Baker Institute for Peace Studies Celebrates 20th Anniversary by Hosting Symposium
(Posted November 6, 2006)
HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Juniata College\'s Baker Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies will celebrate its 20th anniversary by hosting a symposium on the topic \"God, War and Inevitability,\" starting at 2 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 11 in Neff Lecture Hall in the von Liebig Center for Science on the Juniata campus. The symposium, which runs from 2 to 5 p.m., is free and open to the public. The symposium will open with a keynote address on \"The Inevitability of War and Perpetual Peace?\" by Robert Johansen, senior fellow and professor of political science at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, in South Bend, Ind. Johansen is a specialist in international ethics and global governance, particularly concerning the United Nations, peace and security maintenance, and peace and world order. A published author, his books include \"The National Interest and the Human Interest: An Analysis of U.S. Foreign Policy\" and \"Toward an Alternative Security System: Moving Beyond the Balance of Power in the Search for World Security.\" His research has been published in such journals as The Policy Journal, World Politics, Global Governance and the Journal of Peace Research. He earned a doctorate from Columbia University in New York City in 1968 and has been a senior fellow at the Kroc Institute since 1986. After Johansen\'s speech there will be a panel discussion featuring noted specialists in ethics, religion and art. Johansen and the panelists will discuss the central topic of war and inevitability. The panel will be moderated by Celia Cook-Huffman, Burkholder Professor of Conflict Resolution at Juniata. The panelists are: Rev. John Langan, professor of Christian ethics at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., will apply his expertise in ethics and international affairs to the discussion. Langan also has taught at the Yale Divinity School, Drew University and Loyola University, Chicago. Michael Spath, visiting assistant professor of religious studies at Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne. Spath is an expert in comparative religion and Muslim-Christian relations. He earned a divinity degree in 1991 from Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Mo. and went on to earn a doctorate in 1999 in comparative religion from St. Louis University. Ruthann Knechel Johansen is associate professor of Liberal Studies, which is an academic program focused on the \"great books,\" at the University of Notre Dame. Her area of research examines how religion, myth and literature intersect. She also is a fellow at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. She earned a bachelor\'s degree in 1964 from Manchester College and went on to earn a master\'s degree in 1966 from Columbia University Teacher\'s College. She also earned a doctoral degree in 1983 from Drew University. She has been a member of the Notre Dame faculty since 1987.
Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.