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Academic Resume

Dr. Emily E. Welty is founding director of one of the largest undergraduate Peace and Justice Studies program in the USA. Her scholarship focuses on intersections of art and activism, humanitarian aid, religious dimensions of peacemaking, nuclear disarmament and nonviolent social movements. She is part of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). She has experience with human rights monitoring and peacebuilding in Colombia, Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Myanmar/Burma, Sri Lanka, China, South Africa, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Northern Ireland, Israel/Palestine, Jordan, Kiribati and West Papua. Dr. Welty has co-edited three peer-reviewed books.

Education

2011

PhD in Study of Religions | University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)

Dissertation on the role of faith-based NGOs in peacebuilding and development work in Uganda and Kenya, case study of Mennonite Central Committee.

2005

MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution | American University, School of International Service

GPA: 3.98. Thesis on religious involvement in the struggle against apartheid, field research in South Africa.

2000

BA in Religious Studies | College of Wooster

GPA: 3.98.

Prestigious Awards and Honors

  • International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Nobel Peace Prize, 2017

  • Inaugural Opportunitas in Action Award, Pace University, 2019

  • Honorary Doctorate, Graceland University, 2018

  • Pi Gamma Mu Scholarship Medal, 2018

  • Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service, 2017

  • Humanitarian of the Year, City of Independence, Missouri, 2017

  • Pi Gamma Mu Scholar Award, 2017

  • Doenges Fellowship, 2015-2016, Mary Baldwin College

  • Watson Fellow 2000-2001 for the study of religion and peacemaking in Israel/Palestine, South Africa and Northern Ireland.

  • Top 40 Presbyterians Under 40, 2004

  • Hurst Scholar 2003-2004, American University.

  • Robert James Brown Memorial Peace Prize for the student demonstrating the deepest commitment to peacebuilding, 2000.

  • Parker Myers Memorial Prize for the most outstanding student in the study of religion, 2000.

  • Elias Compton Prize for the most outstanding first year student, College of Wooster, 1998.

  • Copeland Grant for Independent Study, 2000.

Academic Appointments

2011-Present

Associate Professor and Director of Peace and Justice Studies | Pace University, New York City

  • Founded and built one of the largest undergraduate Peace and Justice Studies majors in the USA

  • Build community for tenure-track and adjunct faculty

  • Co-Director of Pace's International Disarmament Institute

  • Oversee Activist-in-Residence program and series of panels, events and workshops

  • Teach ten courses which I have designed: Introduction to Peace and Justice Studies, Reconciliation and Transitional Justice, Nonviolence: Theory and Practice, Humanitarianism and International Aid, African Politics, Capstone in Peace and Justice Studies; Global Politics of Peace and Social Justice; Grief, Resilience and Resistance; Artist as Activist, Activist as Artist; Internship in Peace and Justice Studies.

2008-2019

Various Visiting Appointments

  • Visiting Professor, Canadian Mennonite University (Summer 2019)

  • Visiting Humanities Scholar/Doenges Fellowship, Mary Baldwin College (2015-2016)

  • Visiting Professor, Graceland University (Winter 2010)

  • Visiting Lecturer, American University (Summer 2008)

  • Visiting Lecturer, Makerere University (Autumn 2008)

Other Professional Experiences

2015-2023

Vice-Moderator and Acting Moderator | World Council of Churches, Commission on International Affairs 

  • Acted as key coordinator for international advocacy on peace and justice issues for Protestant churches worldwide

  • Chair of the Nuclear Disarmament Working Group, central liaison with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN)

  • Facilitation of a meeting between North and South Koreans, Hong Kong, November 2016.

