Peace Prize Forum History

The Nobel Peace Prize Forum is a unique, transformative learning experience. It provides an unparalleled opportunity to inspire and engage students and citizens to become full participants in peacemaking efforts around the world.

Background Information
In cooperation with the Norwegian Nobel Institute, since 1988, five Midwestern colleges of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America sponsor the annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum. This prestigious event is the Norwegian Nobel Institute’s only such program or academic affiliation outside Norway.

The colleges, all founded by Norwegian immigrants, sponsor the forum to give recognition to Norway’s international peace efforts and to offer opportunities for Nobel Peace Prize laureates, diplomats, scholars, and the general public to share in dialogue on the dynamics of peacemaking and the underlying causes of conflict and war.

Begun in 1988 with generous support from Lutheran Brotherhood (now Thrivent Financial for Lutherans) and Northwest Airlines, the Nobel Peace Prize Forum’s stimulating array of programs has involved thousands of participants and reached a much broader audience through national and regional media coverage.

Among the many who are inspired by the forums, students perhaps receive the greatest impact. Exposure to world leaders who work tirelessly for peace can be life changing as young people learn that peacemaking is both possible and honorable. When students and other forum participants see and hear laureates such as Elie Wiesel, Oscar Arias Sanchez, Jody Williams, Jimmy Carter, and Wangari Maathai, the messages of peace and peacekeeping become personal and powerful. The colleges acknowledge a strong connection between the Nobel Peace Prize Forum and the increasing number of their students studying abroad or pursuing volunteer service at home or overseas upon graduation.

Leadership for the consortium is provided by an executive committee made up of two-dozen individuals committed to the ongoing success of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum. The group includes the five sponsoring college presidents, the executive director of the Nobel Institute in Oslo, and political, religious, and community leaders from the upper Midwest.

Nobel Peace Prize Forums 1989-2007