BOARD members for 2010 - with bios

WNPJ Board – 2009/2010  Approved at the Oct. 3rd, 2009 - general assembly.

Officers:

Chair:  Jim Draeger                                                Vice-Chair: Mary Beth Schlagheck
262-370-7709, Milwaukee                                           608-846-7924  mbspeace1@charter.net
Jim@wnpj.org                           

Secretary:  Dennis Bergren                                      Treasurer:  Stefania Sani      
608- 467-8877 lgbtdb@gmail.com                                 608-217-2248 sanistefania@gmail.com

Past Chair: Bill Christofferson

414-486-9651, Milwaukee, WI

xofferson@wi.rr.com    

Members-at-Large:

Monica Adams,  Madison  414-430-1321(cell), monica@wnpj.org

Chuck Baynton, Whitefish Bay, 414-961-1467, cbaynton@gmail.com

Mary Jo Berner,  Eagle River,  715-479-5475, mjberner@nnex.net

Cindy Breunig, Madison, 608-219-0782,  cindyvoces@gmail.com

Carol Lukens, Wausau, 715-842-4538 ,clukens@charter.net  

Renee Crawford, Milwaukee  414-331-8907,  rcrwfd@gmail.com 

Mitzi Duxbury, Madison, 608-442-9127, mlduxbury@yahoo.com

Al Gedicks, LaCrosse, 608-784-4399, gedicks.al@uwlax.edu

Zohreh Ghavamshahidi, Whitewater, 608-230-6664 ghavamsz@yahoo.com

Bob Hanson, Neshkoro, 920-293-8856,  koshin@centurytel.net

Margie Jessup, Milton, 608-868-2660, caljane@merr.com

Chris Kuehnel, Cleveland, 920-693-3141,  cqnel@vetsforpeacesheboygan.org

Tom McGrath, Wausau, 715-842-1075,  tommcgrath1@gmail.com

Marilyn Miller, Milwaukee, 414-536-0636, marilyn@lhra.org

Barbara E. Munson, Mosinee, 715-571-9296,  Barb@Munson.net

Janet Parker, Madison  608-257-2748,  janet@wnpj.org

John Peck, Madison 608-260-0900, familyfarmdefenders@yahoo.com

Carl Sack, Superior, 715-919-0214, northlandiguana@gmail.com 

Cecilia Zarate-Laun, Madison, 608-257-8753, csn@igc.org

Biographies of  the WNPJ Board Membership - 2009/2010

Officers:

CHAIR: Jim Draeger, Milwaukee, jim@wnpj.org. Jim is the past program director of Peace Action-Wisconsin.  He is new to the WNPJ board member, but has been actively working with WNPJ as statewide coordinator of the Guard Home campaign and a key member of the Carbon Free Nuclear Free coalition.  He is also operations director for People's Books, a Milwaukee cooperative.

Vice-chair: Mary Beth Schlagheck, Windsor, WI mbspeace1@charter.net Mary Beth Schlagheck, Born September 3, 1938 in Richland Center, Wisconsin, Mary Beth was raised on a farm in Bear Valley. She moved to Milwaukee in 1956 where in 1965 she married James Schlagheck in 1965. Following moves from South Bend, IN and Cedar Rapids, IA, they settled in Madison in 1969. Employed by the University of Wisconsin until 1978, she dedicated herself to volunteerism in both church and community. Her activism led her to be involved in nonviolent civil disobedience, protests, line crossings and acts of religious obedience which included the Nevada Test Site, Las Vegas, NV; Whiteman A.F.B., Knob Noster, MO; Offut Air Force Base, Omaha, NB; Truax Field Air Force Base, Madison, and St. Raphael Cathedral, Madison. In response to the Reagan Administration military build-up in 1981, she joined two other women to create a weekly Vigil for Peace in front of the IRS building in downtown Madison. This Vigil continues in front of the Municipal Building in downtown Madison to the present day. In 1982 Mary Beth and Jim began the domestic support of Helen Dery Woodson by helping to care for her large family. Beginning in 1984 until the present when Helen’s civil disobedience resulted many long prison sentences,  Mary Beth and Jim along with the support  of many others, became full time caregivers of seven Woodson children. Jim Schlagheck passed away in January of 1997. In 1999 Mary Beth married John Marhoefer and moved to Windsor, WI. where she continues guardianship of the three youngest members of the Woodson family. Mary Beth remains committed to the values and ideals of nonviolence and peace through the lens of social justice for all.

