Chukwuma Obasi leads Uniform Justice, a performance-documentary project working to improve community police relations, and in this episode he shares his story about this work of art, conflict resolution and social justice with AC4's Meredith Smith. Uniform Justice is run with Intersections International, an organization based in NYC, and has currently taken place in Memphis, TN and in Montclair, NJ. This episode discusses the aims of the project and insights learned so far for reducing tensions between police and community and violence within certain communities.

Note: This episode was recorded on June 17, 2016. Check out the follow-up conversation that continued after this episode and included AC4's Kim Nguyen:

https://soundcloud.com/ac4-columbia/ac4-july-part-2-the-out-takes-with-chuk-obasi

In this episode, we feature powerful remarks given by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Ms. Leymah Gbowee, at this year's Sustaining Peace Conference at Columbia University. For this show, we include the first part of Gbowee's keynote address on the theme of Women, Peace and Security. Full video of the keynote as well as the following panel discussion with Ms. Sarah Knuckey, Dr. Natasha Anandaraja and moderator Beth Fisher-Yoshida. Full video can be found here: http://ac4.ei.columbia.edu/events/annual-sustaining-peace-conference/sustaining-peace-event-2016/

Meredith Smith interviews Michael Hanchett Hanson, a professor of creativity at Columbia, along with Melissa Cesarano, a doctorate student of cognitive studies, focused on socio-emotional learning. Dr. Hanson spent the last 15 years teaching and researching on the development of creativity at Teachers College, and in arts classrooms with learners of all ages around NYC. Dr. Hanson discusses his experiences in the field, and explains his definition of creativity as an ideology, sharing about his new book "Worldmaking: Psychology and the Ideology of Creativity", and how developing creativity and becoming an agent of change connects to conflict resolution and peacebuilding.

Dr. Janna Levin, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Columbia, discusses the topic of nuclear energy and containment, and its connections to peace and conflict, with AC4's Meredith Smith and Kim Nguyen. Dr. Levin specializes in black holes and chaos theory, including the cosmology of extra dimensions and gravitational waves in the shape of spacetime. She is the author of How the Universe Got its Spots: Diary of a Finite Time in a Finite Space and a recent novel about the famous mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing, titled A Madman Dream of Turing Machines, which one the PEN/Bingham Prize. She has been called one of the most direct and unorthodox voices in contemporary science.

For more info on Janna Levin: http://www.jannalevin.com

Photo from http://www.jannalevin.com/bio.html

In this conversation, Professor Beth Fisher-Yoshida discusses Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM), a communications approach to sustaining peace and resolving conflict within communities. She talks with Venera Kusari, 2015 CMM Fellow and alumni of Columbia's Masters in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution program, and host, Meredith Smith. The conversation gives an overview of CMM, telling about the historical origins as well as some current initiatives. Dr. Fisher Yoshida is on faculty and the academic director of the Negotiation and Conflict Resolution program at Columbia, one of the Executive Chairs of AC4, and a regular host of the AC4/WKCR *Conversations on the Leading Edge* show.

For more on CMM, start here: http://ac4.ei.columbia.edu/ac4-supported-initiatives/coordinated-management-of-meaning-cmm/

In this conversation, Meredith Smith talks with Dr. Peter Coleman about Dynamical Systems Theory (DST), a mathematical approach to sustaining peace and resolving conflict. He tells about the historical origins of DST as well as current initiatives. Dr. Peter Coleman is a Professor of Psychology and Education at Columbia, the director of the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution at Teachers College, one of the Executive Chairs of AC4, and the founder of *Conversations on the Leading Edge*.

For more on DST, watch Prof. Coleman's talk from Columbia University's 2015 Sustaining Peace Conference: http://ac4.ei.columbia.edu/events/annual-sustaining-peace-conference/sustainingpeace2015/

In this conversation, Meredith Smith talks with Debi Spindelman, the practice manager for Columbia | SIPA's Masters of Public Administration in Development Practice (MDP) program, and Kevin Johnson, an alumnus of the MDP program who is currently working in Sierra Leone as the Vice President of Professional Services at an organization called I.B.I.S. WKCR's Danielle Smith and Spindleman talk with Johnson about his current work and the practical implications of the knowledge he learned at SIPA.

Release date: August 2015

The three co-founders of a community-based organization named Fundación Puerta Abierta, based in Medellín, Colombia join AC4’s Kyong Mazarro to discuss their work to foster, encourage, develop and support youth and their communities toward transcending violence and creating social change.

Release date: July 2015

André Corrêa d’Almeida discusses his work in sustainability and international development with AC4 Director, Joshua Fisher. They explore elements of trust building and the role of conflict resolution skills in sustainable development. André Corrêa d’Almeida is Professor and Program Manager of the Masters program in Development Practice at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and is the founder and director of several programs at the Earth Institute.

Release date: June 2015

Interview with Dr. Louis Kriesberg, distinguished conflict scholar, on his new book Realizing Peace: A Constructive Conflict Approach

Release date: April 2015