Lynn Elling

Founder

Lynn graduated from Washburn High School in Minneapolis, attended the University of Minnesota, and went on to Columbia University for Navy Officer Training. He married his college sweetheart, Donna Moen, and then went off to the war in the South Pacific. Lynn and Donna have five children, ten grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. After the war, Lynn joined Lincoln Life and did very well as an agent. With success in business they were able to travel extensively including to Hiroshima Japan in 1954. This was an experience that changed Lynn’s life. He vowed he would devote as much time and resources as he could to promote a peaceful and healthy world for future generations. It is from this commitment that World Citizen, Inc. (WCI) became a reality. Through WCI Lynn introduced the International Peace Sites, co-founded the Nobel Peace Prize Festival at Augsburg College, and supported the new Peace Education program added in 2001. Lynn is also co-author of the Minnesota Declaration of World Citizenship (signed 1971) and co-founder of the Annual World Law Day Dinners/Programs. Lynn Elling knows that the three programs of World Citizen, Inc. effectively reach thousands of students each year in promoting a just and peaceful world.
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Executive Committee

Martha Roberts

President

Martha is a retired educator of 36 years. Fourteen of those years were as an elementary classroom teacher and 22 years as an elementary school counselor. During these years Martha also taught a variety of adult education classes. Ten years ago her elementary school became an International Peace Site. Yearly events to renew the school's commitment to peace became the focus and standard for behavior (including parents, staff, and students.) Martha has been a board member of World Citizen, Inc. for 11 years. She is also a Peace Education Facilitator for the WCI Peace Education Program. She provides teachers with support to keep their focus on peace and justice issues. Martha received the Outstanding World Citizenship Award in 2000 for her commitment to promoting peace and justice.

Lowell Erdahl

Chair of the Board

Lowell is a graduate of a one room country school in Blue Earth, MN. He then went on to graduate from St. Olaf college, attended the Luther Seminary in St. Paul, and the Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He served as a parish pastor in Farmington, MN and at University Lutheran Church of Hope in Minneapolis. Lowell served as a professor at Luther Seminary and as a Bishop for southeast Minnesota and St. Paul. He has authored five books still in print: The Lonely House:Strength for Times of Loss, Joyful Living, 10 Habits for Effective Ministry, Be Good to Each Other (An Open Letter on Marriage (co-authored with his spouse, Carol Erdahl), and Sexual Fulfillment for Single & Married, Straight & Gay, Young & Old (co-authored with Herbert Chilstrom). A new book titled Winsome Wisdom is soon to be published. His wife Carol is co-owner of the Red Balloon Bookshop. They have three children and four grandchildren.

 

Dick Bernard

Vice President

For over 20 years Dick Bernard has introduced himself as a grandfather concerned about the world we are leaving behind for our grandchildren.  It is the future of their generation and those beyond that motivates him.  Most recently he completed three years (2005-2007) as President of the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers, an alliance of 73 peace, justice, environment, and global relationships organizations.  In his second post retirement volunteer career, he was part of the core committee of the major Peace Island Conference, September 2nd and 3rd, 2008, at Concordia University in St. Paul.  He has also initiated a website www.amillioncopies.info and has a blog www.outsidethewalls.org/blog.  His background is in public education.  He taught junior high school social studies for nine years, and for the last 27 years of his career has been a field staff representative for Minnesota Education Association/Education Minnesota.  He retired from that position in 2000.

 

Ronald (Ron) Lattin

Second Vice President

Ron received a BA in Russian and Soviet History from UCLA. He is presently the Assistant Director of Caux Round Table and assumed this position in 2000. He was formerly the Public Affairs and Political Consultant. Ron resides in Woodbury, MN.

Flora Tsukayama

Secretary

Flora is a loyal member of WCI and has served as our secretary for a number of years. She is a dedicated volunteer parent for the Bloomington School District. Flora has chaired and organized the Annual Diversity Fair and Peace Site Dedications for the Bloomington School District. She is well known in this school district for her many years of dedication in supporting a peaceful school environment for all children. Flora has been the recipient of the Outstanding World Citizenship Award.

Verlane Lynn Endorf

Treasurer

Verlane received a BA degree from Hamline in History and Economics. He received his J.D., member of the Law Review from Cornell University. He is presently an attorney and partner with the Dorsey and Whitney Law Firm. Verlane is a resident of Eden Prairie, MN and is involved in a number of volunteer activities within the community.

