UAF to host online conference on conflict resolution

April 2, 2018

Navajo code talker Peter MacDonald will be the featured guest speaker on April 11 at the eighth annual International Cyber Conference on Conflict Resolution at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The conference, which is open to the public, will be held from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Wood Center ballroom. It will include a live panel along with a montage screen with other participants. Additional guest speakers will include Steven Rhodes, former U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe, and Omar Quadat, who prosecuted alleged terrorists for war crimes as a lawyer for the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of Military Commissions.

MacDonald is the only four-term chairman of the Navajo Tribe. He was born in Arizona and served the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II as a Navajo code talker, one of the most storied units in U.S. military history.

The conference is a town-hall style discussion. UAF event sponsors include the Center for Cross-Cultural Studies, the Department of Communication and Journalism, the Alaska Biomedical Learning and Student Training program, and the Department of Diversity and Equal Opportunity. California State University, Dominguez Hills, is a co-sponsor of the conference.

Topics will include the history of the code talkers and the related history of other war veterans; how today’s veterans are treated and how we, as a society, can improve their situation; and proposals for improving diplomacy, leadership and peace-building. The audience will have an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the conference.

The conference was started by Brian Jarrett, a former UAF Department of Justice faculty member and current director of the negotiation, conflict resolution and peace-building program at California State University, Dominguez Hills. The conference has grown in international recognition for its efforts to promote and improve restorative justice practices and peace-building.

ADDITIONAL CONTACT: Polly Hyslop, 907-474-6418, physlop@alaska.edu