her major areas of focus were Southern Africa with an emphasis on Apartheid, Central America, and the UN Human Rights Covenants. In her spare time she followed the disarmament discussions. During her work at the UN, Mary founded the African-American Committee on the United Nations. She invited African Americans from the around the nation to attend UN conferences in New York and D.C. meeting UN delegates and staff, media and NGO’s.
Mary has founded four additional organizations including the Family Unity Organization in Philadelphia and Dayton, Ohio; Light Messenger, Building Respect in Community (BRIC), The Thurman Group and Elevate Our Nation (EON) One Light Together We Are More are extensions of Light Messenger. Much of the work has been educational, spiritual and motivational. Recently BRIC sponsored the first North Philadelphia Youth Peace Olympic combining sports and training in non-violence. More than one hundred youth participated. She currently serves on the AFSC Nobel Peace Prize Nominating Committee.
Mary has written seven books of poetry, two study guides, and articles. Among awards received are the Pennsylvania Human Services Award (1978) and George Mason University Distinguished Alumni Award (2011). A minister, public speaker and poet, Mary also organizes conferences, workshops, and retreats, in addition to personal counseling and coaching.
Mary’s motto is “With God, all things are possible.” “To God be the glory”
2010
Dr. Lisa Schirch is Director of Human Security at the Alliance for Peacebuilding. Schirch connects policymakers with global civil society networks, facilitates civil-military dialogue and provides a conflict prevention and peacebuilding lens on current policy issues. Schirch is also a Research Professor at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University.
Schirch is currently working with a global network to write a Curriculum on Security Sector and Civil Society Engagement for Human Security.
A former Fulbright Fellow in East and West Africa, Schirch has conducted conflict assessments and participated in peacebuilding planning alongside local colleagues in over 20 countries in conflict prevention and peacebuilding including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Kenya, Ghana, and Fiji. Schirch has published five books and dozens of chapters and articles on a range of themes including the design and structure of a comprehensive peace process in Afghanistan, civil-military relations, and the role of the media in peacebuilding.
Schirch’s most recent book is Conflict Assessment and Peacebuilding Planning: Toward a Participatory Approach to Human Security published by Kumarian/Lynne Reinner Press in May 2013. The website for the book can be found at www.Conflict-Assessment-and-Peacebuilding-Planning.org
Schirch works primarily with small local NGOs and civil society organizations. As large institutions begin their own peacebuilding programs, Schirch also has worked as a consultant on conflict assessment and peacebuilding planning for the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank, several branches of the US government, the US Foreign Service Institute and many other international organizations.
Schirch holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Waterloo, Canada, and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University.
Dr. Mohammed Abu-Nimer is Professor at the American University's School of International Service in International Peace and Conflict Resolution in Washington, DC, and Director of the Peacebuilding and Development Institute, which offers unique summer peacebuilding courses for professionals in the field. Abu-Nimer is an expert on conflict resolution and dialogue for peace. He has conducted research on conflict resolution and dialogue for peace among Palestinians and Jews in Israel; Israeli-Palestinian conflict; application of conflict resolution models in Muslim communities; interreligious conflict resolution training; interfaith dialogue; and evaluation of conflict resolution programs. As a practitioner, he has been intervening and conducting conflict resolution training workshops in many conflict areas around the world, including: Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Northern Ireland, Philippines (Mindanao), Sri Lanka, U.S., and other areas. He has published articles on these subjects in the Journal of Peace Research; Journal of Peace and Changes, American Journal of Economics and Sociology, and in various edited books. Abu-Nimer is the co-founder and co-editor of the new Journal of Peacebuilding and Development. In addition to his many accomplishments, he speaks Arabic, Hebrew and English.
Deborah A.P. Hersman is the Chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. Hersman was appointed as a Board member by President George W. Bush in 2004 and was reappointed to a second five-year term by President Barack Obama. In 2009 the President appointed her to a two-year term as Chairman, making her, at 39, the youngest person ever to fill the position. She was reappointed as Chairman in 2011.