Peace Education and Action Center

The Speakers listed below are willing to speak to local groups on the topics noted. Please contact the Peace Center at peacenter@gmail.com if you are interested in having one of these speakers address your group. 

Andrea Blanch, Ph.D. 

Topics: Interfaith peace building in Israel/Palestine; the role of women in building conditions of sustainable peace; trauma healing and peacemaking; women's empowerment and peacemaking in the Middle East.

Brief Biography: President and Director of the Center for Religious Tolerance, a non-profit organization promoting the ideals of peace and religious tolerance. Founding member of the Abrahamic Reunion, a group of  Jewish, Christian, Muslim and Druze religious and lay leaders in Israel/Palestine who work for peace. Former state mental health commissioner who published numerous professional articles, book chapters and edited volumes on trauma, conflict management and systems change, and women's mental health.  Founding director of the Collaborative for Conflict Management in Mental Health at USF and the National Trauma Consortium.  Currently working locally and internationally to promote women in leadership and to help groups and organizations resolve conflict, heal embedded social and historical trauma, and create conditions for sustainable peace.  A 2009 Women Living Religion Fellow in the Yale program on Women, Religion, and Globalization.

Organization Affiliations: President and Director, Center for Religious Tolerance.   

Audience: Adult; Adult/College.  

Area of travel: Anywhere within reason, or anywhere if travel is reimbursed.  

Honorarium: Donations accepted. All money collected is donated to peacemakers on the ground in Israel/ Palestine.

Florida Veterans for Common Sense

Topics:  Veterans speaking on matters relating to our Statement of Principles, which can be found on our website at Floridaveteransforcommonsense.org.

Brief Biography: Our mission is to lend a hand to help Veterans Helping Veterans.

Audience (Adults; Adult/College; HS/MS): All.   

Area of travel: Outside Florida, expenses would have to be reimbursed.   

Honorarium:  Donations accepted.

Mercedes Frace 

Topics: Nonviolent Communication (NVC), also called Compassionate Communication or conscious languaging - the work of Marshall Rosenberg; empathy skills; racism and diversity as it relates to NVC principles; conflict resolution/mediation using the NVC process.

Brief Biography: With over 5 years and numerous hours of certified training with Nonviolent Communication developer Marshall Rosenberg and other trainers, she is a registered trainer candidate with the Center for Nonviolent Communication and is currently in the Life09 program with master trainer Robert Gonzales. She resides in Venice where she co-parents her 10-year-old daughter and is working on her first NVC publication.

Organization Affiliations: Board member of Peace Education and Action Center; member, Florida NVC Network (was Suncoast Network for Compassionate Communication); supporter, Center for Nonviolent Communication. 

Audience: Age 12 to adult.  

Area of travel: Nationally.  

Honorarium: Possibly.

Bonnie Beth Greenball, J.D. 

Topics:  Human rights and the Constitution, particularly relating to race and gender.

Brief Biography: Associate Director, Institute for Public Policy and Leadership, University of South Florida Sarasota/Manatee.

Organization Affiliations: Institute for Public Policy and Leadership, University of South Florida Sarasota/Manatee.

 Audience: High School and up.   Honorarium:None.

Beverly Hill

 Topics: Peace-building through informal networks, education, and humanitarian work.

 Brief Biography: Beverly is a Ph.D. student in the USF Department of Anthropology. With a concentration in Biocultural Medical Anthropology, she is specializing in finding solutions to human social problems in the arena of health and well-being through disaster relief and humanitarian assistance. Her current focus is on formal and informal social networks and organizational culture in the nonprofit realm of humanitarian assistance. Beverly has a B.S. degree in Wellness Leadership, an M.Ed. degree in Secondary Health Education, and coordinated and taught college-level health promotion classes from 1997-2007. She has focused on research for the past two years as she works on her doctoral dissertation, and has worked on a number of grant projects related to youth risk behavior and education, community development, and disaster response and humanitarian assistance.  