  • Consultant for the International Hearing on the Misuse of the Blasphemy Law and Religious Minorities in Pakistan, World Council of Churches, Geneva, (September 2012)

  • Consultant for “Towards a Sustained Peace and Reconciliation in Post-War Sri Lanka”, World Council of Churches, Geneva, (September 2012)

  • Participated in solidarity visit to meet with and interview various human rights actors and people working for reconciliation in Sri Lanka (July 2012)

  • Acted as resource person and consultant for first major meeting on peacebuilding, reconciliation and Christianity in Myanmar/Burma (August 2012)​

2014-2017

Main Representative  to the United Nations | International Peace Research Association

  • Represented the interests of peace and justice studies and peace research to a variety of United Nations bodies; serve as technical expert and advisor

2000-2019

International Aid Worker and Human Rights Observer | Various Agencies

  • Solidarity accompaniment trip to West Papua with other faith-based organizations, February 2019

  • Conducted a gender analysis and faith-based NGO analysis for Outreach International’s program in Haiti (April 2010).

  • Co-wrote a report evaluating Counterpart International’s aid program in South Sudan (July-August 2007).

  • Investigated history of US-Nicaraguan relations with Asociación de Kairos Formación in Nicaragua (July 2005).

  • Monitored human rights situation, documented interactions between Israeli settlers, Israeli Defense Force soldiers and Palestinians with the Christian Peacemakers Team in Hebron (June-July 2003).

  • Program Coordinator at Peace People in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Served as assistant to Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire; created teaching materials on conflict resolution; mediated conversations between Protestant paramilitary teenagers (April-July 2001).

  • Founded Refugee ESL with the Mennonite Central Committee; developed and managed English as a Second Language program for refugees from Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi in Durban, South Africa (October 2000-April 2001).

  • Scholar-in-Residence at Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Israel/Palestine.  Conducted research on co-existence projects; interviewed leaders in religious interfaith movement (August-October 2000).

2015-2017

Field Research Team | The Civilians

  • Conducted ethnographic interviews and write pieces for the Let Me Ascertain You series at The Public Theater/Joe’s Pub. 

Leadership of Associations and Membership of Professional Bodies

  • Board Member to the Peace and Justice Studies Association (2016-2018)

  • Board member of World Council of Churches’ Commission on International Affairs. Elected to a seven year term (2006-2013). 

  • Working Group on Interreligious Dialogue Cooperation for the World Council of Churches. (2006-2013).

  • Working Group on the Millennium Development Goals for the World Council of Churches, elected as Co-Moderator (2011-2013).

  • Peace and Justice Studies Association – board member (2016-2018)

  • International Studies Association (member of special section on Peace Studies, Religion and International Relations, Feminist Theory/Gender studies)

  • American Association of Religion

  • African Studies Association

  • Anabaptist-Mennonite Scholars Network

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Books

Co-editor of Peace and Justice Studies: Critical Pedagogy (New York: Routledge, 2019).

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Co-editor of Occupying Political Science: the Occupy Wall Street Movement from New York to the World (New York: Palgrave, 2013).

 

Co-author of Unity in Diversity: Interfaith Dialogue in the Middle East (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press, 2007)

Chapters in Edited Books

“Religious Advocacy and Activism for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons” in Global Activism and Humanitarian Disarmament, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pages 103-138.

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“The Tyranny of Good Intentions: Critical Reflexivity and Peace and Justice Pedagogy” in Peace and Justice Studies: Critical Pedagogy, New York: Routledge, 2019.

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“Conclusion” in Peace and Justice Studies: Critical Pedagogy, New York: Routledge, 2019.

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“The Role of Short Term Volunteers in Responding to Humanitarian Crises: lessons from the 2010 Haiti Earthquake” in Leadership in Extreme Situations, eds. M. Holenweger et. al. (Switzerland: Springer International Publishing) 2017.

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"Anxiety and the Undergraduate Classroom" in Reflections on Academic Lives: Identities, Struggles, and Triumphs in Graduate School and Beyond, eds. Staci Zavattaro and Shannon Orr (New York: Palgrave Macmillan) 2017. 

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“Activism, Agency and Assemblage: Performing Resistance in Occupy Wall Street and Idle No More” Peace Studies Between Tradition and Innovation (Cambridge University Press), 2015.