 

Board of Directors

Joni Boucher

Joni is a graduate of the College of St. Scholastica with a BA in Elementary Education.  She spent 6 years as a second grade teacher on the north side of Minneapolis.  She also taught  first grade and summer school special education in the Centennial School District in Circle Pines, MN.  She then began classes at the University of St. Thomas towards her certificate for Autism Spectrum Disorders.  In addition to this, Joni is active in the Minneapolis Public Schools as a parent volunteer where her oldest son is a second grade student and her youngest will begin kindergarten in the fall.  She currently works for a philanthropic firm that consults with and manages small family and private foundations. 

Lisa Boland-Blake

Lisa is a past member of the WCI Board of Directors. She is presently one of the key facilitators for the WCI Peace Education Program. Lisa has been an educator for 19 years. She has 11 years of elementary classroom experience. In the fall of 1996 she joined a team of four other educators to become a lead teacher and open a new public K-6 elementary school serving 850 students in the Woodbury area. The school is based on best practices and worked on educational innovation. In 2001, at St. Mary's University, Lisa co-facilitated a learning community of 52 adults over two years as they earned their masters degree. Most recently, Lisa consults for a non-profit, Origins, and conducts Responsive Classroom workshops. Lisa was also a recipient of Outstanding World Citizenship Award.

 

Cindy Kramer

Cindy Kramer completed 34 years of classroom teaching for the Forest Lake Area Schools.  She was asked to return as an Instructional Coach when the Forest Lake District began the Q Comp program in the fall of 2007.  She has the unique experience of observing staff in this district from all levels - early childhood special education, preschool, parenting programs and all ranges of K-12 classrooms.  It has been an eye opening experience for her and has reaffirmed her love for teachers and the incredible jobs they undertake each day in their classroom settings.

 

Mary Endorf

Mary Endorf earned her BA from Hamline University and MS from the State University of New York , and received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota from the College of Education and Human Development. She has been a classroom teacher in Texas, New York, and Minnesota, a college professor at Augsburg College and Hamline University, and an Elementary School Principal at Orono, MN.

 

Melvin Giles

Melvin in the founder of Peaceful Love Warriors, which plants "peace poles" in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and other Minnesota towns and communities. Melvin organizes peace celebrations to unite neighborhoods, and donates time each month to work at the Animal Ark Shelter. Melvin and his friends from the Animal Ark Shelter in Minnesota traveled to New Orleans to rescue animals that had been abandoned in the flood following the hurricane. Melvin just recently was a recipient of the Virginia McKnight Binger Award in Human Service. He was one of 11 outstanding Minnesotans to receive this award. It honors Minnesota residents who give their time to improve the lives of people in their communities.

Gene Link

Gene Link is the Assistant General Counsel for the Target Corporation. He is currently a member of the Edina Community Council (volunteer position), and a past president of the First Universalist Church in Minneapolis, MN.

Kevin McGee

Recently completed the doctoral program at the University of St. Thomas (E.D.d. Critical Pedagogy Program). He also completed the Reading Specialists program at Hamline University. Kevin currently is the Educational Coordinator at Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion School in the Eden Prairie School District, Eden Prairie, MN. He is the Peace Committee Facilitator as well as Facilitator and Coordinator for the school district's S.E.E.D. Program (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity.) Kevin has also been a teacher in Ecuador, Morocco, and a Peace Corps Volunteer in West Africa.

 

Mark Ritchie

Mark Ritchie serves as Minnesota's 21st Secretary of State.  As Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie partners with township, city, and county officials to organize elections on behalf of Minnesota's nearly 4 million eligible voters.  Mark also oversees a wide range of services provided by the Office of Secretary of State including business filings, operating Minnesota's address confidentiality program.  As an elected constitutional Officer he sits on the State Executive Council, the State Board of Investment, and on the board of the Minnesota Historical Society.  In the 1980's Ritchie worked for Governor Rudy Perpich in the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, addressing the economic crisis threatening family farmers and rurual communities.  From 1988 to 2006, he served as president of the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy.  In 2008 Secretary Ritchie was named the Most Valuable State Official in the United States by The Nation magazine and Politician of the Year by Politics in Minnesota, the state's leading non-partisan public affairs news service.  In 2009, he received the election Verification Network's national recognition award for his non-partisan leadership throughout the 2008 US Senate race recount.

