Nobel Peace Prize Winner to Speak at USU

LOGAN — Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Liberian women’s rights advocate Leymah Gbowee will speak at a Sept. 25 event on the Logan campus of Utah State University.

“How to End a War: A Conversation with Leymah Gbowee” will feature a discussion between Gbowee and Patrick Mason, professor of religious studies and Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture. Audience Q&A will follow the moderated conversation.

Gbowee is a world-renowned peacebuilder whose Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace initiative — a nonviolent movement that united Christian and Muslim women — is considered pivotal in helping to end Liberia’s civil war in 2003. Her talk will shine a light on how women of different religious backgrounds helped bring an end to a 14-year conflict, while also exploring the wider potential of women, faith leaders and ordinary citizens to foster peace in times of conflict.

“Hosting a Nobel Peace Prize winner on campus is an extremely rare and valuable opportunity,” Professor Mason said. “Gbowee may not be a household name like Gandhi or Martin Luther King, but she has just as much to teach us about nonviolent responses to seemingly intractable conflict. I am confident that everyone who attends will walk away inspired to become better peacemakers in their own spheres of influence.”

A trained social worker, Gbowee is an Oxfam global ambassador, a distinguished fellow in social justice at Barnard College, and a featured speaker and advocate. Her 2011 TED Talk “Unlock the Intelligence, Passion, Greatness of Girls” has more than 1 million plays, and her television appearances include CNN and the BBC. She and her movement were featured in the award-winning documentary film “Pray the Devil Back to Hell.”

“People often talk about peace as if it’s some unattainable or utopian ideal,” Mason said. “Leymah Gbowee is a living embodiment of how ordinary people can act with creativity and courage to create peace in even the most difficult of circumstances. If she can help end a civil war, you can apply the same principles to transform the conflicts with your roommates, co-workers or family members.”

Recognized with numerous awards for her peacebuilding efforts, Gbowee received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 alongside fellow Liberian Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkol Karman, a Yemeni human rights activist.

Moderator Mason is an expert on religion, violence and peacebuilding and is, most recently, the author of “Proclaim Peace: The Restoration’s Answer to an Age of Conflict” in 2021.

This event is the latest installment in the ongoing Arrington Conversations series, sponsored by a generous private donor. The 7 p.m. talk in the Eccles Conference Center is free and open to all. Nearby parking is available in the TSC visitor lot or the Big Blue Terrace: https://www.usu.edu/parking/visitors. Statewide audiences can access the livestream via Zoom.

For more information, please visit: https://www.usu.edu/calendar/?day=2025/9/25&id=96233