Detailed Timeline of Activities: 2009 - 2012
2009
February 19, 2009
Center hosts invitational seminar on the Nur Yalman-Daisaku Ikeda dialogue book entitled A Passage to Peace. Professor Yalman gave opening remarks while Kevin Maher acted as moderator. Joining in the discussion were:
Harvey Cox, Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School
William Graham, Dean of the Faculty of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School
Leila Ahmed, Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School
Noah Feldman, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Shahab Ahmed, Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies, Harvard University
April 4, 2009
Center holds 2nd Annual Education Fellows Seminar for Advisory Council and the two fellows, Juliana Finucane and Gonzalo Obelleiro. Advisory Council members were: Larry Hickman, Chair, Ann Diller, Jim Garrison, David Hansen, Nel Noddings, and Virginia Benson.
July 3, 2009
Center’s name is changed from Boston Research Center for the 21st Century to Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue, at the request of previous leadership team with Daisaku Ikeda’s approval.
September 2009
The Ikeda Center’s Dialogue Path Press publishes its first title, Creating Waldens: An East-West Conversation on the American Renaissance, featuring Daisaku Ikeda in dialogue with scholars of nineteenth-century American literature Ronald A. Bosco and Joel Myerson.
September 24, 2009
On the sixteenth anniversary of President Ikeda’s second Harvard lecture, the Center holds launch event for the Bosco-Myerson-Ikeda book Creating Waldens. The event opened with remarks from Center staff Ginny Benson, Richard Yoshimachi, and Masao Yokota with an update on leadership and name change at the Center. Center publications associate Mitch Bogen read a message from Daisaku Ikeda. The featured speakers were:
Anita Patterson, Associate Professor of English, Boston University
Co-author Ronald A. Bosco, Distinguished Professor of English and American Literature, University at Albany, State University of New York
Co-author Joel Myerson, Distinguished Professor of American Literature Emeritus, University of South Carolina
Discussion moderated by Kevin Maher, Events Manager
November 13-14, 2009
Center holds Sixth Annual Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue, entitled “John Dewey, Daisaku Ikeda, and the Quest for a New Humanism.”
Day-long Friday seminar included all the speakers and was entitled “Toward a Third Path: A Conversation between American Pragmatism and Mahayana Buddhism.” The seminar discussion, moderated by Kevin Maher, was based on papers by Larry Hickman (entitled “In Search of a ‘Third Path’”) and Jim Garrison (entitled “Dewey and Ikeda on the Wisdom of Religious Humanism”).
Saturday public forum included:
Richard Yoshimachi (opening)
Steven Rockefeller (keynote)
Larry Hickman, Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Gonzalo Obelleiro, Doctoral Student, Teachers College
Charlene Haddock Seigfried, Purdue University
Musical composition by Emi Inaba performed with Kameron Christopher and Malcolm Parson
Jim Garrison, Virginia Tech
Virginia Benson, Ikeda center
Nel Noddings, Stanford University emerita
David Hansen, Columbia University (concluding conversation)
2010
February 2010
Dialogue Path Press publishes its second title, Into Full Flower: Making Peace Cultures Happen, Mr. Ikeda’s dialogue with peace studies pioneer and peace educator, Elise Boulding.
March 6, 2010
Center holds Book Launch event for Into Full Flower, the Boulding-Ikeda dialogue book. Center executive director Richard Yoshimachi offered opening words. Speakers were:
Russell Boulding, son of Elise Boulding
Ginny Benson, Ikeda center Senior Research Associate
Mary Lee Morrison, biographer of Elise Boulding
May 13, 2010
Book celebration for Into Full Flower: Making Peace Cultures Happen with Elise Boulding at North Hill Retirement Community. Dr. Mary Lee Morrison, founder and president of Pax Educare, and Virginia Benson of the Ikeda Center shared reflections. Elise Boulding passed away on June 24, 2010.
October 1, 2010
Center hosts a seminar with Education Fellows Advisory Council to discuss next steps after pilot phase of program. All the advisers participated in this seminar, including: Larry Hickman (Chair), Ann Diller, Jim Garrison, David Hansen, Nel Noddings, Virginia Benson.
