CONTACT US
By Mail: 4410 Verda Lane, NE, Keizer,
OR, 97303, USA
By Phone: 503.393.8305 (USA)
By email: pritamr@open.org
A DIRECTOR serves as long as
(s)he is willing and able to effectively perform functions of his/her position
and enjoys the confidence of other Directors.
Qualifications for New
Directors
- The Director is committed to
the objectives of ACHA, and subscribes to its Mission Statement and its
Declaration of Commitment.
- The Director has time and
willingness to participate in discussions of ACHA matters, promote ACHA,
and discharge whatever responsibilities are assigned to him/her by the
Board.
CURRENT BOARD OF DIRECTORS
DIRECTOR
(ASIAPEACE): Omar Ali MD, Wisconsin, USA
Dr. Ali is a Pakistani-American
physician, currently Assistant professor of Pediatric Endocrinology at the
Medical College of Wisconsin.
He hails from a village near Gujarat city in Pakistani Punjab
and graduated from King Edward Medical College in Lahore. He moved to the US in 1986 and later spent 6
years in Saudi Arabia working as a pediatrician.
In
addition to his professional interests, he is an avid reader and used to write
book reviews for the Pakistani magazine "Herald". He has
written 28 reviews, almost all of them about history or science.
He is very interested in peace
between the sub continental neighbors and is eager to do what he can in this
cause.
Currently, he serves as the
Moderator of Asiapeace, one of ACHA’s
three Electronic Discussion Forums.
DIRECTOR: Shobha
Gautam, Bhaktapur, Nepal
Shobha Gautam
is a freelancer journalist and peace activist of Nepal.
She has been advocating for women rights through media for the last 22 years.
Her particular interests are the prevention and reduction of violent conflict,
and participative design for the involvement of broad-based representation in
peace-building by mobilizing media community.
She has authored several books
and training manuals on human rights, peace negotiation skill development and
conflict resolution. Also she is a
senior media, peace and gender trainer. She provides training to the
journalists all over the country on conflict, gender and human rights reporting
and to the security forces as well as the Maoists on way to protect and respect
the children rights during the conflict.
She
is currently working as the President of Institute of Human Rights
Communication Nepal (IHRICON) and vice president of Beyond Beijing Committee. To uplift
the situation of women in Nepal through sustainable peace building, Shobha has been
coordinating many activities in Nepal.
In the course of her work, so far
she has more than 14 countries and more than 65 Districts of Nepal.
For her work she has received
many awards, including the Krishna Mohan-
Nudup Peace Award in 2005 for playing leading role to aware women in
peace and good governance in the country.
DIRECTOR: Haroon Habib, Dhaka, Bangladesh (SECRETARY) 
Haroon Habib
is a Bangladesh Liberation War veteran and a senior journalist, writer and
human rights activist. He was the Chief Editor of Bangladesh Sangbad
Sangstha(BSS), the national news agency, and working as the Bangladesh
Correspondent of the prestigious Indian daily The Hindu and Frontline
magazine for well over two decades. Haroon Habib
also runs a voluntary media --South Asian News-Feature Service (SAN-Feature
Service)--, which exclusively deals with the issues of peace, human
rights, democracy and development in South Asia.
DIRECTOR: Dr. Herbert Hoefer, Oregon,
USA
Dr.
Hoefer has an Ed. D. from Columbia University, New
York, and a Master's degree in Sacred Theology from
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. He
is a pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and served as an educational
missionary in Tamil Nadu, India,
from 1968-83. He authored and edited several books while in India,
but he is probably best known for his research on non-baptized believers in
Christ. Upon returning from service in India
in 1983, he served as a parish/campus pastor in Wisconsin
for 13 years. Since 1997, he has been teaching Bible and World Religions at Concordia
University, Portland,
OR. As a part of this position, he is
expected to teach in India
every year for 2 to 3 months. He and his wife Carol have 3 daughters, 2 of whom
were born in India;
all 3 were raised there. He joined the Board in 1999.
DIRECTOR: Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy, Islamabad, Pakistan
Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy is professor of physics at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, where he has taught for over 33 years. He holds a Ph.D in nuclear physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is the recipient of the Abdus Salam Prize for Mathematics, the Baker Award for Electronics, Faiz Ahmad Faiz Prize for contributions to education in Pakistan, and the UNESCO 2003 Kalinga Prize for the popularization of science. He is visiting professor at MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Maryland, Stanford Linear Accelerator, and often lectures at US and European universities and research laboratories.
Dr Hoodbhoy is involved in social issues as well, such as: women's rights, environment, education, and nuclear disarmament. He is author of "Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality", now in five languages. He is chairman of Mashal Books, a non-profit organization based in Lahore that publishes books in Urdu on social, philosophical, and scientific issues. In 2003, Dr. Hoodbhoy was invited to the Pugwash Council, and he is a sponsor of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. He is frequently invited to comment on nuclear and political matters in Pakistani and international media. Over the years, he has produced and directed several documentary films that have been widely viewed on national television which deal with political, nuclear, and scientific matters. He is a member of the Permanent Monitoring Panel on Terrorism of the World Federation of Scientists.
