Development Phase Management: Biosketches of Core Team Members
Michael H. Abkin, Ph.D., is Director of Operations of the National Peace Academy, working nationally and globally to increase public awareness of and support for a culture of peace. He previously served as Director of Operations at Peace Partnership International and, before that, as Special Projects Coordinator for The Peace Alliance and its Campaign for a U.S. Department of Peace. In his former academic and private sector technical career, Mike applied systems analysis and simulation modeling for international agricultural development and air transportation, including projects that took him to Nigeria, Korea, Austria, and Venezuela. Then, at the Foundation for Global Community, Mike designed and facilitated courses related to personal and cultural transformation and sustainability, developed a vocational training program in Afghanistan, and was project manager for the Foundation’s program at the 2004 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Barcelona. Mike taught high school French and mathematics with the Peace Corps in Nigeria and has volunteered at home with local nonprofits, city government, and political movements.
Louis Ensel is Co-Director of the National Peace Academy and Executive Director for The Biosophical Institute. Lou holds an English Degree from Northwestern University and has completed Master’s work toward a degree in Public Policy and Management from the Muskie School at the University of Southern Maine. He has 20 years in non-profit management from agency and community relations to associate director for a regional chapter of the Anti-Defamation League. Lou has been a policy advocate for public transportation and the financial manager for the Downeaster train service in Maine. He has worked in varied community and public environments from food banking to diversity education, mediation to neighborhood healing through consensus building. As Executive Director for the Biosophical Institute, Lou works closely with agencies that the foundation funds, manages budgetary needs, and plans for the future of the organization.
Kristin Famula is Director of Outreach and Stakeholder Relations of the National Peace Academy. She earned an M.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies from the European University Center for Peace Studies (EPU), in Stadtschlaining, Austria. She has done work at the Romania Peace Institute, organized conferences, and given trainings in peacemaking, grassroots organizing, and education. Currently, she is a Religious Education Coordinator at a church in Colorado, works as the state coordinator for the Department of Peace campaign in Colorado, and is co-chair for the Unitarian Universalist Peacemaking Curriculum working group, which created a comprehensive peacemaking guidebook for use in churches across the country.
Paula Guarnaccia currently serves the National Peace Academy in the areas of policy and administration. Paula brings twenty-six years of administrative experience in both higher education and health care. Most recently, she was Assistant Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Vermont. In that position, she was responsible for the administration of the largest College in the University. Prior to that time, she was a health care administrator for the University of Vermont, College of Medicine and the Fletcher Allen Health Care. For six years she was the Senior Administrator of the Fanny Allen Campus in Burlington, Vermont. Paula has a Masters of Education with a focus on Interdisciplinary Studies. She has been involved in peacebuilding activities at the local, state, and national levels for many years.
Tony Jenkins is Education Director of the National Peace Academy and serves as the Global Coordinator of the International Institute on Peace Education; Co-Director of the Peace Education Center at Teachers College, Columbia University; coordinator of the Global Campaign for Peace Education; and a regular visiting professor at the UN mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. In 2006, collaborating with colleagues and peace educators from around the world, Tony conceived and launched “Community-Based Institutes on Peace Education,” or CIPE. CIPEs are communities of formal and non-formal educators who learn with and from each other to address and transform local manifestations of violence through education and active citizen participation. Successful CIPE communities have thus far been established in Colombia, India, Peru, Mindanao in the Philippines, Tanzania, and Ukraine. Tony’s current work and research interests focus on examining the impacts and effectiveness of peace education methods and pedagogies in nurturing personal, social and political change and transformation. He is also interested in formal and non-formal educational design and development with special interest in alternative security systems, disarmament, and gender.
Dot Maver, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the National Peace Academy in the USA. She is an educator and peacebuilder whose keynote is inspiring cooperation on behalf of the common good. Her work in education, politics, and grassroots community organizing is focused on applied peacebuilding and the global call for ministries and departments of peace and peace academies. Previously, Dot served as President/CEO of Peace Partnership International and, before that, as Executive Director of The Peace Alliance and Campaign for a US Department of Peace. She was the National Campaign Manager for Kucinich for President 2004. She is a co-founding member of the Vermont Peace Academy and a founding board member of the Center for Cooperative Principles. An innovative educator with a teaching background in Health, Physical Education, Psychology and Philosophy at both the high school and university levels, she is on faculty with Polaris College, Denmark, was part of the 2008 lecture series at the Graduate Institute in Connecticut, USA, and the 2009 Bridging the Gap speaker series at Regis University in Denver, USA. Dot is active in community coalition building with her process model based on shared responsibility and shared leadership. In the world of fast-pitch softball Dr. Dot is known for her revolutionary fast-pitch hitting technique, The Maver Method: Secrets of Softball Hitting Success, and she is co-author of the book Conscious Education: The Bridge to Freedom.
