Staff


From off-campus, please dial: 781-736-XXXX.

Cynthia Cohen, Ph.D. Director
 x2133 Email
Naoe Suzuki Program Administrator x5001 Email
Alia Goldfarb Office Assistant
Email
Lauren Satterlee Web Assistant
Email
Prapti Sherchan Office Assistant
Email

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Cynthia Cohen, Ph.D., Director of Programs in Peacebuilding and the Arts

Cynthia Cohen is Director of the program in Peacebuilding and the Arts at Brandeis University, where she leads action/reflection research projects, writes and teaches about work at the nexus of the arts, culture, justice and peace. She directed the Brandeis/Theatre Without Borders collaboration "Acting Together on the World Stage," co-edited the Acting Together anthologies and co-created the documentary and toolkit (www.actingtogether.org). She directs ReCAST, Inc, a non-profit organization partnering with Brandeis and New Village Press on the dissemination of Acting Together resources. Dr. Cohen has written extensively on the aesthetic and ethical dimensions of peacebuilding, including chapters "Creative Approaches to Reconciliation" and "Engaging with the Arts to Promote Coexistence," and an on-line book "Working With Integrity: A Guidebook for Peacebuilders Asking Ethical Questions." Prior to the Acting Together project, she directed an international fellowship program "Recasting Reconciliation through Culture and the Arts," which produced an anthology by that name. (All are available in the online Resource Library.) In addition, Dr. Cohen has worked as a dialogue facilitator, with communities in the Middle East, Sri Lanka, Central America and the United States. Prior to her tenure at Brandeis, she directed a community-based, anti-racist oral history center in the Boston area.

Naoe Suzuki, Program Administrator, Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts

Naoe Suzuki joined the Center in 2010 as Senior Program Coordinator for Programs in Peacebuilding and the Arts. Prior to joining the Center, she worked as operations and media relations manager for a small business, and as administrative specialist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Suzuki is also an accomplished visual artist. In 2012, she also had a solo exhibition, “Blue” at the Kniznick Gallery at Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis from January 12 through March 2. Her works have been exhibited nationally, including the deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA; Denise Bibro Fine Art, New York, NY; Art Institute of Boston Gallery, Cambridge, MA; and Sarah Doyle Gallery at Brown University, Providence, RI. Her drawings have been published in New American Paintings, Vol. 74 in 2008, and Vol.86 in 2010. See Suzuki’s artworks on her website.

Suzuki’s residency fellowships include Blue Mountain Center, New York; Millay Colony for the Arts, New York; Jentel, Wyoming and MacDowell Colony, New Hampshire. She received the Artist Grant in Drawing/Printmaking/Artist’s Book (2006) and Artist Grant in Sculpture/Installation (2001) from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Artists’ Resource Fund from Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and the Blanche E. Colman Award from Mellon Trust of New England.

Suzuki was born in Tokyo, Japan. She has lived in the United States since 1986. She holds an M.F.A. in Studio for Interrelated Media from Massachusetts College of Art.

Alia Goldarb, Office Assistant

Alia is currently a senior at Brandeis University studying Peace, Conflict and Coexistence studies with a focus in the Applied Performing Arts. Alia is a trained singer, dancer and actress. She also has a love for design of all sorts and photography. She has extended her passion for the arts into the field of peacebuilding and the arts and is studying to work as a facilitator for reconciliation, rehabilitation and peacebuilding projects around the world. Alia has already had the opportunity to step into the professional world of arts and peacebuilding through a variety of projects: She organized and hosted a workshop and benefit show to raise awareness about cultural violence against women with Terre des Femmes Suisse in 2009. In 2012 she interned with Attukwei Art Foundation (AAF) and worked with children and teenagers in Ghana for two months. Most recently she was asked to facilitate a workshop focusing on intergenerational communication in Switzerland. Alia is looking for future projects in the U.S. and Brazil.

Alia grew up in Switzerland and was raised as a Swiss-American dual-citizen. She moved to the U.S. for her academic studies at Brandeis University in 2009. Alia is tremendously grateful for the opportunity to work with a leading program in the field she seeks to pursue professionally. She is looking forward to learning and collaborating with Peacebuilding and the Arts and support all its efforts around the globe.

Lauren Satterlee, Web Assistant

Lauren is currently a graduate student at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management in the Masters of Arts program in Sustainable International Development. Lauren is currently conducting her Masters Practicum in Colombia with the Corporation for the Sustainable Development of the Archipelago of San Andres, Old Providence, and Santa Catalina (CORALINA), which is the regional government entity of Colombia’s National Environment System (SINA). She is working with CORALINA's Seaflower Marine Protected Area team and stakeholders on its sustainable alternative livelihoods projects, helping to strengthen the capacity of community-based organizations, as well as assisting with an organizational collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Prior to graduate school, Lauren worked for the Minnesota Environmental Initiative, and for the American Refugee Committee, where she managed the organization’s social media presence and helped develop the web 2.0 strategy and best practices for the organization. She served as an AmeriCorps Volunteer for two years with Ashoka's Youth Venture and volunteered with World Savvy, Growth & Justice, and the Freshwater Society. During an  urban studies internship with a neighborhood arts cooperative, she co-organized the Red Hot Art  Festival, and has a strong belief in the power of the arts to give a voice to individuals and  communities, especially those that are traditionally marginalized. Lauren is also an ameateur  photographer. She is honored to have the opportunity to support to the work of the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts and a remarkable global network of artists, cultural workers, and peacebuilders.

Prapti Sherchan, Office Assistant

Prapti is currently a graduate student at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management in the Masters in Business Administration program. Her area of specialization is nonprofit management. Before she moved to the United States, Prapti used to work as the Alumni Relations Manager for United World College of South East Asia, Singapore. Her role entailed managing alumni events globally, spearheading the department's social media presence, to name a few.

Prapti is originally from Kathmandu, Nepal. After completing her undergraduate studies in Singapore, Prapti took some time off to go back to Nepal, where she interned with Himalayan Human Rights Monitors (HHRM). During her time at HHRM, she monitored the local human rights situation during demonstrations, interviewed victims of the Maoist conflict in order to assist in reporting and she also helped translate a comic book based on creations by children affected by the conflict.

Prapti is thrilled to be supporting the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts and all the great work the program is doing in the area of peace building and conflict resolution.