Vernon E. Jantzi, co-founder and former director of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University (EMU), has a PhD in the Sociology of Development from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.  In addition to teaching, he has been a scholar-in-residence at Massey University where he researched the history and evolution of Restorative Justice in New Zealand.  He has also worked extensively with both governmental and non-governmental organizations on the interface of development, peacebuilding, restorative justice and trauma awareness and resilience in Latin America, the South Pacific, Africa and Southeast Asia.  He lived in Latin America for twelve years and has served as advisor to the Costa Rican government on land reform and the Peruvian ministry of education on Spanish-Quechua bilingual education.  He also directed a national adult literacy program in Nicaragua in addition to in-depth involvement with development NGOs in the Latin American region.  His research and practice include work on the management challenges of private development organizations in war zones and on how alternative forms of justice, especially restorative justice, and trauma healing and resilience contribute to building and strengthening local communities and societies.  His most recent work with displaced and refugee populations has been in South Sudan and Syria/Lebanon and research on the systemic trauma and migration from Central America and Mexico to the United States