NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Vicki Hudson 616.234.4206
NOBEL LAUREATE TO HEAD LIST OF IRISH LEADERS
AT GRCC’S PEACE AND RECONCILIATION CONFERENCE
Two-day event provides first-hand accounts of progress toward peace
May 1, 2009 Grand Rapids, MI - Grand Rapids Community College will host a Peace and Reconciliation Conference May 12 and 13 and the keynote speaker is Nobel Peace Prize laureate John Hume, considered to be an architect of the peace process that united factions in Ireland. Hume’s keynote address will be about “nonviolent methods to change the world and advance the causes of civil rights, freedom, and peace.”
The conference will also bring a number of noteworthy Irish participants to that process.
- From Bloody Sunday to Community Reconciliation: My Life between Conflict and Peace • Jon McCourt
- Growing Up During the Troubles: The Younger Generation and Political Transformation • Conor McGinn
- Family, Politics, and War in South Armagh • Desmond Murphy
- Keynote Address—Nonviolent methods to change the world and advance the
causes of civil rights,
freedom, and peace • John Hume - Historical Origins of the Troubles—The 17th Century in Ireland • Tony Johnston
- A Hunger-Striker’s Experience: Struggling for Freedom and Recognition
Inside the British Prison
System • Paddy Quinn - Panel Discussion: The Past, Present, and Future of Conflict Resolution in
Ireland • Conor Murphy
(Some of these speakers will be available during the week prior to the conference for phone interviews with media representatives.)
Also speaking are the leaders of GRCC’s Irish Studies program, who have been working to create this conference for two years:
- Politics and Religion in Northern Ireland: The Catholic Church’s Role • Roger Schlosser
- Peace, Reconciliation, and the GRCC Irish Studies Program • Robert Hendershot and Roger Schlosser
GRCC Irish Studies Professor, Robert Hendershot, who has been working on the conference since his arrival at GRCC two years ago, says the initiative emerged from lectures and discussions that GRCC students hear as part of the overseas program. “We wanted everyone in our community to be able to hear these first-hand accounts from the people whose work has directed Ireland’s recent history.”
GRCC Provost Gilda Gely said the conference offers people a level of education that is unique. “Our Irish Studies students have been able to hear these remarkable men, and we wanted to make their stories available to a much larger community,” she said. We can all benefit from learning how peace and reconciliation is accomplished.”
Hendershot recently learned that a class from Coe College in Iowa will come to Grand Rapids for the chance to hear this remarkable combination of speakers.
An attachment to this e-mail provides details on the conference.
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