VALPARAISO, INDIANA – Two Valparaiso University faculty members have been named University Research Professors and will receive support for projects on traditions of restorative justice in Ethiopia and assessing the impact of Chinese air pollution.
Selected by the University’s Committee on Creative Work and Research for the awards were Dr. Charles Schaefer, associate professor of history, and Dr. Gary Morris, associate professor of physics and astronomy. They each receive a $4,000 grant to support their scholarly work along with one semester of full-time leave or two semesters of half-time leave during which they will focus on their research projects.
The grant awarded to Dr. Schaefer will support his research on various methods of restorative justice employed by Ethiopia’s emperor and imperial court to resolve conflict and bring about peace and reconciliation. That research is intended to be published in a book tentatively titled Traditions of Restorative Justice in Imperial Ethiopia, 1769-1960.
Dr. Schaefer is a leading expert on Ethiopia and serves as a country specialist on the country for Amnesty International-U.S.A. Born and raised in Ethiopia as the son of Lutheran missionaries, Dr. Schaefer said his research will add to global conversations about restorative justice.
“The histories of individual countries can offer models for how various peoples may reconcile victims with perpetrators in ways that are culturally appropriate and therefore meaningful to the indigenous population,” he said.
The Ethiopian example, Dr. Schaefer said, also demonstrates how accountability can be integrated into concepts of restorative justice.
“Too often restorative justice is accused of being soft by granting blanket amnesties, of encouraging a ‘forgive and forget’ approach,” he said. “Imperial Ethiopia granted ‘conditional amnesty’ with specified terms that had to be met; this could possibly mitigate the critique leveled at restorative justice.”
The grant will support Dr. Schaefer as he travels to Ethiopia and Great Britain to conduct research for his book.
Dr. Morris will use his grant and leave to review measurements of air pollution being carried by wind currents from China to Japan. Dr. Morris received a Fulbright Scholar grant earlier this year to help quantify how much air pollution China is generating, show how that pollution is affecting Japan and indicate the effectiveness of China’s pollution control strategy for the Beijing Olympics.
He collected air quality data in Japan from early July through the end of September to observe changes in air pollution levels resulting from steps Chinese officials took to dramatically reduce emissions in the weeks leading up to the Olympic Games – including closing coal-burning power plants and factories and halting major construction projects.
Dr. Morris will return to Japan during the same period in 2009 to collect air pollution data at a time when Chinese emissions are likely to be closer to typical levels.
Dr. Morris, who for several years has studied the transportation of air pollution over long distances, said the project should add to scientists’ understanding of Earth’s interconnectedness. The results will help scientists and government officials throughout the world better understand how air pollution affects communities hundreds or thousands of miles away from the source of the emissions, improve air quality forecast models, assist in urban planning and tailor plans for improving air quality.
“Air quality, like climate change, is not just a local, but also a regional and global issue that recognizes no political boundaries and presents challenges for international relations,” Dr. Morris said. “Satellite data reveal pollution plumes emitted by Chinese industries and power plants crossing the Pacific Ocean to the United States, so this pollution isn’t just a problem for Asia.”
The University Research Grant program provides financial assistance to Valparaiso faculty members who have a demonstrated ability to conduct original research or produce creative work.