Dennis Bergren, Secretary – Madison lgbtdb@gmail.com Dennis Bergren, nominated to the WNPJ Board as a representative of the LGBT community: Dennis is a retired German teacher. He taught H.S. students in the Madison school district. He spent long time abroad in Europe. For many years, he has been an active member of the following organizations:LGBT organizations: Madison Area Gay/Bi Fathers Group (past secretary and President);OutReach (library committee);Frontiers Gay/Bi Men's Club (former officer and board member);Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG);Fair Wisconsin (formerly Action Wisconsin);Gay Straight Alliance for Safe Schools (formerly GLSEN);Lambda Legal Defense Network;Human Rights Campaign;Task Force Foundation..He is also a member of the Wisconsin Green Party, and Chair or their Lavender (LGBT) caucus.

Stefania Sani, Treasurer Madison, WI sanistefania@gmail.com  Stefania Sani has gained experience working with the budgets and finances in two areas: she served as Treasurer for the 4 Lake Greens in Madison, and more recently, served as the Treasurer for the Madison coalition to Bring Our Troops Home Referendum. Stefania has been active with her local union, SEIU, as she works at UW Hospital as a nurse. She coordinated efforts to pass a resolution at the statewide SEIU conference in 2001 to resolve that the US should not invade Afghanistan. Stefania is committed to making the world a better place to live for all; more equitable and sustainable. Her experiences as a world-citizen, living in Italy and India, brings a broad perspective to WNPJ about why we all need to live in harmony on our planet. She has a son living here in Madison and a partner, Gil Halsted, who works in radio.

Past chair: Bill Christofferson,  Milwaukee xofferson@wi.rr.com Bill Christofferson is a Vietnam veteran and former journalist who later spent 20 years as a campaign/media consultant for Democrats in Wisconsin. In between, from 1980-83, he was the first director of Nukewatch, then Madison-based and loosely affiliated with The Progressive. Nukewatch did public education on nuclear power and weapons, and worked closely with campaigns to stop Project ELF and oppose storage of high-level nuclear waste in Wisconsin. He was also one of the key organizers of the 1982 nuclear freeze referendum, the first statewide vote in the country, which carried 3-1, working closely with Midge Miller, one of WNPJ's founders. Since retiring in 2007, he serves as a member of the national Iraq Moratorium committee, a board member of the Wisconsin Anti-Violence Effort (WAVE), which works to prevent firearm violence, and a board member of the Greater Wisconsin Committee, a progressive issue advocacy group.

Members at large:

Monica Adams, Madison   monica@wnpj.org I am a  Black-lesbian-working class- gender-non-conforming woman, a community organizer, a scientist, and an activist scholar; I offer a critical and underrepresented voice to peace and justice work. I have lived and known intimately the overwhelming need to have a voice and presence in both communities and institutions. My knowledge and investment in this social justice movement are high and vital. As an activist scholar, I couple my own and my communities’ lived experiences with a historical and theoretical framework that sharpens my analysis of power, privilege and representation, especially as it relates to social justice movements and representation on a national level.  As a grassroots organizer, I have years of experience in addressing the root causes of oppressions in disenfranchised and traditionally underrepresented communities. Much of my work is led by members of targeted communities, and aims to have them be leaders of changes for their communities locally and within a national context.   My perspectives coupled with my skill sets create my life’s work of combating oppressions and moving toward social change, toward peace and justice. I bring this to my position here at WNPJ.

Chuck Baynton, Whitefish Bay, WI cbaynton@gmail.com Chuck Baynton was born in 1949 in Montreal and immigrated to the United States at age 6 and became a US citizen at age 17. His "professional student" days ended with graduation from medical school, having studied mathematics and economics before that. In July 2001, he retired from my internal medicine practice in rural Maine. A family cabin in Wisconsin’s north woods had been passed down to his wife, Anne, and she wanted to live closer to it, so they relocated to Milwaukee County in 2002. “When George Bush said, in the first days after the September 11 attacks, ‘We will rid the world of the evil-doers,’ I knew I had anti-war activism in my future. Besides opposition to the Afghan and Iraq wars, my activist energies have focused on nuclear disarmament and prisoner abuse. Besides WNPJ, I belong to the American College of Physicians, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Human Rights Watch, the Democratic Party, The American Civil Liberties Union, Peace Action Wisconsin, the Institute of World Affairs at UW- Milwaukee, and the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.”

