2022 Paul Bartlett Ré Peace Prize Winners to be honored for Outstanding Peace Promotion Activities

The Paul Bartlett Ré Peace Prize is given biennially to University of New Mexico students, faculty, staff members, alumni, retirees, or volunteers who promote peace, harmony, and understanding among people of the world. This year’s winners will be honored on May 26, at the Paul Bartlett Ré Peace Prize Reception, a virtual event being held from 1-3 p.m. (MDT).

ZOOM Details: https://zoom.us/join Meeting ID: 976 2750 3899 Password: 462880.  

General Category Winner  

• Kathy Powers, Ph.D., nationally renowned scholar for her work on some of the most pressing issues facing us globally. As an Associate Professor in the UNM Department of Political Science and Affiliated Faculty in the UNM School of Law, Powers research focuses on the design of international institutions and law with respect to human rights, restorative justice, trade, and war.  She has received numerous awards and accolades for her work on reparations within the Black Community and post-WWII reparations and transitional justice including a research fellowship from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Powers is the voice that provides informed and hopeful insights for how we can collectively imagine a better more just community for all.  Her resume includes Wilson Center Fellow, Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, Washington, D.C. and External Faculty Member, Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Dr. Powers is receiving this award for her extensive work in human rights and restorative justice. 

Lifetime Achievement Winners

• Ken Carpenter, Ph.D., retired UNM Director of International Programs and Adjunct Faculty, activist, educator, and author, has a lifelong commitment to nonviolence both abroad and in the United States. Carpenter has taught courses in international studies, peace and justice studies, human rights, and security studies and created the UNM Community Safety and Human Security Program which prepares students for public service. Carpenter is receiving this award for his contributions to peace and environmental activism.
• Youn Ja Johnson, BA ‘75, MA ‘82 & MFA ’85, UNM English Faculty. Johnson is a 3D artist, writer and educator of peace who has brought people together teaching them an appreciation for our common humanity and spirituality. Her work fuses East and West in the themes of peace, power of nature, the common ground of humanity and the overlap of religious traditions. Her collections are in the Republic of Korea, and the US, including “Tribute to Mother Earth” at UNM, Albuquerque Museum Collection and Murphy Veteran’s Hospital in NM. Johnson is receiving this award for her art installations relating to peace.
• Sandra Wasko-Flood, UNM Taos art student, poet, and educator. Wasko-Flood is the founder of the national nonprofit organization, “Living Labyrinths for Peace, Inc.”  Using art as a tool for social changes, Wasko-Flood inspires healing and transformation within and among people through labyrinth building and education in schools and communities nationwide. Her teaching welcomes all nationalities and races to come together creating harmony and world peace. Wasko-Flood is receiving this award for Living Labyrinths for Peace.
• Farhan Wilayat Butt, UNM correspondence student, philanthropist, and social activist. Wilayat Butt has supported several water-relief projects throughout Pakistan. These projects have received numerous awards and honors from local and international organizations. Mr. Wilayat Butt promotes awareness about interfaith peace and harmony in Pakistan through peace tours, interviews, and theater performances. Farhan Wilayat Butt is receiving this award for the Sindh Water Relief Project.

Career Achievement Award

• Ramiro Jordan, Ph.D., UNM Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Associate Dean of Engineering for International Programs is a scientist, innovator, educator, and entrepreneur who has championed equity, transparency, and peace throughout his career. Dr. Jordan utilizes Peace Engineering (PEng) - application of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math principles), sustainable practices, cultural sensitivity, and innovation - to promote and support peace globally.  He has received numerous national and international Honors and Awards and given over 100 Keynote presentations. Ramiro Jordan is receiving this award for his contributions to peace engineering.

Emerging Promoter of Peace

• Reilly White, Ph.D., UNM Assistant Dean of Teaching and Learning, Associate Professor of Finance, Anderson School of Management. Dr. White is an educator, media commentator, and leads a team of current and former Anderson students which provide financial literacy education and mentorship to immigrants and refugees from disparate backgrounds. Dr. White’s team teaches financial literacy and workforce development to individuals to help them succeed in their new home and created a free 76-page Financial Literacy Handbook, translated into Spanish, Arabic, and Pashto.  Reilly White is receiving this award for his contributions to supporting immigrant and refugee populations.

Members of the selection committee are Susan Morrison, JD, CFP focusing on sustainability and a member of the committee since 2006; Lynn Billings, JD, mediator; Leslie Donovan, Ph.D., Professor, UNM Honors College; and Dr. David Muñoz, 2016 Paul Ré Peace Prize winner and engineer. Prize sponsor and originator, Paul Ré, who serves as advisor to the selection committee, noted, “The 2022 awardees demonstrate how UNM affiliates are having a profound, harmonizing influence from locally to globally. They have accomplished this in diverse disciplines while nurturing both inner and outer peace. This is particularly refreshing and hopeful in these challenging times.”

Paul Ré is recognized internationally for promoting world peace and harmony through his transcendent art. For more information about the Peace Prize and Ré’s five decades of creating serene and elevating art, see his acclaimed volume The Dance of the Pencil and his latest, multiple award-winning volume Art, Peace and Transcendence: Réograms that Elevate and Unite available from UNM Press. Additional insights can be found at www.paulre.org.