Keren Kandel began Dec. 4 as executive director of the Kansas Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (KIPCOR).
Kandel came to Bethel from Chicago, and brings an extensive background in peacebuilding and conflict transformation, with emphasis in the Middle East.
She replaces Sheryl Wilson, who served from November 2017 until this past July, when she became Bethel vice president for culture and belonging.
Kandel has a B.S. in international relations from Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, a Graduate Certificate in Faith-Based Peacebuilding from Eastern Mennonite Seminary, Harrisonburg, Va., and an M.A. in Conflict Transformation from the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg.
Kandel’s credentials in peacebuilding and conflict transformation come not only through education, but also experience.
As an undergraduate, she spent a semester studying peace and conflict at LCC International University in Klaipeda, Lithuania, and another semester as a volunteer intern with the Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem, Palestine.
She lived in Bethlehem from 2016-20, where she was the Holy Land Program Coordinator for Experience Mission in Bethlehem, and for most of that time also served as English Communications Officer for Bethlehem Bible College.
In the fall of 2023, she worked as a peace associate at Lombard (Ill.) Mennonite Peace Center, where she also completed the Mediation Skills Training Institute.
Kandel was most recently an independent contractor for the Chicagoland Trauma Informed Congregations Network.
“As I step into the role of director at KIPCOR, I am eager to accompany our staff, clients, students and communities we serve to equip one another for navigating and transforming conflict situations,” Kandel said.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to come alongside the important work of KIPCOR.”
Bethel is a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1887 and is the oldest Mennonite college in North America. Bethel was the first Kansas college or university to be named a Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Center, in 2021. For more information, see http://www.bethelks.edu
