wfn.org | Former President Carter to Address St. Olaf Nobel Forum

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

February 11, 2004

Former President Carter to Address St. Olaf Nobel Forum
04-018-AG*/JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- When St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.,
hosts the 16th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum Feb. 20-21,
hundreds of people will gather to discuss how they can contribute
to worldwide peace.  Among those who will address them is former
U.S. President Jimmy Carter, winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace
Prize.
     St. Olaf is one of 28 colleges and universities of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).	It is one of five
ELCA colleges that collaborate in the annual forum with the
Norwegian Nobel Institute, Oslo.  Other ELCA colleges involved
are Augsburg College, Minneapolis; Augustana College, Rock
Island, Ill.; Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.; and Luther
College, Decorah, Iowa.
     Along with Carter, featured speakers will be Dr. Gro Harlem
Brundtland, director-general emeritus, World Health Organization
and former prime minister of Norway, and Dr. Eboo Patel,
executive director, Interfaith Youth Core, Chicago.
     "President Carter's life exemplifies the theme of this
year's conference, 'Striving for Peace: Roots of Change,'" said
the Rev. Christopher M. Thomforde, St. Olaf president. "He has
shown that an individual can bring constructive change in the
world through his work as a military officer, a public official
and a private citizen."
     Brundtland will deliver an opening plenary address Feb. 20
and answer questions. Carter will deliver a keynote address Feb.
21 and answer questions. Former Vice President Walter Mondale
will introduce Carter.
     Patel will deliver the final "Call to Action" on Feb. 21. An
organizer, teacher and artist, Patel runs an international
interfaith organization that helps youth from different faith
communities engage in social action projects.
     Other speakers will be three members of the St. Olaf board
of regents: Philip Brunelle, founder and artistic director of
VocalEssence, Minneapolis; Larry Rasmussen,  Reinhold Niebuhr
Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary, New
York; and Bob Hatch, Kansas City, Mo., board chairman of
Foundation for International Community Assistance (FINCA), which
seeks to raise loan capital for impoverished women in developing
countries. FINCA will present a panel session Feb. 20.
     Founded in 1989, the Nobel Peace Prize Forum is the
Norwegian Nobel Institute's only such program or academic
affiliation outside Norway. Norwegian immigrants founded each of
the five sponsoring colleges, and their sponsorship recognizes
Norway's international peace efforts and offers opportunities for
Nobel Peace Prize laureates, diplomats, scholars, students and
the general public to engage in dialogue on the dynamics of
peacemaking and the underlying causes of conflict and war,
according to a news release from St. Olaf College.
     This year's theme, "Roots of Change," will celebrate
grassroots initiatives around the world and affirm the power of
ordinary individuals to nourish the roots of peace, the news
release said.  Topics of previous forums were "Human Rights in
the Global Village," "The United Nations in a New World," "From
National to Common Security" and "The Morality and Machinery of
Modern Conflict."
     Begun with annual support from Lutheran Brotherhood (now
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans), the Nobel Peace Prize Forum's
array of programs has involved more than 21,000 participants, the
release said.
     Twelve peace-skills workshops will be open to students of
the five sponsoring colleges. The workshops are a new aspect of
the annual forum, which this year coincides with the Worldwide
Service Fair and the Globalization and Social Responsibility
Conference, held annually at St. Olaf College.
     "Among the many who are inspired by the annual Nobel Peace
Prize Forum, students receive perhaps the greatest impact," says
Susan Carlson, coordinator of the forum at St. Olaf. "Exposure to
world leaders who work tirelessly for peace can be life-changing
as young people learn that peacemaking is both possible and
honorable."
     Several discussion sessions on Friday and seminars on
Saturday are open to anyone registered for the forum. Subjects
include peace in the global workplace, rights of indigenous
peoples, health care, diversity in the elementary classroom,
sexual violence, Islam, and corporate executives and "moral
intelligence."
-- -- --
     Information about the Nobel Peace Prize Forum is at
http://www.stolaf.edu/nppf/2004/ on the Web.

*Amy Gage is director of communications at St. Olaf College.

Editors: "VocalEssence" is spelled correctly without a space
between the words.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org
http://www.elca.org/news