2011 Teaching Instructors
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Mark Burch
Mark Burch is an author, educator, and group facilitator. He has practised simple living since the 1960s, and since 1995 has offered workshops and courses on voluntary simplicity. He is a lecturer at The University of Winnipeg, former Director of the Campus Sustainability Office at the University of Winnipeg, and Co-Director of the Simplicity Practice and Resource Centre. He has been a featured guest on CBC-TV Man Alive, and What on Earth?, CBC Radio Ideas, Vision TV’s The Simple Way, and was a regular radio columnist on Discovering Simplicity for CBC-Winnipeg. Mark has written four books on voluntary simplicity, the most recent of which is, De-junking: A Tool for Clutterbusting.
Paul Dekar
Paul Dekar is a co-founder of the Centre for Peace Studies at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He is Emeritus Professor of Evangelism and Mission at Memphis Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee. From 2008-10, he chaired the National Council of the Fellowship of Reconciliation-USA. He has written two books on the Fellowship of Reconciliation. His recent writing on Thomas Merton and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., explore their ethical and spiritual precepts as they have taken root in communities around the world.
David Dyck
DaveDyck has been working and studying in the field of conflict resolution for more than 20 years. He developed many of the training courses offered through Resolution Skills Centre’s Certificate Program. His current focus is on mediating workplace conflicts, personal coaching, and designing and leading training courses in the private, public, and community-based sectors. He holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in Conflict Resolution Studies and a Diploma in Mediation Skills.
Wendy Kroeker
Wendy is currently employed at Canadian Lutheran World Relief as the Latin America Program Manager. She has worked as a workplace/community mediator for fifteen years and has taught annually at the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute since 2002. Wendy has an M.A. in Contemporary Theology from MBBS (Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary) , a certificate in mediation from Mediation Services and has done course work at EMU (Eastern Mennonite University) Summer Peacebuilding Institute. Wendy has facilitated trainings with community organizations in the Philippines, Burma/Myanmar, Indonesia, Cambodia and other places in SE Asia.
George Lakey
George Lakey is Visiting Professor and Research Fellow at Swarthmore College and author of eight books on peace and social change, including his most recent book, Facilitating Group Learning: Strategies for Success with Adult Learners. First arrested in a civil rights demonstration, he has been an activist in a number of movements. He has led over 1500 workshops on five continents, including within the Canadian labour movement. He founded Training for Change and directed it for fifteen years.
Michelle LeBaron
Michelle LeBaron teaches at the University of British Columbia (UBC) law faculty and is Director of the UBC Program on Dispute Resolution. Prior to coming to UBC she spent twelve years teaching at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution and the Women's Studies program at George Mason University in Virginia. From 1990-1993, she directed the Multiculturalism and Dispute Resolution Project at the University of Victoria. Michelle LeBaron has lectured and consulted around the world on cross-cultural conflict resolution, and has practiced as a family law and commercial mediator. Her most recent book is Conflict Across Cultures,with co-editor Venashri Pillay of ACCORD (South Africa) and colleagues from three other world regions. She continues to pursue research into creativity, the arts, and multiple ways of knowing as resources for bridging cultural differences.
Myla Leguro
Myla Leguro holds a Master’s degree in Peace Studies from the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. She has worked for Catholic Relief Services since 1991 on peace and development projects in Mindanao, Philippines. Her engagement in peacebuilding involved supporting local groups and organizations in peace education, interreligious dialogue, grassroots peacebuilding, and civil society peace advocacy. As program manager of the peace and reconciliation program of CRS/Philippines, Leguro organized two major peace-building institutions: the Mindanao Peacebuilding Institute (MPI) in 2000 and the Grassroots Peace Learning Center (GPLC) in 2003. In 2006, she was the first CRS-Kroc Visiting Fellow. She serves on the Catholic Peacebuilding Network's steering committee and was one of 1,000 women collectively nominated for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
Richard McCutcheon 
For thirty years Richard McCutcheon has been committed to blending his academic life with work for activist social movements and non-governmental organizations. As an activist Rick is committed to nonviolent social movements, and has been arrested on numerous occasions in solidarity actions. He was one of the first western NGO representatives to visit Iraq in 1991 and in 2000-2001 lived in Iraq for a year as the Mennonite Central Committee and American Friends Service Committee field representative. Rick coordinated the Canadian Friends Service Committee for three years, and was Research Associate on the Health of Children in War Project at McMaster University, where he also was actively part of the Centre for Peace Studies from its inception. He holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology and has published numerous papers on issues related to Iraq and conflict. He currently serves as Academic Dean of MSC and Dean of Social Sciences at CMU.
Stan McKay
Aboriginal educator Rev. Stan McKay, was Canada's first Aboriginal Moderator of the United Church of Canada (UCC), Canada's largest Protestant denomination. He sought reconciliation and understanding both within and outside the UCC, and between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples. Stan comes from Fisher River, Manitoba, a Cree First Nation community. He is the former Director of the Dr. Jessie Saulteaux Centre. He received a career National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 1997.
Kay Pranis
Kay Pranis conducts training on peacemaking circles and restorative justice across the US and Canada. She also facilitates peacemaking circles for workplace, faith community and family conflicts as well as for community building. Kay has helped develop the use of peacemaking circles in the justice system, social services, education, faith communities, neighborhoods and families. She is the author of The Little Book of Circle Processes and co-author of Peacemaking Circles: From Crime to Community and Doing Democracy – Using Circles for Public Planning. She served as the Restorative Justice Planner for the Minnesota Department of Corrections for nine years.
Mohammad Ali Shomali
Mohammad Ali Shomali is currently the Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Religions at the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute, Qum, Iran (since October 2001). He is also the dean for the postgraduate studies of the international section at the Jami’at al-Zahra. He is very interested in interreligious dialogue and has organized or attended conferences in Canada, USA, UK, Poland, Sweden, Ghana, Philippines, Georgia, Italy, Austria, and Kazakhstan. He is author or editor of nine books, including Discovering Shi‘i Islam which has been translated into 12 languages.
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