Laurie Shepherd Johnson
Alumni Achievement Award
During the last two years, Dr. Laurie Shepherd Johnson has spent many months applying her two specialties, conflict resolution in divided societies and traumatic loss, to regions in need -- the former in the strife-torn Mediterranean island nation of Cyprus and the latter in the wake of last fall's Gulf Coast hurricanes.
Dr. Johnson, who earned her Ph. D. from Hofstra in 1985, is professor of counseling, research, special education and rehabilitation as well as graduate program director in that department at Hofstra's School of Education and Allied Human Services. As a Senior Fulbright Scholar, she conducted research and developed training frameworks in conflict resolution, in interculturalism and human rights education.
Doing her part to repair the tears in the fabric of mankind, Dr. Johnson spent seven months in Cyprus under a prestigious Fulbright grant. Cyprus has been torn by sociopolitical conflict for more than three decades, during which time there has been virtually no contact across its ethnic communities.
The geopolitical division on the island dates back to 1974, when Turkey invaded Cyprus, as with all such violent conflicts, there had been serious tensions and difficulties that predated the invasion. Laurie defined her Fulbright project in response to knowing that there had been virtually no systemic efforts taken to integrate peace education into the school community on both sides of that dividing line, and neither teachers nor mental health counselors had received exposure to conflict resolution methods or training in cross-community relations.
"In a post-conflict, divided society such as Cyprus," Laurie points out, "this lack of awareness, knowledge and skill on the part of those professionals most responsible for influencing the next generation of young people silently reinforces the division and animosities that plague the region."
She adds, "Given the protracted nature of this conflict, which has now affected at least two generations, it is clear that there is desperate need for interventions to be made toward reconciliation and rapprochement beyond the diplomatic efforts continuing at the international level." Because "the most fundamental source of potential change in a society rests in its educational system," she says, "This is where my work has taken form."
In detailing her recent work on Cyprus, Dr. Johnson explains, "I have developed a course curriculum in 'conflict and cooperation,' which I have taught at the University of Cyprus to post-graduate students who are in education, counseling and administration - the first time in Cyprus that any course in this subject area has been offered as part of the formal curriculum. In consultation with the dean and department heads, it has now been negotiated that this course will be henceforth incorporated - as a six-week seminar -- into the standard curriculum offerings of the graduate education programs."
continued...
