I'm enjoying my session without class here in Harrisonburg. I've still made it to the coffee break everyday to visit with classmates, and yesterday I met with two professors to talk about he masters program and how they see it working for me. More on that later.
Mark started his internship yesterday and seems to feel pretty good about it. He got to go to court already, and he was really excited at frisbee on Sunday (of course, it's frisbee!) but also because an older guy who plays with us is a lawyer who now works out of his home as a legal advisor to legal aid agencies who are suing banks - in cases of bad-faith loans and such. Mark hopes to get to work with him some this summer.
I've started research for my paper for my first class. I'm thinking something along the lines of "A Critique of Conflict-Sensitive Development and its relevance for small NGOs/Non-Profits: How use or non-use of CSD principles contributes to NGO Relationship with Nationals". What do you think? The research is super-interesting, and I'm just hoping to get a rough outline done this week before I start my next class on Monday. (Yep, no Memorial Day break for this very international community. I bet if Women's Day fell during our program, we'd take a break!)
Speaking of, my next class is Biblical Foundations for Peacebuilding. Apparently, my instructor is "very conservative, very Anabaptist" so it should be another interesting experience. More along the lines of Biblical Foundation for Pacifism, I think. But I'm enjoying my reading for that class too. The first thing was about the Sermon on the Mount and taking it literally.
Conversations with professors:
I was looking for honest conversation with them about if this program is right for me, as I want to focus on international ecumenical mediation. They both were reassuring that I can get a lot of good, relevant learning out of this program.
The first professor, David Brubaker, I talked with is my academic advisor; he said I should take classes through the seminary to get the emphasis on the Christian side of things since the CJP program is strongly multi-religious. He also suggested classes the focus on the more personal conflicts ("micro-level") as opposed to the ones like my first class that are macro-level. Also, Brubaker does advising/work with intra-church conflict, helping congregations overcome divisions within their body, so that's very interesting to me. He will teach about Building Healthy Organizations and will be a great resource.
Second professor, Carl Stauffer, I was really looking forward to chatting with because he's a pastor and spent 15 years in South Africa. He was involved with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and will be teaching my last class about Building Justice in Post-War contexts. He was also very encouraging about the program and advised that I personalize it to my calling by basing my research and case-studies on topics that are relevant to international ecumenical mediation. He said that integrating faith with peacebuilding is done more in the office than the classroom but that professors (especially himself and Brubaker) are very willing to invest in Christian spiritual development of their students. So that's exciting. He was full of fun information, advice and connections related to South Africa, too.
Time's up! I have some pictures of a hike Mark and I went on Saturday. Will try to post them soon.
And my neck's feeling better. Praise God!
Mark started his internship yesterday and seems to feel pretty good about it. He got to go to court already, and he was really excited at frisbee on Sunday (of course, it's frisbee!) but also because an older guy who plays with us is a lawyer who now works out of his home as a legal advisor to legal aid agencies who are suing banks - in cases of bad-faith loans and such. Mark hopes to get to work with him some this summer.
I've started research for my paper for my first class. I'm thinking something along the lines of "A Critique of Conflict-Sensitive Development and its relevance for small NGOs/Non-Profits: How use or non-use of CSD principles contributes to NGO Relationship with Nationals". What do you think? The research is super-interesting, and I'm just hoping to get a rough outline done this week before I start my next class on Monday. (Yep, no Memorial Day break for this very international community. I bet if Women's Day fell during our program, we'd take a break!)
Speaking of, my next class is Biblical Foundations for Peacebuilding. Apparently, my instructor is "very conservative, very Anabaptist" so it should be another interesting experience. More along the lines of Biblical Foundation for Pacifism, I think. But I'm enjoying my reading for that class too. The first thing was about the Sermon on the Mount and taking it literally.
Conversations with professors:
I was looking for honest conversation with them about if this program is right for me, as I want to focus on international ecumenical mediation. They both were reassuring that I can get a lot of good, relevant learning out of this program.
The first professor, David Brubaker, I talked with is my academic advisor; he said I should take classes through the seminary to get the emphasis on the Christian side of things since the CJP program is strongly multi-religious. He also suggested classes the focus on the more personal conflicts ("micro-level") as opposed to the ones like my first class that are macro-level. Also, Brubaker does advising/work with intra-church conflict, helping congregations overcome divisions within their body, so that's very interesting to me. He will teach about Building Healthy Organizations and will be a great resource.
Second professor, Carl Stauffer, I was really looking forward to chatting with because he's a pastor and spent 15 years in South Africa. He was involved with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and will be teaching my last class about Building Justice in Post-War contexts. He was also very encouraging about the program and advised that I personalize it to my calling by basing my research and case-studies on topics that are relevant to international ecumenical mediation. He said that integrating faith with peacebuilding is done more in the office than the classroom but that professors (especially himself and Brubaker) are very willing to invest in Christian spiritual development of their students. So that's exciting. He was full of fun information, advice and connections related to South Africa, too.
Time's up! I have some pictures of a hike Mark and I went on Saturday. Will try to post them soon.
And my neck's feeling better. Praise God!
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