Our congratulations and best wishes to the recipient of the
"International Education Award"
from the Philosophy Faculty
of St. Philip's College
2023 - The San Antonio Peace Center
at Northwest Vista College
San Antonio Peace Center:
Our Partner in Hope
Over the last 30 years, the San Antonio Peace Center has been at the forefront of peace and compassion advocacy and activism. The volunteers have been at the center of protests, marches, demonstrations, seminars, workshops, and direct service actions with a wide range of community partners.
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Concentrating on just the last 10 years, the Peace Center has been the catalyst for a group of partners who have worked together to advance peace and compassion with our international partners at the Corrymeela Peace Center in Northern Ireland. That relationship has involved taking faculty, staff and students from San Antonio to the Corrymeela Peace Center and bringing in peace professionals from Northern Ireland here to San Antonio. To serve this international effort, this partnership has received several grants, including one from the Lilly Fellows Program to bring American faculty to Ireland, and one from the Public Education for Peacebuilding Support initiative of the United States Institute of Peace to bring peace poets and writers from Corrymeela in Ireland to Northwest Vista College for a Summer Peace Workshop.
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The Peace Center has also worked closely with the Fulbright Scholars-in-Residence who have come to St. Philip’s College, integrating them into their local work. The first couple from the Corrymeela Peace Center was Richard and Yvonne Naylor (2016), and they were followed by Derick and Dot Wilson (2019-2020).
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Richard and Yvonne Naylor (center, top)
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Dot and Derick Wilson, with Arun Gandhi (center)
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Richard and Yvonne Naylor
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Dot and Derick Wilson |
These international visitors worked with the Peace Center everywhere from city-wide workshops to the immigration services provided by the “Bus Station Team” of the Interfaith Welcome Coalition of San Antonio, who help welcome and orient migrant families arriving in the United States. As a Fulbright Scholar visiting San Antonio in 2020, Dr. Derick Wilson helped to write the “Nurturing Hope” program which was attended by two dozen visitors from San Antonio when it was held in Northern Ireland in 2022.
In fact, we look forward to working with the Peace Center and Northwest Vista College, as we have partnered again to bring in a new Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence who is an expert on interreligious dialogue and peace and conflict studies. Prof. Vladimer Narsia, a professor at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia will be co-hosted by the San Antonio Peace Center and St. Philip’s College during the next academic year, 2023-2024.
Thus, we recognize the San Antonio Peace Center with this year’s International Education Award, as we celebrate our partnership over the last ten years, and we look forward to an exciting new year as we welcome Prof. Narsia and his family to San Antonio for the upcoming fall term.
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San Antonio peaceCENTER Moves to Northwest Vista College
January 27, 2022
(San Antonio, TX) – Jan. 25, 2022 – The peaceCENTER is reimagining its future and transitioning its leadership and location to Northwest Vista College. After being in the San Antonio community for nearly 30 years and advocating for peace initiatives, NVC will help move the organization forward.
Annual Blessing of San Antonio Peacemakers Jan 30th
To celebrate the peaceCENTER’s move to NVC within the Alamo Colleges District, Northwest Vista College will take part in the “Blessing of the San Antonio Peacemakers.” The theme this year is “What Do We Hunger For.” The ceremony marks the 64 days of the Season for Nonviolence spanning the anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination Jan. 30, 1948, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination April 4, 1968. At each blessing, the San Antonio community comes together in an interfaith ceremony featuring music, story, and ritual, to honor local peacemakers.
This year’s Peace Laureate is the San Antonio Food Bank. Dr. Junda Woo of San Antonio Metro Health, and Dr. Rev. Kenneth Kemp, from Antioch Missionary Baptist, were selected as the Golden Rule recipients. This virtual event will be livestreamed at https://youtu.be/XNuPz9lTl9w, Sunday, Jan. 30 at 3p.m. from the Whitley Center at Oblate School of Theology. Media are welcome to attend in person or tune to https://youtu.be/XNuPz9lTl9w.
Move to NVC
This historic transition this spring is a culmination of shared vision and values for San Antonio. In 2017, the peaceCENTER was the catalyst to have San Antonio recognized as a Compassionate City. The City Council unanimously voted on a resolution affirming the Charter for Compassion and the International Campaign for Compassionate Cities. The International Campaign for Compassionate Cities is a global movement inspired by the Golden Rule, or Ethic of Reciprocity, which calls on each person to treat others as they would want to be treated.
“San Antonio is a city whose residents have shown time and time again that they will choose acceptance over fear and unity over division,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg.
“The peaceCENTER at Northwest Vista College within the Alamo Colleges District will have the institutional and organizational support to ensure sustainability and future growth,” said NVC President Dr. Ric Baser. “This shift in leadership and location is an opportunity to share and replicate the collective wisdom with the next generation of peacemakers.”
This new partnership will help strengthen NVC’s existing Peace and Conflict studies program and expand its programmatic offerings. The transition and opening ceremony will take place this spring.
Since 1994, the San Antonio peaceCENTER has nurtured peace and compassion in the community. The founders, Rosalyn Falcón Collier, Ann E. Helmke, and Susan Ives are innovative, responsive, and creative in their approaches to peace. The three practical peacemakers compiled and authored a robust collection of nonviolence curriculum that became an important source and guide for many academic endeavors for peace and conflict studies program as well a toolkit for community members.
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Media Contact:
Melissa Monroe-Young, mmonroe-young@alamo.edu
Manager, Marketing & Strategic Communications
(San Antonio, TX) – Jan. 25, 2022 – The peaceCENTER is reimagining its future and transitioning its leadership and location to Northwest Vista College. After being in the San Antonio community for nearly 30 years and advocating for peace initiatives, NVC will help move the organization forward.
