BRATTLEBORO — Windham World Affairs Council presents Dr. Therese Seibert, who will speak on “Postâ€Genocide Peacebuilding and Reconciliation in Rwanda,” on Friday, April 15, at the Marlboro College Graduate Center, 28 Vernon St.
The 7:30 p.m. talk, which is free and open to the public, will be followed by a question-and-answer period and preceded by coffee, tea, and conversation at 7 p.m.
In April 1994, genocide erupted in Rwanda. More than 800,000 Tutsi were slaughtered in the following 100 days along with many Hutu moderates, most often at the hands of their neighbors, incited and ordered to kill by genocidal leaders. Though significant challenges remain 22 years later, Rwanda's progress toward building peace and reconciliation has been impressive.
Seibert has traveled many times to Rwanda in order to develop courses on Rwanda that she now teaches; she has returned to Rwanda frequently to work with Never Again Rwanda, which sponsors a two-week Peacebuilding Institute each summer for college students such as Keene State student Shannon Cavanaugh, who will join Dr. Seibert in reviewing the state of peacebuilding and reconciliation in Rwanda.
Siebert came to Keene State College in 1998 with a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Texas in Austin. She was recognized as KSC's Teacher of the Year in 2007, received an award for Leadership in Holocaust and Genocide Awareness in 2011, and has just been awarded the 2016 President's Good Steward Award sponsored by Campus Compact.