Each year Wayne State University's Center for Peace & Conflict Studies (CPCS) hosts the Community Peacemaker Awards in celebration of those who have made a difference for peace and social understanding in the Detroit community.

This year, the event will take place on Thursday, April 17, at the NextEnergy Center, 461 Burroughs, Detroit. There is a 5:30 p.m. cocktail and hors d'oeuvres gathering prior to the 6:30 p.m. brief program with a strolling reception and live music to immediately follow. Tickets for the Peacemaker Awards are $50.00 per person. The cost of your ticket will go directly to the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies to continue the peace and conflict initiatives. RSVP to Special Events at (313) 577-0300.

Recipients of the 2008 Community Peacemaker Awards will include: B.N Bahadur, founder and chairman of international business advisory firm BBK; Human Rights Activist Alvin Fishman; Jennifer Jones, 2007-2008 Rotary District Governor and past president of the Rotary Club of Windsor-Roseland; and Dr. Herbert C. Smitherman Jr., assistant dean of community and urban health, and assistant professor of internal medicine and Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine. WDET FM reporter Noah Ovshinsky will serve as emcee for the evening.

Past recipients of the Community Peacemaker Awards include: Huel Perkins; Kym Worthy; Eleanor Josaitis; Bishop Thomas Gumbleton; Lasker Smith; Kary Moss; Judge Claudia Morcom; Richard Lobenthal; Zoltan Ferency; Pastor Marvin Winans; William Beckham; Mary Ball; Judge B. Pennie Millender; Rev. John T. Nowlan, Jackie Victor; Joann Watson; Otto Feinstein and organizations including the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights; the National Conference for Community and Justice; and the Cranbrook Peace Foundation.

For more information, visit http://www.clas.wayne.edu/pcs/

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 11 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students.