Mary Jo Berner - Eagle River  mjberner@nnex.net  Executive director and founder of Many Ways of Peace, a WNPJ member group which, among other things, offers peace scholarships to graduating high school seniors in Eagle River.   She has worked with and served as president of the Northwoods Restorative Justice program,  is former owner of radio stations in Eagle River, has been Rotary Club president, a member of the Nicolet College board, and involved in other political and civic activities. She is part of a  new nonprofit business,  Many Ways of Peace and Seed to Seed Edible Food Project joining together for a new venture, in Eagle River. 

Cindy Breunig – Madison.  cindyvoces@gmail.com   Cindy grew up outside of Cross Plains, WI in the Black Earth Creek watershed, a landscape that shaped both her spiritual and activist roots. Her past work has involved the sanctuary movement with Voces de la Frontera - Milwaukee;   campus social justice activism and literacy work in the Barry Farms public housing community in Washington D.C.;  coordinating a post-war grassroots women's mental health program in Guatemala – including organizing a post-war mental health training program for women midwives and lay health promoters in rural Mayan communities;  and working as a Spanish Medical Interpreter in Madison, WI. She is a founder and member of the Groundwork anti-racism collective in Madison, WI, (2003) which works with white social justice activists to challenge white privilege and work for racial justice. 

Renee Crawford,  Milwaukee, rcrwfd@gmail.com . Renee is a long time Milwaukee activist who has always dedicated her life’s passion and work to protecting and promoting the voting rights of Wisconsinites in a variety of ways.  She helped organized the Win Without War campaign in Wisconsin and is a grassroots peace activist. She was elected a 5th CD Dean delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. She is co-founder of Grassroots Northshore, a founding board member/treasurer of Emerge WI, and currently on the board of Center Advocates, and is assisting in the creation of and serving on the board of Equality Wisconsin.  She writes a blog at www.crawfordstake.com/ and her articles have appeared in featured on fightingbob.com, Daily Kos, wispolitics.com, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Shepherd Express and other blogs, and she was a regular political columnist in Q-Life News. Renee is currently the Associate Director of the ACLU of Wisconsin.  She is married; Renee and her husband have three daughters.

Dr. Mitzi L Duxbury - Madison (mlduxbury@yahoo.com  I am retired-- was a professor and Dean of a large College of Nursing ( U- Illinois- spent a good bit of my professional life in research and/or administration.  I have always been interested in promoting peace.. as a student, I was part of the tear gas treatment brigade (1960-early 70's). also volunteered at the Blue Bus clinic.. Currently, I am a member of Amnesty, and a member of the National Academy of Science/Institute of Medicine and serve as a Co-respondent on their committee on human rights.

Al Gedicks, LaCrosse, (gedicks.al@uwlax.edu Al is executive secretary of the Wisconsin Resources Protection Council, a WNPJ member group, and is a professor of sociology at UW-LaCrosse.  He has long been active on mining, nuclear, environmental and tribal issues.

Zohreh Ghavamshahidi – UW-Whitewater, resident of Madison ghavamsz@yahoo.com .-Previous chair of women's studies department and faculty member of the political science department for over 20 years. She is responsible for creating and institutionalizing the annual Women's Fair, now one of the most popular events on campus. She received the UW-Whitewater Faculty Service award in 2004. In 2008 she received Women in Leadership Award from WU-Whitewater Women’s Issues Committee.  Ghavamshahidi serves regularly as a mentor to junior faculty, has lent her expertise to many student-organized events and has appeared regularly as a featured speaker for community groups, generally on Islam-related topics and the politics of the Middle East. Her willingness to share her expertise and wide-ranging knowledge have done much to correct misconceptions held about Muslims and Islamic political movements, both on campus and throughout Wisconsin communities as well as nationwide. She regularly teaches courses in International Relations such as international law, Conflict Resolution and Crises Management in International Politics, Global Perspectives, Comparative Government in the Middle East, Women and International Relations, Women and Politics  and Introduction to Women’s Studies. She is two times Fulbright Scholar and has received grants from the National Endowment for Humanity and the United States Institute of Peace. Her recent research focus in Iran’s Nuclear Policy, and Hijab in Islam and the West.

