leadership

board of directors

Joyce Bonafield-Pierce

Dr. Joyce Bonafield-Pierce, LICSW, Ed.D., joined the WCP Board in June, 2024. She was the first director of the Chrysalis Mental Health Clinic and serves on the Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Team. A long-time peace activist, she completed a Master’s in Peace & Conflict Studies at European Center for Peace Studies, Schlaining, Austria and has worked both locally and internationally in expanding healthcare and education opportunities in Mexico, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, and Ethiopia. Her current focus is building area peace partnerships with WCP and working with the International Peace Ambassador program.

Karen Johnson

A WCP board member and currently the acting treasurer. I taught sixth grade for 35 years in the Centennial School System in Circle Pines, MN. Our elementary and middle schools were active peace sites for the last five or six years of my teaching career. My special peace action even before my involvement with WCP was and still is PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT. For 20 years our staff took 100 5th and 6th graders to the Laurentian Environmental Learning Center in Virginia, MN during the coldest week of the year, the last week in January. I am continuing to protect the environment by being a Lake Steward trying to keep, not only my lake clean and natural, but trying to help educate people about shoreline protection, wake boarding hazards, and keeping boats and motors free of aquatic invasive species. I also try to do my part to help keep the Boundary Waters Canoe Area a pure and natural treasure. Protecting the environment is my thing that holds me to WCP. Helping to keep our Water, Land, and Air clean and natural makes all our peace actions come together and be just a little closer to a peaceful world. We are all tied together in nature.

Amy Faust Mayer

is a trained Montessori teacher, peace educator, and actress from Lexington, Kentucky. She has taught in a variety of school settings for over 20 years and is honored to be a member of the WCP board as well as a Peace Ambassador.

Martha Roberts

is a lifetime, retired educator. As an educator of young people, the concept of building a peaceful community based on becoming an International Peace Site and working with the Five Peace Actions proved to be very engaging and effective. Martha helped lay the groundwork for the Peace Education pathway of World Citizen Peace, which provides support for staying focused on the Five Peace Actions.

Caren Stelson

Board Chair

Caren Stelson

Board Chair

is a believer in peace education and its power to change how we teach and how our children learn. An educator, author of books for children and young adults and committed Board Member of World Citizen Peace, Caren sees the international potential of World Citizen Peace and its Peace Ambassadors to network, learn from one another, and show what citizens of the world can do together.

Flora Tsukayama

I have been a World Citizen Peace (WCP) Board member since 1991. I have been a volunteer with Bloomington Public Schools since my children started kindergarten (1987 - COVID Spring of 2020). WCP focuses deeply on Peace Education for educators and youth but will collaborate with other peace-minded organizations. I am one of the few non-licensed educators on the Board, who is active in peace building at schools.

staff and consultants

Betsy Borre

Social Media Director

Betsy Borre

Social Media Director

Betsy Borre is a Montessori alumnus and digital marketing professional who helps share the WCP passion for peace via our carefully curated Facebook page and Montessori Network group. Encouraged by the need to spread the five peace actions via social media, she is determined to empower people to promote peace across the ever-expanding digital world.

Dennis Hart, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Dennis Hart, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Dennis Hart, Ph.D. has served as Executive Director of World Citizen Peace since 2023. He has extensive experience leading international education, consulting, peace and justice program development, grant management, and communications as well as university teaching and research on national identity. He has served as faculty or in administration in Kent State University, University of Pittsburgh, Michigan State University, University of St. Thomas, and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Lisa Krupp

Director of Global Engagement

Lisa Krupp

Director of Global Engagement

is a Montessori Educator with a passion for peace and a determination to make the world a more peaceful place. Embracing the philosophy that peace education is essential and that it begins with children, she works with World Citizen Peace to establish International Peace Sites, promote peace education resources and engages globally with World Citizen Peace Ambassadors sharing their personal stories of peace actions that create a positive ripple effect.

Karen Polzin

Salesforce Administrator

Karen Polzin

Salesforce Administrator

Salesforce Administrator Karen is a loving mother of two young children, whom she actively teaches the importance of peaceful conflict resolution. With a deep passion for process improvement and automation within Salesforce, she believes that leveraging technology can multiple efforts to create more peace in the world. Karen works for World Citizen Peace, where she focuses on expanding the reach of the organization’s mission to empower peacemakers and strengthen communities worldwide

advisory board

Carey Seeley Dzierzak

Advisory Board Chair

Carey Seeley Dzierzak

Advisory Board Chair

I have been a peace ambassador since 2021 and started a peace site at Ridgeview Elementary in Bloomington, MN. As an educator interested in peace education, I felt strongly about offering educators a set of curriculum and lesson plan ideas to implement as peace educators. This led me to write a book with my colleague, Julie Lillie. Our book, published in September 2024, is called Empowering Peace and Justice Education: An Actionable Framework for Educators and Learners. I have been an educator and advocate for peace and social justice for twenty-five years. I currently serve as the Chair of the World Citizen Peace Advisory Board. I believe in all of the peace actions, but I'm specifically drawn to Respecting Diversity and Reaching out in Service. Learn more about me by visiting my website: blueskyliteracy.com.

Pronunciation of Dzierzak: Der-zack.

Elizabeth "Betsy" Hawes

Betsy Hawes World Citizen Peace Advisory Board

Elizabeth "Betsy" Hawes

I am thrilled to join the World Citizen Peace Board. I grew up in Chicagoland and came to Minnesota to go to the University of Minnesota where I got my bachelor's and master's degrees in Elementary Education. I have been an educator in Bloomington Public Schools since 2006 serving elementary and secondary schools in classrooms and in academic and behavioral intervention spaces for a majority of my career. For the past few years, I've served as our school district's Equity Coordinator collaborating with teachers and supporting their journey of understanding self, others, and our organizational culture and its impact on our students and their access to learning and academic success. As I work for justice for all students in our educational system, I seek to grow peace amongst the students who come from such a rich diversity of experiences and lives. I'm thrilled to be a part of an organization who works to do that with such intention.

Naomi R. Taylor

Dr. Naomi R. Taylor is a new member of the World Citizen Peace Advisory Board, passionate about bridging peace and literacy education in communities. With a career spanning public, private, and higher education, I focus on advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging to drive meaningful change. In my free time, I enjoy hiking year-round and spending time with my family.

Kate Towle

has worked with schools and organizations to foster best practices for engaging youth in the challenges of our times. Her model for intercultural and intergenerational youth engagement won the St. Paul Foundation’s 2011 Facing Race Idea Challenge. She now works actively with communities and organizations to explore the intersection of racial equity and educating for peace. Ms. Towle is one of the founding organizers of the community-building model Sweet Potato Comfort Pie®.