November 5-6, 2010
Center hosts Seventh Annual Ikeda Forum, with a dinner seminar for speakers on Friday evening and a public forum on Saturday entitled “This Noble Experiment: Developing the Democratic Spirit.” The speakers were:
Vincent Harding, Iliff School of Theology
Sarah Wider, Colgate University
Anita Patterson, Boston University
Fernando Reimers, Harvard Graduate School of Education
LR Berger, Poet, Educator, and Psychotherapist
Virginia Benson, Ikeda Center
Richard Yoshimachi, Ikeda Center
2011
June 3, 2011
Center organized a seminar with local scholars on humanistic education, commemorating 15th anniversary of President Ikeda’s talk on global citizenship at Teachers College in 1996. Stephen Gould was co-convener and Kevin Maher was moderator. Participants included:
Stephen Gould, Program Director, Educational Leadership Program, Lesley University
Dan Butin, Associate Professor and founding Dean, School of Education, Merrimack College
Monte Joffee, Co-founder and Principal Emeritus, The Renaissance Charter School, New York City
Tricia Kress, Assistant Professor, Leadership in/Urban Schools, Department of Educational Leadership University of Massachusetts, Boston
Bernice Lerner, Senior Scholar, Center for Character and Social Responsibility, Boston University, and Director, Adult Education, Hebrew College
September 29, 2011
Center held Soft Power Seminar, commemorating the 20th anniversary of Daisaku Ikeda’s first lecture at Harvard. The seminar consisted of a dialogue between Nur Yalman (Harvard University) and Winston Langley (UMass-Boston) moderated by Virginia Benson followed by open discussion with fourteen students from universities in the Boston area, including Harvard, MIT, Boston University, and UMass-Boston.
October 21-22, 2011
Center held Eighth Annual Ikeda Forum, with dinner seminar on Friday night and Public forum on Saturday entitled “Cultivating the Greater Self,” using passages from Mr. Ikeda’s second Harvard lecture as inspiration. Presenters were:
Virginia Benson, Senior Research Fellow, Ikeda Center
Ann Diller, Professor of Education, University of New Hampshire
Bernice Lerner, Director of Adult Learning, Hebrew College
Lou Marinoff, Professor and Chair of Philosophy, The City College of New York, and founding President, the American Philosophical Practitioners Association
2012
April 28, 2012
Center holds public talk by UMass Boston Chancellor J. Keith Motley on “Education and Human Possibility.” Before the Chancellor spoke, a recent graduate of UMass Boston, Alex Aldarondo, shared reflections on his experience as a student and professional educator. Kevin Maher was the moderator, and Richard Yoshimachi made closing remarks.
May 1, 2012
Center notifies Julie Nagashima and Mahi Takazawa of their selection as the Ikeda Center’s newest Education Fellows.
September 2012
Dialogue Path Press publishes its third book, The Inner Philosopher: Conversations on Philosophy’s Transformative Power, by Lou Marinoff and Daisaku Ikeda.
September 21, 2012
Center hosts a lecture by Lou Marinoff, discussing themes from The Inner Philosopher, his recently published dialogue with Daisaku Ikeda. Ikeda Center publications associate Mitch Bogen offered introductory remarks.
October 12-13, 2012
Center holds Ninth Annual Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue entitled “Awakening Our Connections: A Dialogue on Interdependence,” with dinner seminar on Friday night and public forum on Saturday. Opening and closing remarks were given by the Center’s Kevin Maher and Richard Yoshimachi, respectively. Speakers were:
Stephen Gould, Assistant Professor and Director, Educational Leadership Program, Lesley University
Tanya Henderson, Public Policy Director, Women’s Action for New Directions
Ceasar McDowell, President, Interaction Institute for Social Change, and Professor, Practice of Community Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ved Nanda, Professor, International Law, Sturm College of Law, the University of Denver
Moderator: Julia Upton, Lead Teacher, Melmark New England
