Facilitation and dialog, community-based trauma healing, conflict resolution, theology of struggle
Dr. Al Fuertes was a recipient of the 2008 GMU Teaching Excellence Award and the 2001 AT&T Asia-Pacific Leadership Award. Al is a field practitioner and consultant who specializes in community-based trauma healing as an integral component in peacebuilding and conflict transformation. He travels extensively around the world, particularly in places affected by war, armed conflict, and natural disaster. Al works with government, religious, military, and community leaders, as well as NGO development workers, school administrators, teachers, youth, refugees and internally displaced persons. He is the faculty director of the global education program in the Philippines, a 9-credit summer course in Grassroots Peacebuilding, Environmental Issues and Cultures, and in Cambodia, a 3-credit winter course in Community Development, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, and Spirituality through George Mason's Center for Global Education.
Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University (2007)
M.A. in Peace Studies, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, IN (1997)
Association of Conflict Resolution, 2012.
Board of Directors, International Peace Research Association Foundation (IPRAF). 2006-present.
Member, Asia Pacific Peace Research Association (APPRA), 2006-present.
Member, Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA), 2007-present.
Member, Psychologists for Social Responsibility (US), Washington DC, 2002- present.
Fuertes, Al B. 2012. "Transformative Impact of Storytelling on the IDPs in the Philippines." Conflict Resolution Quarterly, Volume 29 Number 3 Spring.
Fuertes, Al. 2010. "Peacebuilders in Southeast Asia Describe the Dynamic Interplay Between Consciousness and Transformation Towards Effective Practice." Alternative Perspectives in the Humanities and the Social Sciences. Ed. Otto F. von Feigenblatt. Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences, Inc., pp. 1-12.
Fuertes, Al. 2010. "Rethinking How We Channel Relief Assistance and Humanitarian Services to Refugees and Internally Displaced Communities in Southeast Asia." Development and Conflict in the 21st Century. Ed. Otto F. von Feigenblatt. Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences, Inc., pp. 4-26.
Fuertes, Al B. 2010. "Birds Inside A Cage: Metaphor for Karen Refugees." Social Alternatives. First Quarter, Volume 29:1: 2010.
Fuertes, Al. 2008. Community-based Warviews, Resiliency and Healing. VDM Verlag Dr. Mueller e.K.
Cornerstones 101 Narratives of Identity
NCLC 140 Self as Citizen
NCLC 202 Public Speaking and Critical Thinking
NCLC 305 Conflict Resolution/Transformation
NCLC 314 Conflict, Trauma and Healing
NCLC 315 Spirituality and Conflict Transformation
NCLC 382 Human Dimensions in Conservation
NCLC 416 Refugee and Internal Displacement
NCLC 475 Forgiveness & Reconciliation in Divided Communities
NCLC 475 Human Trafficking and the International Community
NCLC 491 Senior Capstone Experience
GLOA 620 Human Systems
Mentorship to students in their Individualized Studies programs