Organization Affiliations: PEACenter (board member); Shelter Box USA (Response Team Member, International Grants Advisory Committee member); Society for Applied Anthropology (student member); University of South Florida (student).

Audience: Groups in all areas, particularly in schools.   Area of travel: South Florida.   Honorarium: Flexile and negotiable.

Andrew Hudson 

Topics: I am available to lead interactive group discussions on peacemaking or nonviolence, focusing on the stories of the individual and the groups the individuals are part of.  For example, at a private school, the individuals can tell personal stories of trying to get along, and can also talk about how the school got started, its history, etc., as well as our country's history with peacemaking and violence. I like to note that with telling stories, there need be no argument. If I believe that violence is never necessary, and you believe it sometimes is, we can have a conflictual, philosophical discussion about it.  But if I tell a story about a gandhian triumph, and you talk about Nelson Mandela's campaigns in the '60's in South Africa involving violent components, we can learn from each other in the creative tension between those stories.

Brief Biography: Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from Reed College in Portland, OR. I come from a family of ministers and teachers.  We've always led groups in activities that involved growth, from classrooms to musical experiences to directing camps.  My heritage is to focus on how telling our stories can build bridges across the fault lines in society. I have been trained in 'story circle bible study,' which uses ancient stories to illuminate our current individual and group realities. I love doing that, and find that telling stories can work for many purposes and have led groups doing it in several peacemaking contexts.

Organization Affiliations: Board member, Peace Education and Action Center; board member, Manatee UU Fellowship.   

Audience: Adult; Adult/College.   Area of travel: Manatee and Sarasota counties.   Honorarium: Donation.

Samar Jarrah

Topics: History of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; US policy toward Israel/Palestine; Israeli and Palestinian peace movements; the wall; the right of return; media coverage; Arab perceptions of the conflict and the US role; the book Arab Voices Speak to American Hearts.

Brief Biography:  Samar Dahmash-Jarrah is a Kuwait-born Palestinian-American speaker, journalist, and educator. She has traveled extensively throughout North America, Europe, and the Middle East and has lived in Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and America.  Her professional accomplishments include being a contributor to CNN World Report; news editor and reporter for Jordan Television; editor and reporter for Jordan Weekly; and a Political Science instructor at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. These experiences have allowed her to see the Middle East conflicts from many different viewpoints.  Dahmash-Jarrah holds a Master of Arts degree in Political Science, a Bachelor of Arts in Middle East Studies, a Certificate of Merit and many Service Awards from the American University in Cairo.

Organization Affiliations: Arab Voices Speak to American Hearts.  

Audience (Adults; Adult/College; HS/MS): All.   Area of Travel: US, Canada, Europe, Arab world.   Honorarium: travel expenses for self and assistant.

Topics:  "A Cultural Shift toward Peace: The Need for a National Symbol"; "Honoring the Peacemakers"; and "Peace is Socially Acceptable."

Brief Biography: Distinguished Professor at the University of South Florida; Chair of the US Peace Memorial Foundation; Editor of the US Peace Registry; licensed Clinical Psychologist; has actively opposed US war and aggression since 1965; awarded the 2007 Prize for the Psychology of Peace and Social Justice at the 115th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association recognizing him for "more than four decades of outstanding contributions to peace and humanitarian assistance;" and his biography is included in the latest editions of Who's Who in the World and Who's Who in America.

 Organization Affiliations: Chair and CEO, US Peace Memorial Foundation, Inc. http://www.USPeaceMemorial.org.  

Audience (Adults; Adult/College; HS/MS): All.   Area of travel: Nationwide.   Honorarium: Travel expenses are requested (or equivalent in donations to the Foundation) if the location of the presentation is more than 60 miles from Tampa or the audience is expected to be less than 25 people.

David Less

Topics: Holy Land, Meditation, Global Travel to foster Peace, religion and Spirituality.

