Peacebuilding Week at Carnegie Mellon
Unity in Action
Peacebuilding week, organized by Heinz College graduate student Anna Sene, brought together voices from every tradition, discipline, and identity to involve students in peacebuilding activities within the community at CMU and beyond.
About the Organizer
Anna Sene, a Heinz first-year student of Public Policy and International Affairs, brings her local activism with a global perspective. She was born and raised in Senegal and studied abroad in Norway. Anna has always known the power of dialogue and education to transform lives. "Peacebuilding is not for diplomats alone," she said. "It is not an ideal–we have to build towards it, actively and with purpose." Everything about Peacebuilding Week demonstrated her enthusiasm, from the pamphlets she had printed herself to the discussions she led.
Inspired by an International Day of Peace celebration at the University of Pittsburgh and a talk by Susan Baida, Anna conceived a CMU-wide project that would heal trauma, promote healing, and build genuine community. When she returned from winter break, she rallied a small crew and a growing coalition of supporters, inviting in a diverse lineup of speakers to talk about how to cultivate peace in everyday life.
The week consisted of four intensive lunchtime workshops:
Noah Schoen (March 17): A Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh community organizer and antisemitism educator, Schoen facilitated a session entitled "Listening for Liberation." Schoen discussed how caring listening can bring us connection, repair, and even liberation. His oral history research following the Tree of Life shooting grounded the conversation in lived experience and community strength.
Imam Hamza Perez (March 18): One of the 500 most influential Muslims globally, Imam Hamza addressed "The Letter of Healing for Spiritual and Social Diseases," a spiritual treatise by Sultan Muhammad Bello. His talk addressed inner change as a gateway to outer peace, especially for communities grappling with inequality and disconnection.
Fr. Paul Abernathy (March 19): An Orthodox Christian priest and combat veteran, Fr. Paul is the CEO of the Neighborhood Resilience Project. His presentation, "Building Community in the Aftermath of Trauma," emphasized trauma-informed community development as a practical, grassroots process for rebuilding the social fabric of traumatized communities.
Ebtehal Badawi (March 20): An artist, educator, and cultural bridge-builder, Ebtehal shared her Building Bridges project, a community art initiative that invites people to paint bridges with their own messages of peace, unity, and hope. Through storytelling and hands-on participation, her session demonstrated to participants that peacebuilding can be tangible, colorful, and deeply personal
Together, the sessions created a strong mosaic of voices—Islamic, Jewish, and Christian; scholarly and experiential; individual and communal. Each one challenged participants to consider their own role in creating peace, whether through listening deeply, organizing boldly, or healing compassionately.
Looking Ahead
"I want it to be a place where other students can develop as leaders," Anna said, referring to how she purposefully involved students in outreach and planning. She's already planning on a bigger event in September to celebrate the International Day of Peace, where she plans on getting other Pittsburgh universities involved and incorporating feedback from participants through post-event surveys. As Anna explained, "We can become numb to everything happening, but we can all be agents of peace in whatever capacity is available to us."