Riverland Community College English for Academic Purposes (ENAP) Instructor Nancy Christopherson was recently awarded a fellowship to the United States Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C. May 27 - June 1. She will participate in a seminar, "Global Peace and Security in Community Colleges and the Communities They Serve."

The United States Institute of Peace is an independent nonpartisan national institution established and funded by Congress. Its mission is to help prevent, manage, and resolve violent conflicts by empowering others with knowledge, skills, and resources, as well as by direct involvement in peace-building efforts. Since the late 1990s, the Institute has held summer seminars for community college faculty as well as for four-year college and university faculty. This year's seminar participants will consist of 18 faculty and administrators from 12 states.

Nancy Christopherson began working at Riverland in 1992. She has a master’s degree in education from Southwest State University with a major in educational leadership and a specialization in ESL. Her undergraduate degree is a bachelor of science degree in elementary education with a minor in kindergarten from Winona State University and an associate in arts degree from Austin Community College. She also has occupational ESL qualifications from Hamline University in St. Paul and speech communication qualifications from Minnesota State University, Mankato.

The seminar is designed to look at issues of global peace and security using the Institute's model of conflict prevention and analysis, conflict resolution and management, and post-conflict peace building. Sessions will alternate between content and methodology.  Presenters will talk not only about what to teach, but how to teach and present it in a community college setting.