 

Jan Tift

Jan is an elementary teacher in Minneapolis at Bryn Mawr School. She received her B.A. from Augsburg College and a Masters of Curriculum and Instruction from St. Cloud State University. She has written successful grants for peace education through the Peacemaker Foundation and the Star Tribune Imagination Fund. She co-facilitated the establishment of the Anwatin Bryn Mawr Parkview Peace Site in 2007. In 2007-08 she was on sabbatical leave to work on issues in Peace Education and is a facilitator for World Citizen Peace Educator Groups. Jan has participated in international teacher exchanges in Denmark, Sweden, and Japan.

 

Larry Wade

Larry has participated in the World Citizen Peace Education workshops for the past four years.  He has designed and taught a continuing education course titled, Peace Education Through Nature and the Arts.  The main focus of the course is character education, community building, and multicultural connections using a variety of mediums.  Currently, he is the only one in the Hopkins School District who is teaching a character education and leadership course.  He has designed and taught over 50 activities throughout the year.  Larry identified his main strength for working on the World Citizen Board of Directors as an educator working in the trenches with students.  He is looking forward to working with a number of dedicated people that are already serving on the World Citizen Board of Directors.

 

 

Roger Wangen

Roger graduated from Minnesota State University at Mankato, and completed a MA in Educational Administration at the University of St. Thomas. Roger has taught English, Social Studies, and History. He joined the Minnesota Department of Education in a newly created position of Social Studies Specialist. International Education was added later to his assignment. Roger has served as President of the Minnesota Council for Social Studies, The Social Science Consortium Board of Directors at the University of Colorado, and the Council for State Social Specialist - Washington, D.C. He has also served on the board of directors in a number of organizations such as; Alliance for Education in Global and International Studies, Minnesota council on Economic Education, Women in World Area Studies, Upper Midwest Women's History Center, as well as a number of other organizations. Roger has authored or co-authored a number of books and educational materials. A few to mention are; The Student Lawyer, Model Learner Outcomes for International Education, and K-12 Social Studies Education; Educating Minnesota's Students in a World of Rapid Change. Roger has also been involved in a number of other activities such as summer institutes for educators from around the United States and various projects funded by foundations and working with international teacher exchanges.

Brenda Wright

Brenda has been an educator in the field of Elementary Education since 1984. She began her teaching career at a private academy teaching elementary students for three consecutive years. In 1988 she resigned from her teaching position, but remained active as a wife, mother, and volunteer in the community. She became part of a group of educators that opened Rutherford Elementary School in Stillwater, Minnesota in 1998. Through collaboration with World Citizen, she became an active proponent for peace education and began co-advising a Nobel Peace Prize student group.  She is a facilitator for World Citizen's Peace Educator Workshops.  She obtained an assistant professor position at the University of Wisconsin River Falls in 2007. This position in higher education affords her the opportunity to teach social studies methods including peace education to pre-service teachers.

Staff

Kathy Millington

Executive Director

Kathy retired from 36 years in Education as of June 2002. She assumed the position of Executive Director in 2003. Twenty-five years in education were as a classroom teacher and the last eleven years as an Elementary Principal in the Centennial School District in Circle Pines, MN.  Kathy received her BA degree from Luther College in Decorah, IA, her MS degree from the University of Minnesota in Mankato, MN., and her Ed. Specialist degree in Administration from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. Kathy was also trained as a trainer for PeaceWorks Curriculum (Miami, Florida based) and received the Outstanding World Citizenship Award in 2004 for her leadership in Peace Education. Kathy's passion for working with children and promoting peaceful problem solving matched the vision and mission of World Citizen, Inc., which led her to her present position.

Laura Seidel

Newsletter Editor

 Laura graduated from the University of St. Thomas in December 2007. She double majored in print journalism and English, and minored in justice and peace studies. Laura worked on the St. Thomas newspaper, The Aquin, for 3 ½ years and was Editor-in-Chief in 2006. In addition to her position at World Citizen, Laura is a full-time teaching assistant in the autism program at Battle Creek Elementary. Laura currently attends St. Catherine University, where she will receive her master’s in education.