Former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, retired Naval Captain and NASA Astronaut Mark Kelly, spoke at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum on Augsburg’s campus in September. Following a failed attempt on Giffords’听life in 2011, Giffords and Kelly formed the “Americans for Responsible Solutions”, an organization centered around reducing gun violence. Citing loopholes in current U.S. gun laws, the organization听supports legislation for common sense gun laws and reform.
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This fall’s Nobel Peace Prize Forum showcased the innovative “Hex House,” a pop-up emergency shelter created to help respond听to refugee and natural disaster housing crises. As part of Augsburg University’s continued commitment to social justice and technology, this six-sided, 510 square-foot prototype听was听constructed and on display at Murphy听Square throughout the听2017 Nobel Peace Prize听Forum. The tiny houses can be packed in a kit, shipped flat, and听assembled with听tools and instructions, much like an IKEA design.
See the stories听at 听
(MINNEAPOLIS) 鈥� The 29th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum, an international peace congress, is September 15-16 in Minneapolis. The 2017 Forum will focus on dialogue as a bridge to cross lines of difference on a range of contentious issues, from instability in North Africa and the Middle East, to gun violence reduction and the partisan 鈥淩ed-Blue鈥� divide in the United States. The Forum will also honor the 2015 laureate, the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, recognized for its work toward building a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia.
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The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Forum will be held at the Augsburg University campus, 2211 Riverside Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55454. Information and tickets are available at the website.
Lida Poletz at lpoletz@gmail.com or 612-839-7489.
The Nobel Peace Prize Forum, hosted and presented by Augsburg University, brings together students and community members with Nobel Peace Prize laureates, world leaders and accomplished peacemakers to work on building a world in which people can live full, rich, meaningful lives. Under the auspices of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, the Nobel Peace Prize Forum inspires peacemaking by focusing on the work of laureates and international peacemakers and peacebuilders. More at .
Augsburg University offers more than 50 undergraduate majors and nine graduate degrees to nearly 3,600 students of diverse backgrounds at its campus in the vibrant center of the Twin Cities and the Rochester site. Augsburg educates students to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders. An Augsburg education is defined by excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies, guided by the faith and values of the Lutheran church, and shaped by its urban and global settings.
(MINNEAPOLIS) 鈥� The 28th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum, an international peace congress, is June 6-8 in Bloomington, Minnesota. Kailash Satyarthi, who was awarded the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for his work liberating more than 80,000 children from slavery in his home country of India, will present each day of the Forum.
Satyarthi will share his work to eliminate child slavery and child trafficking. To date, he and his organization Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Childrem Movement) have rescued more than 85,000 children in India from slavery and exploitation, enrolled the children in school, and pioneered India’s first child-protection laws.
鈥淲e鈥檙e so honored to welcome Kailash Satyarthi to the Forum to share insights and experiences from his life鈥檚 work, and to do so at the center of a network of peace builders who are working to ensure more widespread and lasting success on these vital efforts to improve quality of life and opportunity for people around the world,鈥� said Gina Torry, executive director of the Forum.
鈥淚t is through an embrace of innovation, collaboration, dialogue and the moral daring exhibited by leaders such as Kailash Satyarthi that we can identify and address peace and security implications of 鈥� and connections among 鈥� human trafficking, migration, refugees and climate change.鈥�
Continue reading “World leaders in Minnesota June 6-8 for Peace Prize Forum”
(MINNEAPOLIS) 鈥� The 28th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum will host Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kailash Satyarthi from June 6-8. Satyarthi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for his work liberating more than 80,000 children from slavery in his home country of India. In addition to sharing his work to eliminate child slavery, Satyarthi will identify and address at the Forum peace and security implications of 鈥� and connections among 鈥� human trafficking, migration, refugees and climate change.
Satyarthi also will speak on June 7 and June 8. A detailed schedule of events is available on the Nobel Peace Prize Forum website.
Continue reading “Photo Opportunity: Nobel Peace Prize Forum”
Gina Torry, executive director of the Augsburg-hosted Nobel Peace Prize Forum,听is the听author of the United Nation’s “Guidance for Mediators: Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Ceasefire and Peace Agreements,” which has been used to end conflict-related sexual violence against women and children.
She is available to address with听media:
“If left unaddressed, sexual violence听can be used as a means to continue acts of war outside the purview of agreements and monitoring teams, which can trigger cycles of vengeance and vigilantism, and risk undermining confidence in agreements and possibly the mediation process itself,” Torry said.
Torry has worked closely with the UN, its member states, regional organizations, women鈥檚 civil society groups, and networks worldwide. She most recently served as executive director of the Peace Research Endowment, the North American presence of the Peace Research Institute Oslo. Prior to that, Torry worked for several years with the UN Department of Political Affairs Policy and Mediation Division.
To arrange an interview, contact Stephanie Weiss, news and media services director, at 612.330.1476 or by email at weisss@augsburg.edu.
The Nobel Peace Prize Forum garnered a range of media coverage before and after the event. Some of the coverage is documented below.
Bring Me the News: Former President Jimmy Carter to speak at Nobel Prize event in Minneapolis
February 27Minnesota Public Radio aired a presentation from the Nobel Peace Prize Forum by Daniel Wordsworth, director of the American Refugee Committee, about the ARC’s humanitarian programs in 11 countries. After Wordsworth’s presentation, he participated in a question and answer session moderated by MPR’s Tom Weber. Listen to “” on the MPR website.
Yemi Melka ’15听appeared in a Minneapolis Star Tribune article about the #PeaceItForward campaign linked to the听Nobel Peace Prize Forum.
The Nobel Peace Prize Forum held a professional photo shoot at Augsburg College as part of the national social media campaign. Students, faculty, and staff stopped by throughout the day to take photos听with hand-written signs displaying how they help to build peace. The participants’ photos will be shown as part of a video at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Forum.
The Nobel Peace Prize Forum, sponsored听by Augsburg College and other organizations, will feature former President Jimmy Carter as an honored听laureate speaker. On the docket for听President Carter听is听a moderated discussion titled, “A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power.”
To听read more on the #PeaceItForward campaign, visit the Star Tribune news site. To, visit the NPPF site.
The Augsburg College听hosted听Nobel Peace Prize Forum听was mentioned in an MPR News article about an exhibit at the听American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis.
The new听exhibit, which originates from the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, Sweden, is titled “Nobel Creations” and features couture garments designed to represent the six different Nobel Peace Prizes –听physics, chemistry, peace, medicine, economics, and literature.
More than 120 Augsburg College students contributed to a companion show, “Shaping Peace,” which explores the past 128 Nobel Peace Prize laureates and aims to broaden awareness of the Nobel Peace Prize.听To , visit the MPR News site.
