Marquette Center for Peacemaking to hold its 10-year anniversary celebration Sept. 13

September 11, 2018

MILWAUKEE — The Marquette University Center for Peacemaking will hold its 10-year anniversary celebration on Thursday, Sept. 13, at 5 p.m., at the Haggerty Museum of Art, 530 N. 13th St.

The event is sponsored by Aurora Health Care, Harley-Davidson Motor Co., MillerCoors, Cervantes Group, the Jesuit community at Marquette and Catholic Financial Life.

There is a reception at 5 p.m.; the program begins at 6 p.m.

The center operates several programs to educate students, support research that promotes peace and explores the power of nonviolence.

"The center's impact is clear: Peace education has transformed the lives of Marquette students, and Marquette peacemaking initiatives have addressed indignities and communities locally and around the globe," said Patrick Kennelly, director of the center.

The Center for Peacemaking works closely with Near West Side Partners Inc., a nonprofit organization funded through the support of five anchor institutions, through the Promoting Assets and Reducing Crime initiative to improve housing conditions, strengthen commercial corridors, reduce violence, and change perceptions of Milwaukee's Near West Side. Near West Side Partners will be recognized for their contributions to Milwaukee's near west side at the ceremony.

It also operates the Marquette University Peace Works program in seven Milwaukee schools to help students focus on conflict resolution, peer mediation, peace-building, social-emotional learning and cognitive restructuring. In Catholic schools this program introduces students to Gospel nonviolence.

In addition, the center has a partnership with Catholic Relief Services, the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. It gives students and faculty access to the agency's international projects, experts and resources.

Marquette offers a major and a minor in peace studies, and the center works to recruit students and build curriculum for the major in the Way Klingler College of Arts and Sciences. Graduates of the peace studies program are working around the globe using nonviolence to address indignities and solve pressing social problems.

The center was founded in 2008 by Dr. Terry Rynne, and his wife, Sally. It is the only such center on a Catholic university campus in the United States.