Bob “Koshin” Hanson, Neshkoro  koshin@centurytel.net  I now live outside the village of Neshkoro, Wisconsin. I have been ordained as a Christian/Lutheran pastor, recently retiring after  serving for over 41 years, mostly in African American congregations and communities in Milwaukee and Detroit, as well as Bay View/Milwaukee and Brookfield. I have a life time of experience in interfaith relations and understanding as a member in the 60’s & 70’s of the Order Ecumenical of the Ecumenical Institute/Institute pf Cultural Affairs, living & working in Japan and brief work in South Korea, Africa and other countries. I also work as a volunteer with the Milwaukee Zen Center twice a month with a meditation group in Red Granite  and Fox Lake Correctional Institution 's .  In the early 2000's  I served as Executive Director of InterFaith Works for over three years. I have served two years on the Board of the Interfaith group in Milwaukee with my wife as representatives of the Milwaukee Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  As members of Peace Action here in Wisconsin, we continue to fight for an end of the war and peace in all its present realities.  We are now planning to be part of the Parliament of World Religions in Melbourne, Australia inn December , 2009 and the Madison Interfaith Dialogue group in Madison.

Margie Jessup - Milton caljane@merr.com,  Member of Rock Valley Fellowship of Reconciliation, Habiba Chaouch Foundation, Peace Action-Wisconsin, DR!VEN (a grass-roots organization working on health care issues and electing local candidates health care), and Community Action on Latin America. Active in all protest against war and injustice. Three-county leader in the 2004 Kucinich for President campaign and supporter of the Department of Peace. Employed as a computer programmer/analyst. A Chavista with a special interest in how the U.S. has interfered in Latin America by opposing democratically elected leaders and kidnapping or assassinating them.

Chris Kuehnel, Cleveland   cqnel@vetsforpeacesheboygan.org . Chris is the contact for the WNPJ group, Veterans for Peace – based in the area about Sheboygan, northeast Wisconsin. He is a tireless organizer, concerned with the militaristic ways of our country.  Chris recently attended the military exhibit at Summerfest, in Milwaukee –where the infamous video”game” was on display for recruitment purposes – and he said that the purpose of peace groups ‘action alerts’ about this exhibit should not be to get a few counter recruitment youth to sign up with us (the peace movement), but it should be to shut it down,  and to expose this recruitment tool  to different levels, depending on the individual’s perspective or knowledge. “My goal and my groups’ goals aren’t to recruit more members. They are to confront “authority” and to work for change.“ 

Carol Lukens Wausau, WI clukens@charter.net  Carol Lukens worked for years as a paralegal before returning to school and becoming a History and Social Science teacher. She currently teaches Nonviolence and Diversity education to at-risk students at the Northcentral Technical College Alternative High School in Wausau and remains involved in paralegal work. Both fit beautifully her passion for peace and social justice issues. Carol is a member of Northwoods Peace Fellowship in Wausau, a certified Diversity Circles facilitator, serves on the Board of the Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice, the Wisconsin Council of Churches Peace and Justice Commission, and has been volunteering with the Marquette University Center of Peacemaking since its inception three years ago.  She is a past regional organizer for the War Resisters League and was particularly involved in its programs on corporate war profiteering and the issue of militarism and women.  -  A personal passion of hers is also involvement with the Hmong community. Carol has researched and presented on Hmong history, culture and immigration at high schools and colleges, and her interest in the Hmong involves not only their culture, but the fact that their immigration and the prejudices they’ve experienced are a direct result of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. Through all of this work she remains involved at the local, state and regional levels. 

Tom McGrath, Wausau, WI tommcgrath1@gmail.com - I was born in Milwaukee. I spent four years in the Navy as a Electronics Technician ( three years of which were on a Destroyer) in the 1960's. Upon leaving the Navy, I went to work for a large Computer Corporation as a technician in Milwaukee. - I moved to Wausau in 1979 and raised four children (all of which, now live out of the state). Currently I am divorced, and I am now retired from the Computer Corporation. - I became involved in the "Northwoods Peace Fellowship" through friends in Wausau over the last couple of years and through that became aware of WNPJ. Over the years I have become quite disillusioned with the current administration in Washington; since I seem to disagree with them on just about every issue.  Over the years, I've become quite aware of the amount of corruption in government, the ineptness of the current administration in Washington, and the lack of integrity among our politicians. - I am hoping to affect some of these issues by becoming more socially/politically active. It is a never ending learning process.

Marilyn Miller Milwaukee, WI marilyn@lhra.org Marilyn Miller is the Executive Director of the Lutheran Human Relations Association (LHRA), a national peace and justice organization founded almost 55 years ago. Marilyn is an educator/trainer who has served as an adjunct faculty member of Concordia University (then College), as Advisor and Program Director for the Multicultural Engineering Program at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, and as Director of Youth and Congregational Ministries for LHRA. This work has spanned over 30 years. Marilyn is a native Milwaukeean who has served locally and nationally in helping people reach their full potential educationally and relationally. She is currently serving her second term on the Board of Directors for Frieden's Community Ministries. Other service to the community includes working with the Milwaukee Human Rights Coalition, serving as a member of the Greater Milwaukee Synod's Anti-Racism Team (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - ELCA), and as a member of the Program Committee for the Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Ministries Unit (ELCA). Marilyn is a member of Cross Evangelical Lutheran Church in Milwaukee and recently completed a Certification Program in Youth and Family Ministry through Wartburg Seminary in Iowa.

