Andrews University, Goshen College, and Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary have joined to create a center targeting violence prevention here and around the world. The center’s direction will be determined by the schools three presidents. Mary Yoder Holsopple who has worked in two war zones and former director of the now defunct Violence Intervention Project of 1998, will head up this unique center.

The center will primarily be funded by a $247,000 grant from the Teagle Foundation along with some money from a local group called Reaching Common Ground.

Peace-related issues will be researched at the university by students majoring in social work. Sharon Pittman, chairwoman of Andrews University’s social work department said in a publication, Truth,  that “mediation and preventing violence take less time than dealing with the problems violence creates.”

Shirley Showalter, Goshen College president, said that the center “will seek imaginative solutions to age-old problems of violence. I hope it will become the kind of ideal connection between the values, resources and vision our three institutions have for peacemaking and the most pressing needs of our community.”