Thupten Tendhar
Email: thuptendar@uri.edu
Thupten Tendhar is a decades-long scholar and practitioner of nonviolence and peace. He holds a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Rhode Island (URI) and a Geshe (doctorate) degree in Buddhist studies from Drepung Loseling Monastic University.
He is a certified Level 3 Trainer in Kingian Nonviolence from the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies. He serves as the director of the International Nonviolence Summer Institute teaching nonviolence globally. He also coordinates and leads training initiatives and inner peace projects at the center. Tendhar authored and published two poetry books, Peace: Rhythm of My Heart and Love: Beating My Heart. He has taught a course on Tibetan Buddhism since 2012 and the core seminar in nonviolence theory and research in the MA in International Relations program at URI. His primary research focuses on compassion, inner peace, mindfulness, well-being, and nonviolence pedagogy.
Ted Johnson
Email: tjohn@brandeis.edu
Ted Johnson is a professor and public speaker on Conflict Resolution and Coexistence, who wants to study this process of nonviolence and integrate it into his research, writing, teaching, and practice.
Johnson worked in Post-apartheid South Africa, in Cyprus with Greek and Turkish Cypriots towards bi-communal coexistence, with universities and political leaders in Northern and South-Central Iraq to develop joint problem-solving skills and strategies. In the Fall of 2018, Ted took a sabbatical in Costa Rica at the UN’s University for Peace where he conducted a Kingian Nonviolence Conflict Reconciliation training. Among his other international postings are Angola, Armenia, India, Iraq, and Israel/ Palestine. He also worked with various UN organizations, specifically, the World Health Organization.
Gail Faris
Email: gailfaris@uri.edu
Gail Faris is the President of the Nonviolent Schools Rhode Island, a local nonprofit organization that introduces the principles and practices of Kingian Nonviolence to many local, national, and global schoolteachers for its application into their teaching profession.
Faris served at the University of Rhode Island for nearly 25 years in various capacities. She was responsible for the course entitled: CLASSROOM WITHOUT BORDERS in which students studied social justice issues and contributed their spring break to work with Habitat for Humanity in the American South.
Born and raised in Massachusetts, Faris is an exemplary teacher with peace, nonviolence, and lovingkindness in the core of her heart. She started teaching elementary school students and progressed toward teaching college students during her dynamic academic career. Her endless passion and commitment to ending racism, classism, sexism, poverty, and violence have been proven through decades of courageous activism and social services.
Gail Faris was one of the eight founding members of the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies at the University of Rhode Island in 1998. She holds the highest Level 3 certification in Kingian Nonviolence and Conflict Reconciliation from the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies. She completed her Level 2 Advanced Leadership Training in Kingian Nonviolence and Level 1 Training of Trainers in Kingian Nonviolence and Conflict Reconciliation in the early 2000s from Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr. at the Center. Faris received her bachelor’s degree from Salve Regina University, a master’s degree in education, and a master’s degree in labor and industrial relations, both from the University of Rhode Island.
Roberta Ralph-Opara
Email: ro-opara@uri.edu
Author of Nonviolence Guidebooks Spiritual Phases of Nonviolence andSpiritual Phases of Nonviolence for Teens and Tweens, Roberta Ralph-Opara is an International Teaching Scholar and recipient of the Level III Trainer award from the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies. Also certified as a Level II trainer in Kingian Nonviolence, Roberta holds an LLB/JD degree and a Master’s in Communications as well as Human Resources. She has training experiences in courses such as Kingian Nonviolence Conflict Reconciliation, Peace Psychology, Interdisciplinary Diversity, and Nonviolence & Global Peace Studies. Before joining our Center, Roberta was engaged in legal study and practice in Nigeria and the U.S. and has served in the judicial office of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Since joining the Beloved Community at URI, she has been active in the interdisciplinary fields of Nonviolence, Organizational Leadership, and Diversity Equity Inclusion & Justice.
Skip Mark
Email: skipmark@uri.edu
Skip Mark received his highest Level 3 Kingian Nonviolence Training certification in June 2022. As the director of the URI for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, he made a significant contribution toward institutionalizing and internationalizing nonviolence and peace. Mark joined the URI political science department in 2018. His research explores the intersections between human rights, political economy, collective dissent, child labor, and empirical methodology. He tries to unpack the determinants and consequences of compliance with International Organization agreements, repression, labor rights, violent and nonviolent protest, migration and remittances, development, economic crisis, and economic and social rights. He is particularly interested in how measurement and modeling choices affect what we know about these relationships and how an understanding of history and other disciplines can improve our knowledge of them. From 2020-2021, he co-directed the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies with Dr. Kristin Johnson. Dr. Mark continues to direct the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies and teaches in the URI Political Science Department.
Meg Frost
Email: margaret_frost@uri.edu
Meg Frost joined the URI Political Science department in 2022.
Originally from South Kingstown, RI, Meg earned a BA and MA at the University of Rhode Island. She has also interned at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Switzerland, was a Fulbright Student Fellow in Colombia, and participated in a Human Rights Studies Graduate Program in Spain. A certified Level-III Nonviolence trainer from the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, Meg frequently participates in URI’s International Summer Nonviolence Institute.