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\u201cI deeply appreciate the Wm. Collins Kohler Foundation\u2019s commitment to teaching our students to solve complex problems both close to home and abroad,\u201d 51ÁÔÆæ Chancellor Mark Mone said. \u201cProfessorships are critical to 51ÁÔÆæ because they allow us to attract and retain high quality, well-respected faculty like Tim Ehlinger. As the first Wm. Collins Kohler Chair in Systems Change & Peacebuilding, Tim embodies the Wm. Collins Kohler Foundation\u2019s vision for progressive change in our world. This is a wonderfully generous and powerful gift.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wm. Collins Kohler Foundation, formerly known as the John M. Kohler Foundation, has supported peace studies at 51ÁÔÆæ since 2007, giving a total of $4.7 million during that time. In 2011, it helped establish the Master of Sustainable Peacebuilding Program, with Ehlinger as the founding director. This program offers a systems-thinking approach to dealing with complexity, enabling students to understand and navigate pressing global problems, such as climate change, poverty and health disparities. Through holistic, interdisciplinary, community-based processes, students build critical leadership skills in facilitation, conflict transformation and evaluation.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur board created this chair in memory of my brother Collins and his intellect, kindness and passion for peace,\u201d Julilly Kohler said. \u201cBy carrying on his giving and supporting the study and analysis of the complex systems in our lives and the world, we may better understand them and make the wise choices and interventions needed for a fairer, more balanced world that helps the underdog and can make peace sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gift also provides unrestricted support for the Master of Sustainable Peacebuilding Program, which may include scholarships, staff support and the development of partnerships between the program and regional, national and global community projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am both honored and humbled to be named the first Wm. Collins Kohler Chair in Systems Change & Peacebuilding,\u201d Ehlinger said. \u201cI have seen firsthand the powerful impact on our students and their ability to effect change in Wisconsin and around the world, made possible by the generosity of the Wm. Collins Kohler Foundation. As director of the institute, I look forward to working with community and university partners to extend this work, thanks to this generous professorship and the creation of this institute.\u201d<\/p>\n
The primary goal of the Institute for Systems Change and Peacebuilding is to cultivate the deep and evolving dialogue among diverse community members, university faculty, students and alumni, which supports the relationships required to engage in the difficult conversations necessary to address the issues impacting the health and peace of our communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am excited about this gift because I\u2019ve seen the impact the Master of Sustainable Peacebuilding Program has had on so many projects,\u201d said Kim Litwack, dean of 51ÁÔÆæ\u2019s College of Nursing. \u201cThis generous gift from the Wm. Collins Kohler Foundation is an investment in our students as changemakers. By creating this professorship, the foundation is ensuring that this program will continue to make powerful changes, from keeping babies healthy in Milwaukee to promoting peace in communities in Kenya. I am so pleased that the memory of Wm. Collins Kohler will live on through this professorship and all it will accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n