Colombian scholars visit UWM to explore peacebuilding

Seven academic and education experts in international affairs from Colombia visited UWM on Monday, Feb. 20, to learn more the university’s international education and research, particularly around the issue of peacebuilding.

The subject is of more than academic interest to the Colombians, who had endured more than 50 years of civil war before a peace treaty was signed in November 2016.  The president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, has asked seven of the country’s major universities to lead an effort to promote peace through education and research, according to Sonia Durán, vice president of international affairs at the Universidad del Rosario. The Colombian universities involved represent more than 137,000 students and 20,000 professors.

Sonia Durán, vice president of international affairs at the Universidad del Rosario, and Timothy Ehlinger of UWM’s Peace Studies program discuss ideas after the conference. (UWM Photo/Kathleen Quirk)
Sonia Durán, vice president of international affairs at the Universidad del Rosario, and Timothy Ehlinger of UWM’s Peace Studies program discuss ideas after the conference. (UWM Photo/Kathy Quirk)

The visit of the Colombian University Peacebuilding Studies Mission to universities in the U.S. is being supported by the U.S. Embassy in Colombia. The team that came to UWM is one of two groups that are touring U.S. universities in February. One group is visiting Midwestern universities; the other, universities in the Northeast.

The Colombians shared information about their work, and also heard from UWM colleges, schools and centers involved in international education and peacebuilding.

Timothy Ehlinger, director of the WC Kohler Partnership for Sustainability and Peacebuilding at UWM, discussed that program’s work in educating students to work in local and international conflict resolution.

“Peace is more than the absence of violence,” he said. The Sustainable Peacebuilding program includes study of underlying issues such as access to water, poverty, food shortages and other problems that need to be addressed as countries work toward a sustainable peace.

The Colombians also heard about and asked questions about UWM’s international education and global studies programs, the Center for International Education, the role of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and programs such as Engineers Without Borders, the UWM chapter of which is building water systems in Guatemala.

Hernando A. Estévez (center), dean of the School of Philosophy and Humanities and associate professor of philosophy at the Universidad de La Salle, chats with Timothy Ehlinger of UWM’s sustainable peacebuilding program. (UWM Photo/Kathleen Quirk)
Hernando A. Estévez (center), dean of the School of Philosophy and Humanities and associate professor of philosophy at the Universidad de La Salle, chats with Timothy Ehlinger of UWM’s sustainable peacebuilding program. (UWM Photo/Kathy Quirk)

Anne Dressel, director of the College of Nursing’s Global Health Equity program, outlined projects that organization has underway in Ecuador. Ron Perez, interim dean of the Zilber School of Public Health, mentioned work that the public health and engineering schools are already doing in Colombia.

Luis Fernando Múnera Congote, dean of the faculty of political science and international relations at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Cali, was impressed, he said, by the broad range of backgrounds and programs involved in these UWM projects. “In Colombia, most of the peacebuilding work is done through political science or law and psychology,” he said.

The Colombian universities are collaborating on a summit on peacebuilding studies in August of this year, and hoping to invite academics from international universities to attend and take part, according to Durán. This trip is part of an effort to make connections with faculty and programs in the U.S. to work together on that project and longer-term efforts.

While the Colombians hope to find out more about other international universities are doing in terms of peacebuilding and conflict resolution, they are also ready to talk about their own experiences – conducting research in a conflict zone and operating free programs in remote areas, for example.

“We have a lot to learn, and a lot to share,” said Durán.

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