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Mitzi Perdue is an American businesswoman, author, journalist, humanitarian, and philanthropist whose career encompasses entrepreneurship, public communication, agriculture, environmental advocacy, and international humanitarian engagement. She earned a bachelor’s degree with honors from Harvard University, where she studied government and international law, and later completed a Master of Public Administration at George Washington University. Her 1965 thesis examined the future of computers. Perdue’s business and civic experience includes establishing a rice-farming operation and a wine-grape enterprise, serving as President of American Agri-Women, and representing the United States as a delegate to the United Nations Conference on Women in Nairobi. She also authored hundreds of articles and columns for the nationally syndicated Scripps Howard feature The Environment and You, the most widely syndicated environmental column in the United States during the 1990s and early 2000s. In addition, she produced and hosted more than 400 television interviews for Mitzi’s Country Magazine and has written extensively on family business, food, agriculture, the environment, philanthropy, health, war and conflict, and public affairs.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Perdue has served as a war and conflict correspondent, reporting from within Ukraine on civilians’ experiences of war, human trafficking, landmines, mental health, and recovery. Many of her interviews have taken place in bomb shelters during air raids. She has written more than 200 articles on the war, using journalism as a practical humanitarian contribution to conflict resolution rather than as formal diplomatic mediation. Her reporting documents harm, amplifies local voices, informs international audiences, and draws attention to conditions that can intensify insecurity and exploitation during wartime. Her direct humanitarian work has included fundraising for Ukraine, most visibly through the 2022 Sotheby’s auction of her Atocha emerald engagement ring, which raised $1.2 million for Ukrainian assistance supporting anti-trafficking initiatives and shelters for women and children at risk. She also co-founded Mental Help Global, an initiative to expand access to mental health support in conflict-affected settings. Perdue’s work contributes to conflict resolution and peacebuilding by increasing public awareness of the consequences of modern technological warfare, protecting vulnerable populations, supporting survivors, and strengthening the social and psychological resilience required for recovery during and after conflict.

Dr. Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi and Kasturba Gandhi, has been affiliated with the Bosserman Center since 2001. Among his most notable contributions to ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ is the Gandhi Legacy Tour, which he has led with his father, the late Dr. Arun Gandhi, and Dr. Brian Polkinghorn for numerous groups of SU students. These educational journeys throughout India include visits to sites associated with Mahatma Gandhi’s life and legacy. Dr. Gandhi has also accompanied SU students on a South African edition of the Gandhi Legacy Tour, exploring locations connected to the 20 years his great-grandfather lived there.

Born on a train between Mumbai and Kolkata to Sunanda and Arun Gandhi, Dr. Gandhi was raised in Mumbai. He attended Adarsh Vinay Mandir, a local Gujarati-medium school, and earned a diploma in printing from the Government Institute of Printing Technology in Mumbai. In 1998, he established the Mahatma Gandhi Foundation in Vadodara, Gujarat. The Foundation is now based in Mumbai, where he continues to serve as President. Since 1996, he has also served as President of the Lok Seva Trust, an NGO established in central Bombay in the mid-1950s by Dr. Kanti Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, to support textile-mill laborers. Dr. Gandhi portrayed himself in the 2000 fictional Bollywood film Hey Ram, directed by Kamal Hassan, and again in the 2009 semi-fictional film Road to Sangam, which was based on an episode from his life.

Dr. Gandhi is the author of the widely acclaimed, best-selling nonfiction book Let’s Kill Gandhi (2007), a detailed account of the events leading to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. The book renewed discussion of officials’ handling of the six earlier attempts on his great-grandfather’s life. His more recent book, The Lost Diary of Kastur, My Ba (HarperCollins India, 2022), was published after the discovery of his great-grandmother’s diary and offers a rare perspective on her lifelong partnership with Mohandas, who openly acknowledged the essential role she played in his accomplishments.

Dr. Gandhi serves on numerous international boards, including the Gandhi King Center, and has met and worked with heads of state. Nevertheless, he remains committed to community-level engagement and to the principle of being the change one wishes to see in the world.

Dr. Gandhi lives in Mumbai with his wife, Sonal Desai. They have two married children, a son, Vivan Gandhi, and a daughter, Kasturi Gandhi, and are proud grandparents. Their daughter was named in honor of Kasturba Gandhi, Mohandas Gandhi's wife.

The Reverend Dr. Joel L. King Jr. is an Ohio pastor, civic leader, and advocate for the enduring legacy of faith, service, and nonviolence associated with the King family. As a first cousin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he brings a personal connection to the civil rights leader’s work. Over nearly four decades of Christian ministry and community service, Dr. King has emphasized the practical importance of faith, love, reconciliation, and responsible civic engagement.

At ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ, Dr. King has mentored and advised students on nonviolence, diversion programs, and equity within local and national institutions.

Dr. King has held several pastoral appointments across Ohio. After being called to Jerusalem Second Baptist Church in Urbana in 1992, he served as its pastor for more than 13 years. He has also served as an associate minister at Mount Hermon Baptist Church in Mansfield, Union Grove Baptist Church in Columbus, and Mount Hermon Baptist Church in Columbus. Beyond the pulpit, he has served as chaplain to the Columbus Fire and Police Departments and the Gahanna Police Department, extending pastoral care and moral leadership to public-service institutions.

His civic leadership includes long-standing service with the Ohio Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Commission, with which he has been involved since its establishment, as well as representing Ohio on the National Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Advisory Committee in Atlanta. Dr. King has also contributed to organizations including the Columbus Community Action Board, now known as IMPACT, and the State of Ohio Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance. A retired United Parcel Service manager with more than 23 years of service, he earned an Associate of Arts degree in accounting from Cecil’s Business College in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Dr. Odion Omovbude is a distinguished lawyer and scholar with more than 20 years of combined experience in legal practice and scholarly research. He served as a UNESCO Senior Research Fellow with the Bosserman Center for Conflict Resolution (BCCR) in 2020 and 2024. His association with Dr. Brian Polkinghorn and BCCR predates his current role as Senior Research Fellow and Affiliate Senior Researcher and reflects a decade-long professional, scholarly, and graduate-study relationship with ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ. This sustained engagement demonstrates the depth and continuity of his contributions to the field.

Dr. Omovbude’s published and ongoing research lies at the intersection of international conflict management, peace-process design, African and development studies, and legal analysis. His expertise includes empirical analysis of the durability of negotiated agreements, the development of meta-theoretical frameworks for improving peace processes, and the practical policy implications of peace and development research. His training in advanced quantitative methods, applied to conflict and development datasets, is complemented by extensive qualitative analysis of African peace and development processes.

Dr. Omovbude holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in International Conflict Management from the School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding and Development in Kennesaw State University’s Norman J. Radow College of Humanities and Social Sciences; a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Sustainable International Development from the William H. Gates School of Law at the University of Washington; a Master of Arts (MA) in Conflict Analysis and Dispute Resolution from the Fulton School of Liberal Arts at ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ; and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) in Nigerian and International Law from the University of Benin School of Law in Nigeria. His academic and professional formation bridges legal analysis, international conflict management, development, and policy research.