CPC Board Members
Larson Rogers, Ph.D., President and Liaison to Greenagers, is Department Chair in Computer Technologies at Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Boston. In addition to managing a department and developing new programs for the college in the fast-growing area of IT, he teaches courses in C++, Java and Android Development. Over many years as a teacher at all levels, he has sought to help young people learn science, math and technology in personally meaningful ways. He holds a doctorate in Science Education, where his research interests include the relationship between ethics and science in science learning; sustainability education; and how learning communities embody practical knowledge. In addition, Dr. Rogers works part-time as a software engineer for a small company and volunteers as a research physicist for a non-profit organization pursuing renewable energy.
Kathleen Frome, Secretary, holds a BS and a Master's degree in Education of the Deaf. She taught deaf children in the public school systems for ten years and is currently a licensed Social Worker, working with people with developmental disabilities. She is also a Certified Professional Midwife and has dedicated her work of the past 27 years to restoring beauty, continuity and harmony with Nature to the birth process.
Laraine Lippe, Finance Coordinator, BA in Linguistics, MIA, MBA, has worked as a Project Manager in both the non-profit and corporate worlds. Outside of her project management work, one of her greatest interests (and joys) is to find funding for worthwhile humanitarian projects. While working recently as a volunteer in a small village in Ghana, she established a Community Fund that enables local fishermen and farmers to gain easier access to the larger bank loans they need to expand their businesses. She also manages a scholarship fund that enables young AIDS orphans to attend primary school in Burkina Faso.
Barbara Boughton, Executive Director, is an interior designer, artist and group facilitator. She is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and the Gestalt Institute of the Berkshires. Ms. Boughton is founder of "Creating Home from the Inside Out," a workshop designed to empower clients to manifest peace in themselves, in their homes and communities, and ultimately on the planet. She is also a certified Zumba Fitness instructor. Ms Boughton was the President of the original Berkshire chapter of the CPC.
Judith Bach, MA in psychology and Ph.D. in Human Science (Human Systems Design), was a co-founder and director of the Berkshire Center for Psychosynthesis, a psychological training center, and has been in private practice for over 30 years. Combining a life-long interest in community building with psychological understanding, Dr. Bach has taught seminars on human system design in Europe and has published numerous articles on community design. She is currently co-authoring a book on creating workplace communities.
David Crowe, is a composer, conductor, teaching artist, and percussionist who has created an impressive and varied body of work, from short pieces for young musicians to full-scale symphonic works. He specializes in collaborative projects with other musicians and artists in other disciplines. "Dreams of Wisdom," a chamber work inspired by paintings of Russian artist Nicholas Roerich, was performed at the Roerich Museum in NYC in 2008. Since 1992 David has been resident composer for the Foundation for Art and Music in Elementary Education in Indiana and he has created several works for educational and arts organizations throughout the country, including performances by the Cleveland Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Syracuse Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Moving Poets Theater of Dance and others. As a teaching artist he has developed arts integrated lessons for all levels and disciplines and done artist residencies throughout the country. In 2010 David Crowe was awarded an Artist Fellowship by the North Carolina Arts Council. He currently resides in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts, where he also teaches tai chi and qigong.
Kathy Crowe, the designer of this website, has Bachelor's and Master's degrees in English literature. She has specialized in communications for over 30 years, including 10 as a newspaper writer, editor, reporter and designer. Her current focus is visual communications, particularly web, graphic and exhibit design. She is also a certified tai chi instructor.
Ursula Velonis, PhD, is an adjunct professor at the Philosophy Department at Los Medanos College, Pittsburg, CA. As presenter and chair at international conferences, she advocates holistic inquiries and paradigms in education. She serves as Specialized Research Faculty at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, and as Facilitator and Speaker at the Interfaith Speakers Bureau, San Jose. Her research interests combine consciousness studies, East-West philosophies and psychologies. Most recently, she started a meditation program for college students. Dr. Velonis is the author of "Integral Ethics to Live By," and the upcoming book "Meditation 101—A Start-Up Manual."
CPC Advisory Board Members
Will Conklin is a carpenter, an arborist, and is the director of Greenagers. In the past few years, Greenagers, a program of the Center for Peace through Culture, has cultivated a strong corps of youth volunteers that are engaged in environmental activism, volunteer work, and community stewardship. Greenagers is an organization that focuses on healthy relationships with our environment and our community, thereby furthering the cause of peaceful relationships among people and between humans and their environment. Will is educating and bringing these programs to the local schools and to the larger community.
Mary Dino, LCSW, is the Director of Social Work and Child Welfare Training at the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services' Martha K. Selig Educational Institute. She has worked with families of youth in out-of-home placements for 15 years, and for the past six years has co-developed and managed multi-disciplinary training programs for various initiatives at the intersection of mental health, trauma, child welfare, substance abuse and cultural issues. A main focus of her work is on educating organizations about trauma-informed practices and ways to identify and alleviate secondary traumatic stress among workers, believing that such knowledge and practices lead to a more peaceful life personally and in community. Ms. Dino has been a student of eastern spiritual practices since 1986.
