Ashland Center for Nonviolence at Ashland University receives $1 million gift

Ashland University’s Ashland Center for Nonviolence has received a $1 million gift from Bob and Jan Archer to establish the Janet L. Archer Ashland Center for Nonviolence Endowed Fund, which will support the director of the Center, providing the individuals in that role with secured funding to enable them to devote their time and effort to Center for Nonviolence initiatives.

According to an article on Ashland University’s website, Craig Hovey, Ph.D., who serves as the current director of the Ashland Center for Nonviolence, was quoted as saying of the effect of the Archers’ donation, “Thanks to the Archers, there’s going to be meaningful and consistent leadership for ACN into the future. That’s really the whole idea. The faculty member directing ACN, in perpetuity, will be able to devote more time and energy to promoting peace.” 

The Ashland Center for Nonviolence strives to help individuals find ways to improve their communities and the world as a whole without resorting to violence. The Center promotes inclusivity, social justice, and peace. Among its methods, the Ashland Center for Nonviolence offers the Peace Scholars program for Ashland University students, which, according to its webpage, aims to “enrich students' knowledge of nonviolence, enhance their leadership skills and provide opportunities for peace-related experiences. These students are equipped to make a difference for peace in our world.”

The Center will be hosting a Science of Peace conference on February 21 and 22, which strives to “help transform how we understand and practice peacemaking, moving beyond traditional boundaries and opening new pathways for research, education and action,” according to another article on Ashland University’s website.

Hovey says additional programming like the Science of Peace conference and the Peace Scholars program will be even more attainable thanks to the Archers’ gift. “The fund will allow us to do more and bigger things. That’s the reality,” he said.

Speaking of her relationship with the Ashland Center for Nonviolence, Jan Archer said, “My involvement with the Nonviolence Center goes back to its beginning. Before the country went to war in Iraq, I joined several citizens from both the university and the community in peaceful protests. When war was declared, our group asked ‘what can we do?’ The answer was to start ACN. I am pleased at how the program has grown and that we just celebrated our 20th anniversary. We hope that our gift can help continue the program far into the future because we need to learn alternatives to violence (in) our society.”

For more information about Ashland University, visit the school’s website.