Brief Biography: David applies the fruits of his personal meditation practice toward peace work in the Holy Land and directing Rising Tide International, a spiritual center dedicated to the transformation of consciousness. As a founding member of the Abrahamic Reunion, a group of spiritual and religious leaders in Israel and Palestine, he has helped to encourage leaders to use religion as a force for peace and reconciliation rather than separation and conflict.  His artful teaching of meditation is appreciated by the many who attend his seminars, retreats, and intensives. David's generosity and joyful spirit inspire seekers all over the world. David is the author of "Universal Meditations-Recipes for a Peaceful Mind".

Organization Affiliations: Rising Tide International; Abrahamic Reunion.

Audience (Adults; Adult/College; HS/MS): All.   Area of travel: To be determined.   Honorarium: To be detrmined.  

Anna Lewis, Ph.D.

Topics: Inter-active workshops and simple presentations on teaching tolerance, non-violent communication, education for peace, religious tolerance, personal contributions to a more peaceful world; science education and how it may be taught to contribute to a more peaceful world; learning to think critically as a component of character development, imagining ourselves and others differently.

Brief Biography:  Masters degree in Instructional Technology and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction in Science Education with a cognate in Diversity. Has 4 years of training in Nonviolent Communication. Has written several award-winning papers exploring new perspectives in education that attend to the realities of a diverse and complex world. Has engaged in comparative religious studies and worked in India as a program manager assisting women in creating and maintaining suitable incomes. Personal goal is to assist in creating and supporting opportunities that allow individuals to find more tolerant and peaceful ways to live together.

 Organization Affiliations: Project Manager for the Center for Religious Tolerance.  

 Audience (Adults; Adult/College; HS/MS):  All.   Area of travel: Mostly Tampa area; on weekends Sarasota, Venice and other areas possible.   Honorarium: No.

Fran Palmeri

Brief Biography: Florida nature writer/photographer. Getting to know this wondrous peninsula over a span of forty years has been a kind of green pilgrimage. About five years ago I started photographing intensively and sending essays and photos about our habitats and native species to the Florida press and elsewhere. As I’ve come to understand that our relationship with the planet is a peace issue, I see myself as primarily as educator and advocate. My hope is that if people see what I have seen they will be moved to act in the interest of the land.

Organization Affiliations: Sarasota Monthly Meeting (Quakers); Sarasota Tree Advisory Council; Florida Native Plant Society; Sierra Club; Manasota 88.

Audience: Elementary school children; adults.   Area of travel: Sarasota County.   Honorarium: None.

Deri Joy Ronis, Ph.D.

Topics: Creating a culture of peace; the gift of conflict; what is healthy anger?; the use of mediation in family, schools, and business; creating a more just world.  

 Brief Biography: Private practice specializing in psycho-spiritual issues, anger management, behavioral therapy, family issues, and addictionology. Current member of the Rotary Club of Sarasota Bay, Florida; completed Rotary Leadership Institute training levels 1 and 2. Florida State Certified Family/County Mediator, Corporate Mediation, since 1987. Facilitator of DUI groups in Sarasota, FL. Consultant to the School Board of Sarasota's Safe School Department and trainer in study circles in healing racism at Sarasota High School. Redress mediator for US Postal Service. Adjunct professor at The Union Institute, Miami, Florida. Consultant to the Conflict Resolution Clinic, the Bahamian Bar Association, the Bahamian Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Social Workers, Nassau, Bahamas. Consultant to the Palm Beach County Board of Education and the Palm Beach County Community Foundation's Healing Racism Project. Trainer and educator in anger management, multi-cultural diversity, human resource management, industrial/organizational psychology, personal growth, conflict prevention and intervention. Current spiritual leader at Unity in Brandon, Florida. 2007 award recipient of the Rotary University Professor and Goodwill Ambassador at Galen University, San Ignacio, Belize. 2008 award recipient of community grant from Florida Academy of Professional Mediators.

 Organization Affiliations: Association for Conflict Resolution; Florida Academy of Professional Mediators; International Association of Counselors and Therapists; Rotary International Alumni.

 Audience (Adults; Adult/College; HS/MS): All.   Area of travel: Willing to travel if paid for mileage or air fare.   Honorarium: Yes; minimum of $150 for one hour presentation.