Barbara E. Munson, Mosinee Barb@Munson.net. A member of the Oneida Tribe , has lived in Central Wisconsin for 30+ years.  Degree in Art and Art Education and worked as an Artist-In-Schools and as a founder of Central Wisconsin Children's Theatre,  member of the founding board of the Oneida Nation Arts Program, member of the Wisconsin Arts Board. Second career as an Alcohol Drug Counselor and Family Therapist for Central Wisconsin Indian Center and for Oneida Tribal Social Services.  Now retired, she is a member of the Marathon County Diversity Affairs Commission and is the Diversity Chair for the American Association of University Women - Wisconsin State Board.  Has chaired the "Indian" Mascot and Logo Taskforce for Wisconsin Indian Education Association since its inception in 1997. Trained facilitator for Everyday Democracy's  Study Circles and for the Kettering Foundation’s National Issues Forums. She has a history of environmental activism as a member of Midwest Treaty Network and has leant support to a number of environmental causes affecting Wisconsin Tribes.

Janet Parker,  Madison, WI janet@wnpj.org   Janet Parker is a Madison activist with the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance (www.iraqpledge.org) which uses Gandhian nonviolence to work to end the war in Iraq. She has been arrested six times for nonviolent civil disobedience. She helped with supporting WNPJ committees and fundraising during 2004 – 2005, and worked on media for the Bring Our Troops Home referenda campaigns in 2005 - 2006. She is a Quaker and is trained as a draft counselor. Janet is employed by the Community Action Coalition as a community organizer serving people in Madison's 26 community gardens, helping gardeners grow vegetables and community together. Before moving to Madison in 1999, Janet worked for community gardeners in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Havana and coordinated a large youth environmental education project in west Baltimore from 1994 – 1998. Janet speaks Spanish and holds an masters in Land Resources from the Gaylord Nelson Institute at UW-Madison. Janet lives with her partner Walt Novash who works in renewable energy.

John Peck, Madison, WI familyfarmdeferenders@yahoo.com    John Peck is a long-time Madison activist, currently working as the executive director of Family Farm Defenders. John has also been active with WNPJ and is a former co-chair.  He can often be found at the Madison Infoshop, working on projects such as: Reclaiming Food Sovereignty - Putting the Culture Back into Agriculture ; Free Trade vs Fair Trade - Challenging Corporate Globalization ; Public School or Shopping Mall? - How to Democratize Your Campus; Grassroots Transformation in the Global South (with slides from Zimbabwe, East Timor, etc.); NonViolent Direct Action Strategies for Social Change (a hands-on skills building workshop) ; Political Street Theater 101 (a hands-on skills building workshop) ; Books for Prisoners Project; and much more!

Carl Sack - Duluth, MN E-mail: northlandiguana@gmail.com      I am a founding member of the Northland Anti-War Coalition, the regional anti-war coalition in the Duluth, MN-Superior, WI area. For the past seven years I have been actively involved in organizing local protests against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as helping organize buses to protests in Washington, D.C. in the winters of 2003 and 2007, and to Chicago in fall of 2007. I have worked to link NAWC with other peace groups in northern Wisconsin and beyond, and have directly collaborated on projects with members of Peace North (based in Hayward).   In addition to anti-war work, I have been involved in struggles for social and environmental justice in Wisconsin and globally. I am a member of Socialist Action since 2004. I graduated from Northland College in Ashland, where I was a campus organizer with Youth for Socialist Action, a member of the Peace Club, the campus newspaper’s editor and a Student Senator. Prior to college, I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, where I was involved in protests against police brutality and racism. More recently, I was an active member of Save Our Unique Lands, a grassroots group that stood up to the American Transmission Company and fought the construction of the Arrowhead-Weston Power Line. In 2006 I worked with Fair Wisconsin against the state’s constitutional ban on gay marriage and civil unions. I have volunteered my time to activities ranging from strike support to support for political prisoners. Currently, I am a regular columnist and feature writer for Duluth’s Zenith City News, and a teaching assistant for Americorps in the Duluth Public School system.