Institute Staff

Rev. Dr. Robert A. Evans

Executive Director

Bob studied at the Universities of Yale, Edinburgh, Berlin, and Basel, and received his doctorate from Union Seminary in New York.  An ordained Presbyterian pastor, he has served churches in the U.S. and in Europe and has taught on the faculty of seminaries in New York, Chicago, Uganda, Fiji, and Hartford.  He currently serves as a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town, South Africa.  As Executive Director of Plowshares Institute, he leads intensive traveling seminars in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and conducts national and international seminars on skills training in conflict transformation.  send e-mail

Alice Frazer Evans

Director of Writing and Research

Alice is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Conflict Resolution in Cape Town, South Africa, and Adjunct Faculty at Hartford Seminary. She is an elder in the United Presbyterian Church. Alice served for more than twenty years as the Co-Director of the Association for Case Teaching and is the author and/or editor of a number of casebooks on global issues.  More recently she has focused on the development of international case studies with special attention to the use of cases in conflict resolution training. Her undergraduate and graduate studies were at Agnes Scott College; Edinburgh University, Scotland; and University of Wisconsin.  send e-mail

Elizabeth Vélez

Program Director

Elizabeth is responsible for program funding and development, with special leadership for the traveling seminar program.  Currently pursuing a Master's degree in Islamic Studies-Christian/Muslim relations at Hartford Seminary, she brings her expertise in this area to program support and curriculum development.  She is an occasional guest lecturer at Hartford Seminary and has led training events and workshops in mediation, conflict transformation, and communication both in the United States and overseas.   She brings extensive international experience to Plowshares having conducted research on ethnic conflict in Africa, Eastern Europe, and the former USSR. Elizabeth is a graduate of Williams College with a BA in Political Science.