Dr. Betty A. Reardon will visit Toledo this week for informal conversations about how peace education works and how it can be used effectively.

As the founder and director of the International Institute on Peace Education, a weeklong residential experience for educators facilitating the exchange of ideas surrounding peace education, Reardon is known as the “Mother of Peace Education.”

“My belief is peace studies and peace education are the most significant issues for universities to address,” Reardon said. “We need to start looking at these fields and how [they] can address major crises.”

The Why Study Peace @ UT public conversation with Reardon about peace education, how it’s being implemented in Toledo, and ideas on how to further utilize it in the community will be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 12 in Health and Human Services Building Room 1711.

During her visit to the city, Reardon also will participate in a lunchtime dialogue with students at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 13 in Health and Human Services Building Room 1711 and a conversation with faculty and staff at 1 p.m. Thursday, April 14 in Student Union Room 2591.

Reardon founded the Peace Education Center at Columbia University, taught at universities around the world, and has experience both in formal school settings and community-based education programs. Throughout her career, she has advanced peace and global citizenship education through a focus on human security, human rights, sustainable development, ecology and gender.

The Peace Education Initiative in UT’s Judith Herb College of Education was established to help the University become a global leader in peace education. Through a variety of programming and research in peace education and peace studies, UT is working to promote understanding both in the local community and globally. The University offers a graduate certificate in peace education and is launching new peace studies major and minor academic programs.

“I’m very excited about what’s happening in Toledo,” Reardon said. “UT is poised to be a new leading peace learning institution for the country and internationally.”

The UT Peace Education Initiative also oversees the Betty A. Reardon Archives, which is housed in the University’s Canaday Center for Special Collections, which features her publications, unpublished manuscripts, curriculum, reports, scholarly presentations, and correspondence since the 1960s. Her archives have been in the Canaday Center since 2009.

To learn more about the UT Peace Education Initiative, visit utoledo.edu/education/peace.

Tags: Judith Herb College of Education