This article is from the EMU News Archive. The approximate date of publication was in September 2003. Current EMU news is available at www.emu.edu/news
TO EMU HEADLINE NEWS | CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION PROGRAM
EMU Names Lofton CTP Development Director
Eastern Mennonite University has named Bonnie Price Lofton, a former journalist, as its first director of development for its Conflict Transformation Program (CTP).
“This position was created to bring funding for CTP in line with the growing demand for training in conflict transformation and peacebuilding,” said Richard Gunden, vice president of advancement at EMU.
Gunden noted that enrollment has increased from 10 to nearly 100 since CTP was created in 1994, but funding has been flat. As a result, CTP has outgrown its original building, staff are being stretched thinly, and many admitted students can't come due to a shortage of financial assistance.
“My first priority is finding more money for scholarships,” said Lofton. “People working in conflict situations around the world are knocking on CTP’s door, seeking the training they need to be more effective. Most of them, however, earn just enough to put a roof over their heads and food on their tables.
“They need a full package of financial support to come here for the training they so desperately want and need,” she added.
Lofton, who herself is completing a master’s degree in Conflict Transformation, said she has been struck by the self-sacrificial dedication of the students she has met in her two years as a graduate student.
“Most CTP students are mid-life people - they’re often married and raising children - who have been trying to make some kind of difference for the last 10 or 20 years. They’ve been working with prisoners, refugees, child soldiers, Israeli-Palestinian peace groups, cease-fire negotiations or similar endeavors.
“They have come to EMU to equip themselves to be more effective when they return to their home conflicts. And they almost always go back to deal with the difficulties they left. I’ve never met anybody trying to use CTP as a stepping stone to ‘the good life’.”
“Compared to my classmates, my life has been uninspiring,” Lofton said with a smile. Prior to becoming an EMU graduate student in 2001, Lofton spent 20 years in newspaper, magazine and newsletter publishing. She has worked as a writer or an editor for the Montreal Gazette newspaper, the Canadian Press wire service, the Richmond News Leader, the University of Virginia, Duke University and for a publisher of corporate newsletters. She has also sold advertising for Science magazine in France and Belgium.
She is married to Jim Lofton, an environmental attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice. They have a 23-year-old daughter, 15-year-old son, and 12-year-old daughter. The oldest child is a nursing student; the younger two are enrolled at Eastern Mennonite High School.
Posted: September 3, 2003