He joined ACHA in 2007
DIRECTOR: Ingrid Shafer, Ph.D.,
Oklahoma, USA
(PRESIDENT)
A native of Austria, Dr. Ingrid Shafer is Professor of Philosophy, Religion, and Interdisciplinary
Studies at the University of Science
and Arts of Oklahoma, where she has taught since 1968. She also teaches
an online graduate course in Global Ethics and World Rel;igions for the University
of Oklahoma and is the recipient of
Oklahoma's 2002 Medal of
Excellence for College/University Teaching. Shafer has published five books,
and more than 50 articles, book chapters, and poems. In addition to the United
States, she has lectured in Europe,
Africa, and Asia. She is a member
of the Jewish-Christian-Muslim International Scholars Annual Trialogue.
She designs, maintains, and publishes websites for several non-profit
organizations dedicated to global peace, justice, human rights, science and religion, and interreligious dialogue.
She was recognized for her work with an ACHA Star Award in 2001.
For all of her adult life, professionally as well as personally, Dr. Shafer has committed herself to helping build bridges to link diverse groups -- cultures, religions, ideologies, academic disciplines. and so forth. As she wrote to introduce her Ecumene domain where Asiaa Peace is hosted: "The Internet is giving us the opportunity both to focus on what human beings have in common and to discover, come to respect, and celebrate our many faces and varied ways. . . .From the perspective of cyberspace the world of communication and human relationships is as much one as the physical earth is when viewed from outer space. But unity does not mean uniformity and genuine globalization does not mean loss of what is best in a culture's tradition; it means enrichment, healing, cross-fertilization, and growth. It means that all human beings can finally begin to see themselves as members of one big, sprawling, diverse, noisy, argumentative, but ultimatly caring and mutually supportive family.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Pritam
K. Rohila, Ph.D, Oregon, USA.
Dr.
Rohila, grew up in Haryana and Punjab in India,
and has lived in the United States,
since 1967. He is a founding member of ACHA, and was ACHA President from 1993
until 2002. Also, he served as the President of India Cultural Association in
1995. A retired psychologist, he lives in Keizer,
OR.
ACHA
PEACE FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES
TRUSTEE: Michael Swaim, JD, Oregon, USA
Michael
Swaim is known for his years of work in the community and his three terms as
Mayor of Salem. An attorney in private practice, he has a Master’s degree in
International Relations and Public Administration and a Juris Doctor degree in
Law, both from the University of California, Los Angeles.
TRUSTEE: Norman D. Sundberg, Ph.D., Oregon, USA
Before he retired, Dr. Sundberg
had taught Psychology for many years at the University of Oregon. He and his wife are avid travelers and
have visited many countries of the world, including India and Pakistan. They live at Eugene, OR.
TRUSTEE: Shamsher Beri, MBA, Washington, USA
Shamsher (Sham) Beri, an electrical
engineer with an MBA, has served at Portland General Electric’s Trojan Nuclear
Plant. Currently, he is a consultant in Quality Management Systems (QMS),
and assists companies around the globe in establishment of QMS based on
international standards and practices.
He
moved to Portland/Vancouver area in 1992 from Iowa. With his wife, Meena Beri, M.D.
(Ophthalmology), and three children, Nirali (8th grade) and Nitin (eight years
old), he lives at Camas, WA. Nitasha, their oldest child, is a senior at U. of Washington, Seattle, WA.
EXECUTIVE
TRUSTEE: Dr. Pritam K.
Rohila, Oregon, USA
Dr.
Rohila, grew up in Haryana and Punjab in India, and has lived in the United States, since 1967. He is a founding member of
ACHA, and was ACHA President from 1993 until 2002. Also, he served as the
President of India Cultural Association in 1995. A retired psychologist, he
lives in Keizer, OR.
PAST
DIRECTORS
Afifa Ahmed-Shafi (2005-2006)
Dr. Geeta Pandey (2004-2006)
Dr. David A Campion (2004-2005)
Amin Godil (2003-2004)
Gulzar Ahmed (1999-2002)
Roveeda Ahmed (2002-2003)
Farhat Azhar (1993-1997)
Nergis Behbahany (1993-1995)
Jagdish Grewal (1993-2000)
Susheela Hoefer (1998-1999)
Ishvar Patel (1998-2000)
Shirish Patel (2002-2003)
Suresh Patel (1995-1997)
Dr. Abdul Qaum (1993-2002)
Dr. Kanak Raval (1997-2001)
Nirupamma Reddy (1994)
Shantu Shah (1993-1994)
Heminder Singh (2002)
Dr. Jahanara Tahir (1993-1995)
Last updated January 21, 2007