Get to know who’s at Metta

Michael Nagler is Professor emeritus of Classics and Comparative Literature at UC, Berkeley, where he co-founded the Peace and Conflict Studies Program in which he taught the immensely popular nonviolence course that was webcast in its entirety as well as PACS 90, “Meditation” and a sophomore seminar called “Why Are We Here? Great Writing on the Meaning of Life” for fifteen years.

Among other awards, he received the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award for “Promoting Gandhian Values Outside India” in 2007, joining other distinguished contributors to nonviolence as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and peace scholar and activist Johan Galtung in receiving this honor.

He is the author of The Search for a Nonviolent Future, which received a 2002 American Book Award and has been translated into Korean, Arabic, Italian and other languages; Our Spiritual Crisis: Recovering Human Wisdom in a Time of Violence (2005); The Upanishads (with Sri Eknath Easwaran, 1987), and other books as well as many articles on peace and spirituality.

He has spoken for campus, religious, and other groups on peace and nonviolence for many years, especially since September 11, 2001. He has consulted for the U.S. Institute of Peace and many other organizations and is the founder and President of the board of the Metta Center for Nonviolence Education. Michael has worked on nonviolent intervention since the 1970’s and served on the Interim Steering Committee of the Nonviolent Peaceforce.

Michael is a student of Sri Eknath Easwaran, Founder of the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation, and has lived at the Center’s ashram in Marin County since 1970. He gives workshops on Easwaran’s system of passage meditation around the world.

contact: Michael@mettacenter.org

Stephanie Van Hook has dedicated her life to the service of positive peace and is honored to be  the Executive Director of the Metta Center for Nonviolence Education.  She is an earnest student of principled nonviolence, passage meditation and Gandhian thought (and action). Before pursuing a holistic kind of “higher education” through service-learning as the ED of METTA under the mentorship and guidance of Prof. Emeritus Michael Nagler, she earned an M.A. in conflict resolution and mediation, and served in the U.S. Peace Corps (Benin 2005-2007).  She is on the board of the Peace and Justice Studies Association for issues relating to women and gender, and  she has taught, written and spoken on such topics as atonement, nonviolence, domestic violence and reconciliation.

Contact: Stephanie@mettacenter.org

Nicholas Sismil, intern extraordinaire contact: nicholas@mettacenter.org

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Michael Nagler, President

James Phoenix, Vice President

Born 1950 in Charlotte. NC.  Lives with his wife, Joy, in San Rafael, CA.  Education:  UNC at Chapel Hill, Bachelors, Political Science; Hunter College, CUNY, Masters, English Literature.  Career: writer and publisher in private and non-profit sectors.  Currently: Vice President of METTA; Board of Directors of the Fenwick Foundation; and volunteer in Programs and Development Departments for the Blue Mountain Center of Meditation.

Lorin Peters

While serving four years in the Peace Corps, Thailand, Lorin received a death threat, which eventually led him to Gandhi, and to nonviolence.  During Vietnam, while teaching physics at a Catholic high school in Oakland, he was asked to create and teach a course on war and peace and nonviolence.  He has taught Gandhian nonviolence ever since.  After September 11^th occurred one week into his sabbatical, studying  nonviolence under Professor Michael Nagler at UC Berkeley, he began meditating.  That year he was led to join Christian Peacemaker Teams, and to devote seven summers to peacemaking in Hebron, Palestine-Israel. He has taught a UC Extension course on nonviolence, presented programs on Gandhian nonviolence, on unarmed civilian peacekeeping, and on the Israeli-Palestinian occupation, and trained Metta interns in nonviolent conflict intervention.

Richard J. Meyer is an entrepreneur, visionary philanthropist, and instrument rated private pilot. Recently, he initiated the development of the book Beyond Forgiveness: Reflections on Atonement (Josey-Bass). Richard supports a wide range of causes, from recovery related programs to youth violence programs from the “consciousness and spiritual” based approaches to social change. Over the years, he has held numerous offices in service clubs, worked on various task forces and has chaired or co-chaired six nonprofit community efforts. He also cofounded three political organizations in Orange and Riverside counties. In 2004, he won the Democratic nomination for the 45th congressional district of California. Currently, he resides in Newport Beach, California.

Tal Palter- Palman, B.A. in History and Peace and Conflict Studies, U.C. Berkeley and M.A., History, San Francisco State University, teaches peace studies courses and U.S., women and Middle East history at Berkeley City College, in Berkeley, California. She was born and raised in a small village in Israel. Tal focuses on social movements and nonviolence, and she has been involved in the peace movement in Israel and Palestine.

Mark Parnes is assistant general counsel of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and assists the General Counsel with risk-management, ethical and other legal aspects of law practice at the firm.  Along with the Pro Bono Committee, Mark also has assumed responsibility for the firm’s pro bono program.  Mark’s responsibilities include oversight and administration of all pro bono cases, acting as the liaison between the firm and public interest legal groups and coordinating the interests of attorneys with pro bono legal opportunities.  Mark also supports the board of the WSGR Foundation (a vehicle for the firm’s members to make financial contributions to the community); the WSGR Charity/Community Events Committee (which organizes numerous charity/community events throughout the year for firm employees); and the WSGR Green Team (which tries to reduce the firm’s impact on the environment and promote environmental efficiency).

Mark presently represents a wide variety of nonprofits concerning corporate and litigation issues.  In addition to working with METTA Center for Nonviolence Education, Mark also works with the following representative clients:  ACE Charter School, Adolescent Counseling Services, Asylum Access, Blue Planet Network, Child Advocates, Children’s Discovery Museum, D-Rev:  Design Revolution, East Palo Alto Charter School, Family Connections, Fioli Center, Fresh Lifelines for Youth, InnVision The Way Home, Living Goods, New Teacher Center, Niroga Institute, Project Hired, Raising a Reader, Reading Partners, SEE College Prep, Silicon Valley Children’s Fund, Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund, Sky’s The Limit Fund, Sunnyvale Community Center, Sustainable Conservation, The Reach Institute for School Leadership and Upwardly Global.

Not pictured:

Gilda Bettencourt, Secretary

Susan Rockrise

Cynthia Boaz