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PLU Peace Scholars leave for Nobel Peace Prize Forum
PLU Peace Scholars leave for Nobel Peace Prize Forum
Juniors Andrew Larsen and Amy Delo will be attending the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize forum this year in Minneapolis. (Photo: John Froschauer/PLU)
Dr. William Foege ’57 is a keynote speaker at the event
Andrew Larsen ’15 and Amy Delo ’15 will be representing PLU as the Peace Scholars for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Forum. While attending the three-day forum, held annually in Minnesota the last 26 years, the two will be listening to Nobel Peace Prize-winning speakers such as Leymah Gbowee, honored for her leadership in the nonviolent struggle for women’s rights and safety.
Larsen is a religion and anthropology double major, with a political science minor. Larsen spent the past year in Serbia studying peace and conflict resolution, and would like to work with youth when he leaves PLU. Delo is a political science and global studies major and is considering going into the Peace Corps or furthering her education through graduate studies in international relations.
They also will hear PLU alum Dr. William Foege ’57, who led the fight to eradicate smallpox in the 1970s and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama. Anna McCracken ’14, a 2013 Peace Scholar, will introduce Dr. Foege.
Watch Forum Speakers Live at PLU
As a full sponsor of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum, PLU will Livestream the March 7-9 keynote addresses for the campus and community. The events are free and open to the public, and audience members can participate in the live Q&As following the addresses.
Here are the dates, times, locations and speakers:
Friday, March 7, 1:15-3:30 p.m., Rieke 103: Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group.
Saturday, March 8, 1:15-3:30 p.m., Anderson University Center 133: Epidemiologist Dr. William Foege, PLU alum and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Sunday, March 9, 2-4 p.m., Anderson University Center 133: Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
“I like the fact they bring in speakers from business and science as well,” said Claudia Berguson, associate professor of Norwegian and Scandinavian Area Studies, who will accompany the students. Berguson is also the Svare-Toven Professor of Norwegian and Scandinavian Studies at PLU. Becoming one of the universities associated with the forum was one of President Thomas W. Krise’s priorities when he arrived at PLU. A five-college consortium—Augsburg, Augustana, Concordia (Moorehead), Luther and St. Olaf—established the forum in 1988.The forum is the only affiliation of the Nobel Institute in Oslo with colleges and universities in the U.S. Scholars from the colleges began attending the conference in 2011, and for the last two years, PLU has sent scholars, including McCracken and Bruno Correa ’15 in 2013 and, in 2012, Colin Mischel ’12, who majored in Norwegian and Scandinavian Studies, with a minor in peace and conflict dialogue.
This year, 19 students formally applied and wrote essays to compete for one of two slots at the forum, Berguson said.