“Healing War’s Legacies”
(a Waging Peace in Vietnam* event)
Sponsored by the Harvey Goldberg Center and the Center for Southeast Asian Studies
April 5, 12:00-1:30 PM
The Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium
NOTE NEW LOCATION!
~ Light refreshments served! ~
MODERATOR: Edwin Martini, Provost & Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, UW-Oshkosh
Ngo Xuan Hien, Communications & Development Manager, Project RENEW
Chuck Searcy, Co-founder and International Advisor, Project RENEW
Heather Bowser, Founder of Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance (COVVHA)
Comments by:
Brad Geyer, Madison Veterans For Peace
Dr. Eileen Ahearn, on healing moral harm
Mike Boehm, Executive Director, Quakers Inc.
View via Zoom at: https://wisconsinhistory.zoom.us/j/87516928589.
Edwin Martini is Provost and Vice Chancellor at UW-Oshkosh and joined UWO in July 2023. Prior to coming to Oshkosh, Ed worked at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Over nearly 20 nears, he served in a series of progressive leadership positions, including as associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the university’s Extended University Programs division; founding dean of Merze Tate College; and Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning. Ed received his Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Maryland and his B.A. from Pitzer College in Claremont, California. He is the author of Agent Orange: History, Science, and the Politics of Uncertainty (University of Massachusetts Press, 2012).
Ngo Xuan Hien is in charge of communications and development for Project RENEW. Responsible for presenting and explaining Project RENEW’s mission and achievements to a wide audience, he provides the initial response to media and public inquiries about Project RENEW activities and acts as a primary point of contact for donors, government representatives, and visitors to Project RENEW. Hien’s other tasks include conceptualizing and designing presentations and development proposals for fundraising and other activities.
Chuck Searcy enlisted in the U.S. Army from 1966 to 1969. Assigned to the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion in Saigon from June 1967 to June 1968, he served as an intelligence analyst at the Combined Intelligence Center, Vietnam (CICV). After military duty, he returned to the University of Georgia as a student and became active in the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). Searcy was editor and publisher of a weekly newspaper for 12 years, worked in Washington in President Jimmy Carter’s administration and later for U.S. Senator Wyche Fowler. He was Executive Director of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association from 1989 until 1995 when he moved to Vietnam as representative of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF). In 2001 Searcy became representative of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) and helped launch Project RENEW in Quang Tri Province, to clean up unexploded ordnance and provide medical assistance, rehabilitation, and income generation for UXO victims. Project RENEW’s mission also includes support for Agent Orange victim families. Searcy is co-chair of the NGO Agent Orange Working Group in Vietnam. He is a co-founder and currently president of Chapter 160 of Veterans For Peace, based in Viet Nam. In 2004 Searcy was awarded Vietnam’s National Friendship Medal. Chuck Searcy is the legal and authorized representative in Vietnam for Friends of Project RENEW, a U.S.-based all-volunteer non-profit organization that works closely with RENEW to advance its mission in Viet Nam.
Heather Bowser is the founder of Children of Vietnam Veterans Health Alliance (COVVHA), which helps thousands of second and third generation victims of Agent Orange and Dioxin Exposures
*Click here for more information on Waging Peace in Vietnam exhibits and events at UW-Madison, UW-Oshkosh, and Marquette University at the Wisconsin Historical Society from April 1-22, 2024.
Healing War’s Legacies flyer (Waging Peace in Vietnam event)
