April 17, 2008

Ceylon Mooney, CBU Student, Receives Vanderhaar Student Peace Award

Ceylon Mooney (right), a senior mathematics major at Christian Brothers University, receives the 2008 Gerard A. Vanderhaar Student Peace Award from Dr. Peter Gathje of the Memphis Theological Seminary at the Vanderhaar Symposium on April 10. (photo by Linda Dunlap)

Memphis - Ceylon Mooney, a senior mathematics major at Christian Brothers University (CBU), is the recipient of the 2008 Gerard A. Vanderhaar Student Peace Award, which was presented at the Gerard A. Vanderhaar Symposium at CBU on April 10.

The Vanderhaar Symposium was founded in honor of Dr. Gerard A. Vanderhaar, a professor of religion for 28 years at CBU, who spent his lifetime promoting peace and active nonviolence. Each year, the Symposium invites a noted scholar and/or activist to the CBU campus to address a social and moral issue related to peace and justice and/or Catholic social teaching, and presents the Vanderhaar Student Peace Award.

The Student Peace Award is given annually to full-time student at the undergraduate or graduate level at a Memphis area institution of higher education who exhibits an outstanding involvement in peace and justice work and demonstrates academic excellence.

Mooney was nominated for the award by Dr. Margaret Miller, professor of psychology at CBU, and Dr. Peter Gathje, associate professor of Christian ethics at Memphis Theological Seminary, who cited him as an outstanding student as well as an extraordinary peace activist. Mooney is a member of the local rock band, Pezz, and has written for numerous national publications on matters of peace and justice. He and other Memphis area musicians formed the Humanitarian Action Collective in 1998, and he has served as co-coordinator of Voices in the Wilderness (www.vitw.org) and the Wheels of Justice Tour (www.justicewheels.org). His activism has led him to visit Iraq and Palestine on several occasions.

For more information on the Gerard A. Vanderhaar Symposium at CBU, visit www.gvanderhaar.org. ###