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“276 Cups of Tea: ethnography in peace and conflict research” in Peace and Conflict Studies Research: A Qualitative Perspective, (Information Age), 2014.

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"The Art of Nonviolence: the adaptations and improvisations of Occupy Wall Street" Occupy Political Science: the Occupy Wall Street movement from New York to the World (New York: Palgrave), 2013.

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"Occupy Wall Street as a Palimpsest: overview of a dynamic movement" with Matthew Bolton and Nick Zukowski, Occupy Political Science: the Occupy Wall Street movement from New York to the World (New York: Palgrave), 2013.

 

“An Occupied Political Science: Concluding Reflections on Downtown Political Thinking” with Christopher Malone, Matthew Bolton and Meghana Nayak, Occupy Political Science: the Occupy Wall Street movement from New York to the World (New York: Palgrave), 2013.

Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals

“The Communal Ethos of the Mennonite Central Committee: testing the bounds of community in Kenya” Communal Societies, Volume 38, Number 2, 2018, pp.1-29.

 

“A Mennonite Peace? An analysis of the Mennonite Central Committee’s Work in East Africa” Mennonite Quarterly Review, Volume XC, October 2016.

 

"The Theological Landscape of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty: the Catholic Church, the World Council of Churches and the bomb" Global Policy, 2016.

 

“Faith-based Peacebuilding and Development: an analysis of the Mennonite Central Committee in Uganda and Kenya” Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, Volume 9, Number 2, 2014

 

“Occupy Wall Street as ‘American Spring’?” Peace Review: a journal of social justice, Volume 26, Issue 1, 2014, pp. 35-41.

 

"Simplicity and Social Justice: an examination of value-driven practice in the Mennonite Central Committee" Peace Studies Journal, Volume 5, Issue 3, November 2012, pp.53-71.

Recent Articles in the Popular and Policy Media

“Expansive Love in a Borderless World: Nuclear Disarmament in Fraught Times” Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, Georgetown University, February 6, 2020 

Available: https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/expansive-love-in-a-borderless-world-nuclear-disarmament-in-fraught-times

 

“Beyond 75: collaborative power to eradicate nuclear weapons” Justpeace, Number 328, July/August 2020

 

“Practicing the Interfaith Discipline of Hope” World Council of Churches, 10 August 2020

Available: https://blog.oikoumene.org/wccpilgrimage/posts/practicing-the-interfaith-discipline-of-hope

 

“Decolonize this Sabbatical, Decolonize this Quarantine” Peace Chronicle, Summer 2020

 

“We are Unstoppable, Another World is Possible” Juniata Voices, Volume 19, Juniata College, October 2018, available: 

https://www.juniata.edu/offices/juniata-voices/past-version/media/volume-19/Welty_Nuclear_Weapons_vol_19_pgs_43_51.pdf

 

“Balancing Faith and Hope in a Time of Violence”  Beyond Nuclear International May 17 2020

Available: https://beyondnuclearinternational.org/2020/05/17/nuclear-disarmament-in-fraught-times/

 

“Radical Love for the Stranger and Banning the Bomb” Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace, WCC, 12 October 2017 Available: https://blog.oikoumene.org/posts/radical-love-for-the-stranger-and-banning-the-bomb

Recent Speaking Engagements and Conferences

Invited Keynotes

  • “The Importance of Place” Keynote address, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, April 28, 2022

  • “Imagination, Courage and Resilience” Keynote address, Canadian School of Peacebuilding, Winnipeg, Manitoba, June 19, 2019

  • “Another World is Possible: Audacity, Courage and Banning the Bomb”, Zerby Lecture, Bates College, May 15, 2019

  • Keynote Address, Parliament of the World’s Religions, Toronto, November 6, 2019

  • “We are Unstoppable, Another World is Possible” keynote address, Juniata College, October 8, 2018

