The Nobel Peace Prize Forum is a unique civic learning experience. Each year, this dynamic, global event brings Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, civic leaders, and scholars together with students and other citizens. As the Norwegian Nobel Institute’s only such program or academic affiliation outside of Norway, the Nobel Peace Prize Forum has a special mission: to inspire and engage students and citizens to become full participants in peacemaking efforts around the world. Luther College hosted the 2011 Forum in Decorah, IA. The 2012 event will be hosted by Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN, in partnership with the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School for Public Affairs (join our email list for updates). Augsburg is also home to the Nobel Peace Prize Festival, a day of programming for youth that occurs each year before the larger Forum event.
The initiative is sponsored by the four other Midwestern colleges of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: Augustana, Concordia, Luther, and St. Olaf colleges, who have all hosted the forum in years past. These institutions, all founded by Norwegian immigrants, have played a critical role in the Forum since its inception. Their contributions pay homage to Norway’s international peace efforts and offer opportunities for Nobel Peace Prize laureates, diplomats, scholars, and the general public to share in dialogue on the dynamics of peacemaking and the underlying causes of conflict and war.
The roots of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum are wide and deep: 2012 marks its 24 year anniversary. Since the very first event in 1989, the Nobel Peace Prize Forum’s stimulating array of programs have involved over 21,000 participants and received national and regional media coverage.
More importantly, these forums change lives. A recent survey shows that almost half of the 2011 attendees believe their lives and their thinking were “substantially changed” as a result of their participation at the Forum. Now that’s impact!
