Convention Schedule

Explore a full lineup of keynote sessions, panels, workshops, and community gatherings throughout the convention.

Additional sessions, speakers, and event details will be added as the program develops.

Registered virtual attendees: Access the password-protected Virtual Schedule HERE

Please note: Unless otherwise noted, all convention schedule times are listed in Central Time (CT).

Thursday

August 6, 2026

Registration

Time: 11:00 am – 7:00 pm
Location: Outside Rm 401/Student Union

Warrior Poets

Time: 3:30 – 5:00 pm
Location: Student Union – Rm 402
Offered as a pre-convention hands-on activity for people who have registered, six-year Warrior Writers facilitator Bob koshin Hanson has volunteered to lead a Warrior Poets writing workshop. Pencil and paper will be provided, and if you can’t make it right at 3:30, Bob says, feel free to drop in later.

Bob will offer a few prompts, and the group will choose, talk about the prompt, and then write for 20-30 minutes. Everyone gets to choose what they want to say, and everyone who wants to will have a chance to read their creation to the group.

Memories heal and writing helps us tell the truth. Freestyle writing is a great way to address issues; to bear witness. Take this time to reflect, remember, forget, and have fun!

Welcome reception

Time: 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Location: Student Union – Rm 401

Poetry Gathering

Time: 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Location: Student Union – Rm 401

Gathering together to share our poetry at the start of the convention is a longstanding VFP tradition. This year we are in for a treat with Vietnam veteran poet Strong Buffalo joining us in person to enliven the space with his words, and Vietnamese American poet Teresa Mei Chuc introducing works, including her own, from the recently published anthology, Convergence: Poetry on Environmental Impacts of War, which she co-edited. VFP cofounder and first poet laureate Doug Rawlings will be joining us onscreen to read a few of his wonderful poems, and to introduce Teresa. As always, there will be time for others to read, both in person and virtually. (Sign up ahead of time and let us know if you will be reading in person or virtually, by emailing editor@veteransforpeace.org)

Doug Rawlings

Co-Founder Veterans for Peace

Teresa Mei Chuc

Strong Buffalo

Music DJ – Nate Davis

Time: 8:30 pm – 10:00 pm
Location: Student Union – Rm 401

Nate Davis

Film – Special Report from Tokyo Broadcasting System: Storage of Nuclear Weapons on Okinawa during Cold War with center on China

Time: 10:00 pm – 11:30 pm
Location: Student Union – Rm 401

Friday

August 7, 2026

Meditation/Yoga

Time: 7:00 am – 8:00 am
Location: Student Union – RM 402

AA Meeting

Time: 7:00 am – 8:00 am
Location: Student Union – RM 413

Tabling

Time: 8:00 am – 8:00 pm
Location: Student Union – 4th Floor

Breakfast

Time: 7:45 am – 9:00 am
Location: Student Union – Dining Hall (2nd floor)

Welcome

Time: 9:30 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Student Union – Rm 401

Welcome: Bryson Ripley

Bryson Ripley

Land Dedication and Comments: Dr. Daniel Wildcat

Dr. Daniel Wildcat

Opening Remarks: Lieutenant General Nguyen Huu Chinch, Ann Suellentrop, Kimmy Ogla

Lieutenant General Nguyen Huu Chinch

Ann Suellentrop

Kimmy Igla

Check-in Registration

Time: 9:00 am – 10:00 pm
Location: Outside of Rm 401/Student Union

Box Lunch

Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Location: TBD

Panel: The Two Faces of Genocide – Repression And Resistance

Time: 1:00 pm – 2:15 pm
Location: Student Union – Rm 401

Joy Metzler (Moderator) Zahed Rahman and Zeeyad Kadur

The genocide in Gaza has garnered international attention and outrage, but in the West Bank, Palestine, a slower, quieter form of genocide has taken hold. Hear from two panelists – one who has been to Gaza during the genocide as a nurse, and one whose family is from the West Bank and continues to be targeted by Israel – about the accelerated massacres in Gaza and the deadly apartheid in the West Bank. The story of Palestine is one of colonialism, settler violence, and displacement, but it is also a story of resilience, community, and an international movement for liberation, all centered in on a land called Palestine.

Zahed Rahman

Joy Metzler

Zeeyad Kadur

Panel: Emancipatory Internationalism

Time: 2:45 pm – 4:00 pm
Location: Student Union – Rm 401

The three panelists will engage in a conversation on theme/s related to racial capitalism (especially in relation to war and peace), people’s movements/organizing, and international solidarity, in line with the 2026 convention theme. Margaret Stevens will serve as moderator as well as a participant in the conversation.

Margaret Stevens

Dr. Paul Ortiz

Chris Smalls

Dinner

Time: 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Location: Student Union – Dining Hall (2nd floor)

Speakers

Time: 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
Location: Student Union – Rm 401

Dr. Jared Ball

Ann Wright

VFP Advisory Board Member

Panel

Time: 7:15 pm – 8:30 pm
Location: Student Union – Rm 401

Melissa Chaundry

Zahid Chaundry

Kelly Dougherty

Film: Gaza Is Our Home – by Monear Shaer

Time: 8:45 pm – 10:15 pm
Location: Student Union – Rm 401

“In 2023, the project began as a simple, auto-generated slideshow on Monear’s phone, created after a visit to his family in Gaza. As life there became increasingly unbearable and his family faced unimaginable loss, that collection of images and videos grew into an urgent act of preservation.

From these fragments emerged a deeply personal documentary—one that traces family memory, everyday moments, and grief—offering audiences a way to see Gaza not as an abstract conflict, but as a home: full of relationships, history, laughter, and love, even amidst the struggle.”

Monear Shaer

Saturday