Hannah Pickworth
PSC Co-Founder
Hannah Pickworth, along with Cindy Woodruff, founded the Peace Study Center in 2007. Hannah has a B.A. from Rhodes College in International Studies and an MSLS from the University of Kentucky in Library Science. She currently works in the Faissler Library of Roland Park Country School in Baltimore. She also serves on the Board of the Friends of the Towson Library and is Chair of the literature committee of the Women’s Club of Roland Park. Hannah’s favorite peace books are What’s the matter with Henry? The true tale of a three-legged cat by Cathy Conheim and BJ Gallagher and The Araboolies of Liberty Street by Sam Swope and Barry Root.
Beth Bryant
Beth is the owner of Woodberry Crossing, a 100 acre farm in Parkton, MD that gives urban children, youth, and families the opportunity to broaden their vision and understanding of life through meeting and interacting with a variety of people, animals, and the natural world.
Kenna Forsyth
Kenna, a retired librarian, has been on the board of the Peace Study Center since its early years. She started her career at the DC Public Library, then worked for 33 years at the Baltimore County Public Library where she was the manager of several branches, then staff development specialist. She finished her career, serving for ten years, as the librarian at the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations. Kenna is active in her community association, Goucher alumni affairs, and Stony Run Friends Meeting. She also volunteers for Meals on Wheels and at the Baltimore Museum of Art library. The Story of Ferdinand is still one of her favorite all-time books.
Stephen Gaede
Stephen’s expertise lies in education, marketing, and technology and he brings all three skills to the Peace Center Board. He worked for 10 years in the Marketing and Communications Department of Johns Hopkins Medicine managing the web presence for the institution. Now he works at Catholic Relief Services doing web strategy, analytics, and site optimization. Stephen builds websites in his free time (including this one) and enjoys the benefits of city life – such as biking to work and cheering for the Orioles and Ravens. Stephen earned his B.S. in Television, Radio, Film Production from Syracuse University and a M.S. in Information Systems from Johns Hopkins University.
Wendy M. Smith
Wendy M. Smith, PhD, joined the PSC Board in 2012. Wendy is currently the chair of the Teacher Education Department within the School of Education at Loyola University Maryland. She teaches classes in literacy education for elementary education majors and graduate students in the Reading Specialist Degree Program. She has been a Peace Corps Volunteer, an executive director of a non-profit advocating for people with cognitive disabilities, an elementary special education teacher and a certified Lamaze instructor. Wendy’s area of expertise is children’s literature and she has written numerous papers on the use of books that contain characters that are marginalized by society; these include books with children who have cognitive and other disabilities, children who are abused, children who live in war zones and African American children. Her favorite books about peace are A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle and The Watsons go to Birmingham, 1964 by Christopher Paul Curtis.