Laurel Schiller

Brief Biography: Nursery co-owner with degrees in wildlife biology and systematics and ecology. Taught biology at Roosevelt University in Chicago. Worked as a mammalogist at the New York Zoological Society (at the Bronx Zoo) and at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Former National Landscape Design Critic (Florida Garden Club) and Florida Master Gardener. Currently completing the Florida Master Naturalist program.  Since she moved to Venice, Florida, 16 years ago, her interests have been channeled into preserving the natural environment.  She is a past president of the Friends of Oscar Scherer Park, served as a board member of the Rails to Trails Legacy Park, and recently completed six years as a Sarasota County Planning Commissioner.  She designs native plantings for natural areas for homeowners and homeowner associations. She specializes in native plant restoration and mitigation work and enjoys creating wildlife habitat. She has worked on native plant designs for numerous school sites and for state, county, and city lands. With her partner, Dan Walton, she has written Natural Florida Landscaping published by Pineapple Press in April 2007.

Organization Affiliations: Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Speakers’ Bureau; Education Chair for the Florida Native Nursery Association; member of the Sarasota Tree Advisory Council, Chair of the Environmental Task Force of the City of Venice, and member of the Environmental Policy Task Force for Sarasota County.

 Audience (Adults; Adult/College; HS/MS): Groups and societies.   Area of travel: Southwest Florida.   Honorarium : None.

Susan Slack

Topics: (1) Create a peaceful culture in the classroom through the arts of singing, circle dancing and drumming; learn teamwork and social adjustment, reduce stress and learn about other cultures.  (2)  Dances of Universal Peace are an actual experience of peace.  Rather than a lecture format, the Dances offer an opportunity to touch upon different religions through repetition of sacred phrases from Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and native traditions while gently moving in a circle.  They are presented in a casual, focused manner, taking into consideration the comfort zone of participants.  The outcome is a joyful bonding for your organization or conference and an indescribable inner peace.

Brief Biography: Senior Mentor for the Dances of Universal Peace and a teaching and performing artist.  Through the "Reading Rhythm" program, she has worked with teachers and students, teaching how to incorporate peaceful activities into the classroom as illustrated in her book, Come Join the Circle.  A strong believer in the arts as a vehicle to peace and understanding, she has been a Teaching Artist for the Sarasota County Arts Council, Chautauqua County Arts Council, Arts Council of Western New York and Young Audiences of Western New York.  She has offered workshops on the west coast of Florida, Chautauqua Institution and Omega Institute. She was a founding partner of "Dramatic Solutions" an interactive business theater company with corporate clients, including a one year contact with Walt Disney World's Diversity Department.

Organization Affiliations: Founder, Reading Rhythm; Mentor Teachers Guild of the Dances of Universal Peace.

Audience: Pre-K through Middle School classroom teachers; adults.   Area of travel: One hour drive from Sarasota. Honorarium:

Arlene Sweeting

Topics:  Why Teach Peace?;  Role of Independent Media; Building a Culture of Peace

Brief Biography:  Arlene taught public school for 7 years in Manatee County and was a Candidate for the Florida State House of Representatives in 2000 and 2002.  She co-founded and ran Fogartyville Cafe, a progressive community coffeehouse in Bradenton, for five years before founding WSLR 96.5, a low power community radio station in Sarasota.  Arlene is currently the station manager at WSLR.

Organizational Affiliations:  WSLR, Peace Education and Action Center, Sierra Club.

Honorarium:  Donations accepted.

Adam Tebrugge

Topics: Criminal justice and reform; death penalty; homelessness.

Brief Biography: Born in Tampa; graduated from New College and FSU College of Law; 23 years at Public Defender's Office; trained attorneys in death penalty cases.

Organization Affiliations: Florida Bar; Florida Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys; Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness.

Audience (Adults; Adult/College; HS/MS): All.   Area of travel: Southwest Florida.   Honorarium: No

Cece Yocum

Topics: Burundi to Bogota: Trauma Healing Across Cultures.