  • “Bridges to the Future: Strategic Challenges for Movement Building”, Opening Plenary, National Peace and Justice Studies Association, Arcadia University, September 28, 2018

  • Keynote address, Youth Theological Initiative, Emory University, July 21, 2018

  • College of Wooster Baccalaureate Speaker, 2018

  • Graceland University Commencement Speaker, 2018

  • “Decolonizing Education” Keynote Address, Mary Baldwin College Capstone Festival, May 12, 2016

  • “Global Ecumenical Perspectives on Migration” Keynote Address, The Association of Practical Theology 33rd Biennial Conference, New York City, April 10, 2016

  • “The Seduction of Good Intentions” Keynote Address, Peace and Justice Studies Association Annual Conference, James Madison University, October 17, 2015

  • “The Role of Religion in Conflict Transformation” Keynote Address, Mary Baldwin College, September 24, 2015

  • “How Relevant is Faith to Faith-based Organizations?” Invited Lecture as part of New York University’s Global Issues: Critical Topics, Expert Lecturers series, March 6, 2015.

Conference Presentations

  • “Networking and Social Change: platforms for advocacy and peacebuilding” Peace and Justice Studies conference, Mount Union College, October 14, 2022.

  • “Disarmament Theory: articulating disarmament in history and practice” International Studies Association, March 29, 2022

  • “Local Peacebuilding: customary law and pastoralist conflict in Kenya and Uganda” at the International Peace and Justice Studies Association conference at the University of Alabama, October 27, 2017

  • “Student Success and Engagement: the Pace Path to Success through Global and Civic Learning Across the Curriculum” at the Association of American Colleges and Universities, San Francisco, January 28, 2017

  • “Humanitarianism Driven by Humility: an analysis of international peacebuilding and development work” at the national Peace and Justice Studies Association conference at James Madison University, October 17, 2015

  • “Humility and Humanitarianism: an ethnographic analysis of the Mennonite Central Committee in Uganda and Kenya” at the International Studies Association conference “Moving Hybridity Forward: practical approaches on the ground” panel, New Orleans, February 20, 2015

Invited Lectures, Seminars and Panels

  • “Decolonizing Research” Campus Wide Workshop, Pace University, September 8, 2020

  • “The Culture of Encounter and Global Governance” at Villa Malta, Roma as part of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs closed symposium May 27, 2020

  •  “The Communal Ethos of the Mennonite Central Committee: testing the bounds of community in Kenya” The Global Anabaptist-Mennonite Research Symposium, Goshen College, May 30-June 1 2017

  • “The Ties that Bind: intersectionalities of global oppression” Office of Multicultural Affairs/Black Student Union, Pace University, February 14, 2017

  • “South African Apartheid and Nonviolent Resistance” Students for Justice in Palestine, Pace University, March 1, 2016

  • “The Significance and Place of Global Humanitarianism Today” Mary Baldwin College, International Café, September 23, 2015

  • “Focus on Global Humanitarianism in the 21st Century” Mary Baldwin College, September 23, 2016

  • “Nuclear Weapons: facing the humanitarian costs” Center for Community Action and Research, Pace University, November 18, 2015​

  • “Protest 101” Spoke about Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter at Pace University, February 24, 2015

Presentations to the United Nations

  • Delivered statement on Killer Robots/autonomous drones to United Nations, May 16, 2020

  • Delivered the statement on behalf of faith-based organizations, Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Preparatory Committee, May 1, 2019

  • Delivered a statement on gender and disarmament to First Committee, October 10, 2017

  • Delivered a statement during the Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, June 15, 2017 

  • Delivered statement on behalf of faith communities to the United Nations First Committee, October 12, 2016

  • Spoke on a panel “The other part of Article VI:  General and Complete Disarmament”, May 18, 2015

  • Delivered a statement on gender to the United Nations General Assembly First Committee on behalf of the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom, October 28, 2015

  • Delivered a statement on behalf of faith communities to the United Nations Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, May 1, 2015

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