Salem Peace Lecture to Feature Nuclear Weapons Abolition Expert
How We Can Avoid Nuclear Disaster
October 26, 2022 ~ Willamette University
Dr. Ira Helfand will deliver this year’s Salem Peace Lecture. His topic will be Back from the Nuclear Brink: Prescription for Survival. Dr. Helfand will lecture in person as well as being live-streamed worldwide on Willamette University’s YouTube channel.
“Dr. Helfand is a perfect fit for this topic,” said Fariborz Pakseresht, a member of the Peace Lecture Committee. “He is co-chair of national Physicians for Social Responsibility’s Nuclear Weapons Abolition Committee, as well as serving as Immediate Past President of PSR’s global parent organization, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW).” Helfand is also one of the originators of the international Back from the Brink campaign to address the global threat of annihilation by nuclear weapons. According to Peter Bergel, another committee member, “few people can equal Dr. Helfand’s mastery of the nuclear weapons issue.”
The lecture will take place at 7:30pm on Wednesday, October 26 in Willamette University’s Smith Auditorium. There is no charge to attend. It will also be live-streamed at youtu.be/a4YvlcIAbX0. Anyone requiring disability accommodation for this event is invited to email chaplain@willamette.edu.
Dr. Helfand will also speak at Oregon State University’s College of Liberal Arts’ School of History, Philosophy and Religion the following day, October 27, at 2pm in Multipurpose Room 13 in the Memorial Union. That event is also free of charge.
Peacemaker of the Year
Each year, the Salem Peace Lecture Committee confers the Salem Peacemaker of the Year award on an individual or organization that has served the cause of peace consistently and diligently. This year’s award will be given to the Oregon farmworkers’ union Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste (PCUN) for its decades of work to empower farmworkers and working Latinx families in Oregon.
About the Peace Lecture Committee:
The Salem Peace Lecture Committee brings national-class speakers to the mid-Willamette community every year. This series originated in 1990 through the cooperative efforts of Salem Peace Plaza, Inc.; the United Nations Association, Salem Chapter; Physicians for Social Responsibility; the Willamette University Educational Programs Committee; and the Willamette University Office of the Chaplains.