Michael H. Abkin, Ph.D., is Director of Operations of the National Peace Academy, working nationally and globally to increase public awareness of and support for a culture of peace. He previously served as Director of Operations at Peace Partnership International and, before that, as Special Projects Coordinator for The Peace Alliance and its Campaign for a U.S. Department of Peace. In his former academic and private sector technical career, Mike applied systems analysis and simulation modeling for international agricultural development and air transportation, including projects that took him to Nigeria, Korea, Austria, and Venezuela. Then, at the Foundation for Global Community, Mike designed and facilitated courses related to personal and cultural transformation and sustainability, developed a vocational training program in Afghanistan, and was project manager for the Foundation’s program at the 2004 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Barcelona. Mike taught high school French and mathematics with the Peace Corps in Nigeria and has volunteered at home with local nonprofits, city government, and political movements.
Louis Ensel is Co-Director of the National Peace Academy and Executive Director for The Biosophical Institute. Lou holds an English Degree from Northwestern University and has completed Master’s work toward a degree in Public Policy and Management from the Muskie School at the University of Southern Maine. He has 20 years in non-profit management from agency and community relations to associate director for a regional chapter of the Anti-Defamation League. Lou has been a policy advocate for public transportation and the financial manager for the Downeaster train service in Maine. He has worked in varied community and public environments from food banking to diversity education, mediation to neighborhood healing through consensus building. As Executive Director for the Biosophical Institute, Lou works closely with agencies that the foundation funds, manages budgetary needs, and plans for the future of the organization.
Kristin Famula is Director of Outreach and Stakeholder Relations of the National Peace Academy. She earned an M.A. in Peace and Conflict Studies from the European University Center for Peace Studies (EPU), in Stadtschlaining, Austria. She has done work at the Romania Peace Institute, organized conferences, and given trainings in peacemaking, grassroots organizing, and education. Currently, she is a Religious Education Coordinator at a church in Colorado, works as the state coordinator for the Department of Peace campaign in Colorado, and is co-chair for the Unitarian Universalist Peacemaking Curriculum working group, which created a comprehensive peacemaking guidebook for use in churches across the country.
Paula Guarnaccia currently serves the National Peace Academy in the areas of policy and administration. Paula brings twenty-six years of administrative experience in both higher education and health care. Most recently, she was Assistant Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Vermont. In that position, she was responsible for the administration of the largest College in the University. Prior to that time, she was a health care administrator for the University of Vermont, College of Medicine and the Fletcher Allen Health Care. For six years she was the Senior Administrator of the Fanny Allen Campus in Burlington, Vermont. Paula has a Masters of Education with a focus on Interdisciplinary Studies. She has been involved in peacebuilding activities at the local, state, and national levels for many years.
Tony Jenkins is Education Director of the National Peace Academy and serves as the Global Coordinator of the International Institute on Peace Education; Co-Director of the Peace Education Center at Teachers College, Columbia University; coordinator of the Global Campaign for Peace Education; and a regular visiting professor at the UN mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. In 2006, collaborating with colleagues and peace educators from around the world, Tony conceived and launched “Community-Based Institutes on Peace Education,” or CIPE. CIPEs are communities of formal and non-formal educators who learn with and from each other to address and transform local manifestations of violence through education and active citizen participation. Successful CIPE communities have thus far been established in Colombia, India, Peru, Mindanao in the Philippines, Tanzania, and Ukraine. Tony’s current work and research interests focus on examining the impacts and effectiveness of peace education methods and pedagogies in nurturing personal, social and political change and transformation. He is also interested in formal and non-formal educational design and development with special interest in alternative security systems, disarmament, and gender.
Dot Maver, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the National Peace Academy in the USA. She is an educator and peacebuilder whose keynote is inspiring cooperation on behalf of the common good. Her work in education, politics, and grassroots community organizing is focused on applied peacebuilding and the global call for ministries and departments of peace and peace academies. Previously, Dot served as President/CEO of Peace Partnership International and, before that, as Executive Director of The Peace Alliance and Campaign for a US Department of Peace. She was the National Campaign Manager for Kucinich for President 2004. She is a co-founding member of the Vermont Peace Academy and a founding board member of the Center for Cooperative Principles. An innovative educator with a teaching background in Health, Physical Education, Psychology and Philosophy at both the high school and university levels, she is on faculty with Polaris College, Denmark, was part of the 2008 lecture series at the Graduate Institute in Connecticut, USA, and the 2009 Bridging the Gap speaker series at Regis University in Denver, USA. Dot is active in community coalition building with her process model based on shared responsibility and shared leadership. In the world of fast-pitch softball Dr. Dot is known for her revolutionary fast-pitch hitting technique, The Maver Method: Secrets of Softball Hitting Success, and she is co-author of the book Conscious Education: The Bridge to Freedom.