Annual Blessing of San Antonio Peacemakers Jan 30th
To celebrate the peaceCENTER’s move to NVC within the Alamo Colleges District, Northwest Vista College will take part in the “Blessing of the San Antonio Peacemakers.” The theme this year is “What Do We Hunger For.” The ceremony marks the 64 days of the Season for Nonviolence spanning the anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination Jan. 30, 1948, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination April 4, 1968. At each blessing, the San Antonio community comes together in an interfaith ceremony featuring music, story, and ritual, to honor local peacemakers.
This year’s Peace Laureate is the San Antonio Food Bank. Dr. Junda Woo of San Antonio Metro Health, and Dr. Rev. Kenneth Kemp, from Antioch Missionary Baptist, were selected as the Golden Rule recipients. This virtual event will be livestreamed at https://youtu.be/XNuPz9lTl9w, Sunday, Jan. 30 at 3p.m. from the Whitley Center at Oblate School of Theology. Media are welcome to attend in person or tune to https://youtu.be/XNuPz9lTl9w.
Move to NVC
This historic transition this spring is a culmination of shared vision and values for San Antonio. In 2017, the peaceCENTER was the catalyst to have San Antonio recognized as a Compassionate City. The City Council unanimously voted on a resolution affirming the Charter for Compassion and the International Campaign for Compassionate Cities. The International Campaign for Compassionate Cities is a global movement inspired by the Golden Rule, or Ethic of Reciprocity, which calls on each person to treat others as they would want to be treated.
“San Antonio is a city whose residents have shown time and time again that they will choose acceptance over fear and unity over division,” said Mayor Ron Nirenberg.
“The peaceCENTER at Northwest Vista College within the Alamo Colleges District will have the institutional and organizational support to ensure sustainability and future growth,” said NVC President Dr. Ric Baser. “This shift in leadership and location is an opportunity to share and replicate the collective wisdom with the next generation of peacemakers.”
This new partnership will help strengthen NVC’s existing Peace and Conflict studies program and expand its programmatic offerings. The transition and opening ceremony will take place this spring.
Since 1994, the San Antonio peaceCENTER has nurtured peace and compassion in the community. The founders, Rosalyn Falcón Collier, Ann E. Helmke, and Susan Ives are innovative, responsive, and creative in their approaches to peace. The three practical peacemakers compiled and authored a robust collection of nonviolence curriculum that became an important source and guide for many academic endeavors for peace and conflict studies program as well a toolkit for community members.
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Media Contact:
Melissa Monroe-Young, mmonroe-young@alamo.edu
Manager, Marketing & Strategic Communications
San Antonio peaceCENTER Sponsors
"The House" Virtual Reality Exhibition
from Northern Ireland
The San Antonio Peace Center at Northwest Vista College is proud to announce that we will be hosting the virtual reality exhibition “The House” on our campus Friday, March 10, 2023 from 10:00 AM until 3:00 PM. The event has been made possible by the generous support of the Consulate General of Ireland - Austin, Texas.
The installation, which is viewed using virtual reality headsets, has been prepared by the Commission for Victims and Survivors – a body in Northern Ireland tasked with supporting victims and survivors from the conflict in Northern Ireland. This 30-minute virtual reality exhibit addresses the legacy of the Conflict/Troubles within families and communities. It was devised to stimulate discussion and consideration of the intergenerational impact of politically motivated violence.
The campus is located at 3535 North Ellison Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78251, and there is convenient covered parking in the Texas Ash Parking Garage next door to the Desert Willow Welcome Center.
Event: “The House” - A virtual reality exhibition
Location: 2nd Floor, Live Oak Hall, Northwest Vista College
Parking: Desert Willow Parking Garage
Date: Friday, 10 MAR 2023
Time: 10:00 AM until 03:00 PM (Hour-long sessions begin on the hour)
An article on the project:
https://tinyurl.com/NI-House
The installation, which is viewed using virtual reality headsets, has been prepared by the Commission for Victims and Survivors – a body in Northern Ireland tasked with supporting victims and survivors from the conflict in Northern Ireland. This 30-minute virtual reality exhibit addresses the legacy of the Conflict/Troubles within families and communities. It was devised to stimulate discussion and consideration of the intergenerational impact of politically motivated violence.
The campus is located at 3535 North Ellison Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78251, and there is convenient covered parking in the Texas Ash Parking Garage next door to the Desert Willow Welcome Center.
Event: “The House” - A virtual reality exhibition
Location: 2nd Floor, Live Oak Hall, Northwest Vista College
Parking: Desert Willow Parking Garage
Date: Friday, 10 MAR 2023
Time: 10:00 AM until 03:00 PM (Hour-long sessions begin on the hour)
An article on the project:
https://tinyurl.com/NI-House
NVC Hosts 2023 Peace Laureates and Launches Compassionate USA
Northwest Vista College will host the 18th Annual Blessing of the Peacemakers on Sunday, Jan. 29 from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. at the Palmetto Center for the Arts Theater. The 2023 San Antonio Peace Laureates are the founders of the San Antonio Peace Center: Rosalyn Falcón Collier, Ann E. Helmke and Susan Ives. The Blessing will also serve as the launch for the Compassionate USA curriculum campaign, which was recently announced by San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg at a national mayor’s conference in Washington, DC. on Jan. 18.
The Blessing of the Peacemakers will be held at Northwest Vista College, located at 3535 N. Ellison Dr., in the Palmetto Center for the Arts. The community can attend virtually or in person by reservation at this link.
The Blessing of the Peacemakers will be held at Northwest Vista College, located at 3535 N. Ellison Dr., in the Palmetto Center for the Arts. The community can attend virtually or in person by reservation at this link.
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