Dr. Taimi Castle, Director
Phone: (540) 568-5929
Location: Darcus Johnson Hall 1005, MSC 1205
Mission
Our mission is to promote justice and nonviolence through education, scholarship and service.
Leadership
The Gandhi Center is led by a director who reports to the academic unit head of the Department of Justice Studies . The center is under the College of Arts and Letters and includes an internal and external advisory committee. The advisory committees composed of faculty and community members assist with fundraising and networking to support the center.
Teaching
The Gandhi Center brings students and faculty together for discussion, learning and outreach across disciplines, engaging faculty and students in the justice and nonviolence projects of the center. Faculty and community members support the educational and engagement missions of the center by providing regular workshops and seminars designed to advance the study and understanding of justice and nonviolence. The center works closely with groups across campus with similar goals and assists in sponsoring lectures during the annual Beitzel Lecture Series and Symposium. JUSTPEACE is a week of educational programming that began in 2022 and features presentations and workshops on a variety of justice topics.
Research
In 2021, the permanent site for the Justice & Nonviolence Research Lab was established in the Gandhi Center suite (DJH 1005A). The lab is a collaborative research space where interdisciplinary scholars research justice and peace into action. The lab is home to the peer-reviewed, scholarly journal, the International Journal on Responsibility. The Gandhi Center also supports an annual research fellowship.
Student Interns
The Gandhi Center facilitates and supports a variety of initiatives. Over the years, student interns have implemented and organized events and programs such as gandhiFEST, Global Nonviolence Peace Camp for Children and Puppies for Peace. Student interns also manage marketing and social media for the center. Service with the Gandhi Center includes a diverse and varied set of activities focusing on both local and global community needs.
Volunteers and interns can join with existing programs or design their own program/project. We have some pressing local needs in the new Gandhi Center suite, such as organizing the Redekop library.
The Gandhi Award/Service Award
The Mahatma Gandhi Global Nonviolence Award is bestowed upon individuals with global recognition who believe humans everywhere are to be peacemakers, support nonviolence, love their enemies, seek justice, share their possessions with those in need, and express and demonstrate these beliefs in their words, life and actions. The inaugural award was given in 2007 to the Most Reverend Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa and 1984 Nobel Peace Laureate. The second award was given in 2009 jointly to former U.S. President and 2002 Nobel Peace Laureate Jimmy Carter and former first lady Rosalynn Carter.
The Service Award is presented to a local community member who advanced nonviolence and social justice. In 2013 Dr. Vida Huber and Dr. Howard Zehr (Restorative Justice) were the inaugural recipients. PAX received the award in 2015.
The inaugural Mahatma Gandhi Center for National Nonviolence Award was bestowed on the Honorable John Lewis in 2021. David Hogg and March for Our Lives received the award in 2022.
The Gandhi Statue
The government of India presented a larger-than-life-size bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi as a gift to the university in recognition of the work of the Gandhi Center. The statue was dedicated and unveiled on October 2, 2008, the International Day of Nonviolence and the birth anniversary of the Mahatma, by His Excellency Ronen Sen, Ambassador of India to the United States of America. The statue, which is located on the ground floor of JMU’s Rose Library, was the first of Mahatma Gandhi in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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