USD Welcomes 10th Year of Women PeaceMakers

Women from Colombia, Kenya, Moldova and Nepal join 35 celebrated peacemakers

The 10th group of Women PeaceMakers at the University of San Diego have arrived on campus for a two-month residency at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice.

Celebrating its momentous 10th anniversary, the Women PeaceMakers Program documents the stories and peacebuilding practices of international women leaders. Each year, four women are paired with four professional writers to record their unique stories of living in conflict and building peace.

The 2012 peacemakers come from long-standing and little known conflicts, and work in a variety of fields:

• Nancy Sánchez, a journalist by training, is a human rights activist in the violent Putumayo region of Colombia.
• Alice Nderitu works to prevent election-related violence, as a commissioner on Kenya’s National Cohesion and Integration Commission.
• Radha Paudel is providing a platform for rural and impoverished women to have their voices heard in the writing of Nepal’s first democratic constitution.
• Ludmila Popovici founded the first rehabilitation center for survivors of torture in Moldova.

In addition to several public speaking engagements throughout September and October, these four women will join previous Women PeaceMakers to celebrate the 10th anniversary and participate in an international conference from Sept. 26-28.

For more information on the conference, “Breaking Barriers,” go to http://peace.sandiego.edu/breaking_barriers. 

For full bios of this year’s Women PeaceMakers, go to www.sandiego.edu/peacestudies/ipj/programs/women_peace_makers/women_peacemakers/2012.php. 

Schedule of events, all to be held at the Institute for Peace & Justice Theatre:

• International Conference on “Breaking Barriers”: Sept. 26-28 (registration required)
• Conversation with Alice Nderitu of Kenya: Oct. 9, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
• Panel Presentation with Four Women PeaceMakers: Oct. 10, 7 – 8:30 p.m.
• Conversation with Radha Paudel of Nepal: Oct. 11, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
• Conversation with Ludmila Popovici: Oct. 16, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
• Conversation with Nancy Sánchez of Colombia: Oct. 23, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.

About the University of San Diego

The University of San Diego sets the standard for an engaged, contemporary Catholic university where innovative Changemakers confront humanity’s urgent challenges. With more than 9,000 students from 69 countries and 50 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. The university's eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the 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. USD's Envisioning 2024 strategic plan capitalizes on the university’s recent progress and aligns new strategic goals with current strengths to help shape a vision for the future as the university looks ahead to its 75th anniversary in the year 2024.