Ruth Bamela Engo-Tjega is the Chief Executive and co-founder of the AAA (African Action on AIDS) and has been the CPC's inspirational liaison for our People to People Project, Monterey Meets Ngalla. Engo-Tjega served in different capacities at the United Nations (UNIFEM, DESA, the office of the Special Coordinator for Africa (OSSA), with responsibility for issues related to poverty eradication, microfinance and fostering dialogue among development partners, including the civil society. She co-founded the Advocates for African Food Security in 1986, and was also a founding member and president of the United Nations African Mothers' Association. She was featured on "A Roll Call of Africa's Distinguished Daughters" in 1995, and on "International Women Speak—The Emergence of Women's Global Leadership" in 2000. She has been member of the Club of Rome since 1991. Among honors she has received in recognition of her work are an Honorary Doctorate from Wilson University ( Pennsylvania ) in 1992, the United Nations Environment Program's Global Youth Award in 1994, and the Global Civil Society Champion conferred to her by the World Federation of United Nations Associations in 2002.
Colin Goddard. On April 16th, 2007, Colin Goddard was a college student in the 4th year of his degree program at Virginia Tech. On the same day, Seung-Hui Cho, an English student with a history of mental illness, locked the doors to Norris Hall and began randomly shooting those inside. Forty-nine people were shot and thirty-two of them were killed before Cho finally killed himself. Colin survived after being shot four times, and three bullets remain in his body. After he recovered from his injuries, Colin returned to school and graduated with his degree in International Studies. In the years following, Colin watched further shootings happen to other people. He felt compelled to share his experience of gun violence. He is currently working with The Brady Initiative to foster sound gun control and improve public safety. He has become a prominent, national spokesperson for this initiative.
Daniel Entin is the Director of the Nicholas Roerich Museum in New York City. Nicholas Roerich is known first and foremost as a Russian-born artist. His paintings, of which there are thousands around the world, explore the mythic origins, the natural beauty, and the spiritual strivings of humanity and of the world. Under Daniel's stewardship, the museum displays approximately two hundred of these works, and keeps them permanently on display for visitors who come from around the world. Indeed, for many of these visitors, the museum is a destination of great importance; the paintings speak to them of their own inner yearnings and possible fulfillment. For them, Roerich's paintings are a kind of teaching—about spiritual development, about culture and its role in human life, and about opportunities for the achievement of peace in a fractious world.
Nanette Hucknall co-founded and was President of The Center for Peace through Culture from 1978 to 1990, when it was based in New York City. She helped form branches in Toronto, Canada, Lenox, MA, San Antonio, TX and San Francisco, CA. In 2001 she was instrumental in restarting the Center for Peace through Culture in Massachusetts, and was a member of the Board for several years before joining the Advisory Board. She has been a career therapist and psychotherapist 25 years and is the author of Karma, Destiny, and Your Career, which has been translated and published in four different countries. It recently has been made into an e-book and audiotape. She has also designed and facilitated many workshops over the past twenty years, including "Balancing the Feminine and Masculine," "Awakening the Intuition," "Beyond Image: The Inner and Outer You," "Sophia Unveiled," and "Challenges on the Spiritual Path."
Congressman Dennis Kucinich was a U.S. Representative, serving from 1997 to 2013 . He is a strong advocate for peace in the individual and social spheres, and in national and foreign policy. He believes that our government must develop a new broad-based approach to peaceful, non-violent conflict resolution, both domestically and abroad. He supports a government that will hold non-violence as an organizing principle in our society, and help to create the conditions for a more peaceful world. Since being elected to Congress, Kucinich has been a tireless advocate for worker rights, civil rights and human rights. Kucinich has authored and co-sponsored legislation to create a national health care system, preserve Social Security, lower the costs of prescription drugs, provide economic development through infrastructure improvements, abolish the death penalty, provide universal prekindergarten, create a Department of Peace, regulate genetically engineered foods, repeal the USA PATRIOT Act, and provide tax relief to working class families.
Steven A. Small, MS of Education with a Specialty in reading, has been an educator for 40 years. He is passionate about making sure that students' needs are front and center. He has emphasized a deep passion for learning, literacy, and self-confidence as a way of students embracing education and accepting who they are. Steve has taken the CPC Belief's Workshop and adapted it for a sixth grade curriculum.
Paul Winter's musical realm has long embraced the traditions of the world's cultures, as well as the extraordinary voices of what he refers to as "the greater symphony of the Earth." His concert tours and recording expeditions have taken him to thirty-seven countries and to wilderness areas on six continents, where he has traveled on rafts, mules, dog sleds, horses, kayaks, sailboats, steamers, tug-boats and Land Rovers. In recognition of his musical contributions to the environment, Winter has received a Global 500 Award from the United Nations, the Award of Excellence from the United Nations Environment Program, the Joseph Wood Krutch Medal for service to animals from the United States Humane Society, and the Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience Award among others. Recently his work as musician and as musical ambassador for the natural world has been honored with the Connecticut Music Educators' Association Music Advocate of the Year Award, an Alumni Merit Award from Northwestern University, the National Arbor Day's Promise to the Earth Award, an honorary doctorate from Juniata College, Pennsylvania, and the Spirit of the City Award presented at New York's Cathedral of St John the Divine.