Women Unite to Cheer on Peace-building Efforts

IPJ Celebrates International Women’s Day

The Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice (IPJ) at the University of San Diego’s Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies joins Voices of Women, the Women’s Equity Council of the United Nations Association of San Diego, Foundation for Women, Sun & Moon Vision Productions and the USD’s Women’s Center to celebrate International Women’s Day on Wednesday, March 18, from 7:30 to 9 a.m. in the IPJ.

The fifth annual event, with a theme this year of Powerful Voices in “Peace-building,” is one of the events on the USD campus to celebrate Women’s History Month. It will serve as an outlet for the celebration of international voices in peacebuilding and for staff members to report on their recent work in the field.

Speakers at the breakfast will have just returned from the United Nations' 53rd annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) conference and will report on their participation in the Commission. A short clip will also be shown of the film "Rhythms to Peace," courtesy of Sun & Moon Vision Productions, which recently premiered at the United Nations. The film is a documentary about the work of 2007 IPJ Woman Peacemaker Susan Tenjoh-Okwen of Cameroon. In addition, two IPJ staff members will have just returned from a trip to Sierra Leone and Liberia and will report back from the field. The trip to Liberia was to attend the International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security, a gathering of female leaders from around the globe.

International Women’s Day marks the economic, political and social achievements of women and this year’s umbrella theme is “Women and Men United to End Violence Against Women and Girls.” The actual date for International Women’s Day was March 8, however the celebration will take place in the middle of Women’s History Month in lieu of USD’s spring break schedule.

For more information about the event contact the IPJ at (619) 260-7509 or visit http://peace.sandiego.edu. To learn more about CSW, go to www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/53sess.htm.

About the University of San Diego

The University of San Diego, a Catholic Institution of higher learning chartered in 1949. The university enrolls approximately 7,500 undergraduate and graduate students and is known for its commitment to teaching, the liberal arts, the formation of values and community service. The inauguration this fall of the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace brings the university’s total number of schools and colleges to six. Other academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences and the schools of Business Administration, Education, Law and Nursing and Health Science.

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About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.