ORONO – Presentations about the importance of seeking peace will highlight Peace Week 2002 events at the University of Maine on Oct. 21-25.

The week is coordinated by UMaine’s Peace Studies Program. The events are free and open to the public. For information, call the Peace Studies Program at 581-2609.

Peace Week begins with a presentation and keynote address by Louise Diamond, a global peace builder for more than three decades. In 1992, Diamond co-founded the Institute for Multi-Track Diplomacy in Washington, D.C., which provides conflict transformation services in areas of deep-rooted conflict around the world.

Last year, Diamond also established PeaceTech, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the tools for people to create cultures of peace locally and globally.

Diamond will speak on “Peacebuilding Around the World” at 12:15 p.m. Monday, Oct. 21, in the Coe Room, Memorial Union.

Her keynote address at 7 p.m. in Devino Auditorium, Donald P. Corbett Business Hall, takes its title from one of her three books, “The Courage for Peace.” A reception and book signing follow the lecture.

Other Peace Week activities include:

. 6:30-9:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 21 – Sale of peace and justice books, including those by Louise Diamond, Devino Auditorium, Donald P. Corbett Business Hall.

. 12:15-1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23 – “Librarians, Quakers and McCarthyism: Political Activism and Moral Commitment in the 1950s,” part of the Women in the Curriculum and Women Studies Program Lunch Series, Coe Room, Memorial Union.

. 12:30-1:45 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24 – “The Courage for Peace: Gandhi and Other Views,” part of the Socialist and Marxist Studies Luncheon Series, Coe Room, Memorial Union.

. 3:30 p.m. Oct. 24 – Peace Pole Ceremony, featuring the planting and dedication of a UMaine Peace Pole Peace Garden next to Fogler Library.

. 7 p.m. Oct. 24 – “Greetings from Missile Street,” a video and discussion on the effects of sanctions on Iraq, offered by the Maine Peace Action committee, 110 Little Hall.