Maya Soetoro-Ng gave a speech on peace and conflict resolution at Sacramento State’s Harper Alumni Center on Thursday, Feb. 25.

Soetoro-Ng, a professor of social sciences at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, said greater peace and understanding in the world can be achieved through the telling of personal stories.

“We are trying to revisit the notion of peace instead of it being purely symbolic,” Soetoro-Ng said.

The speech was peppered with uplifting, inspirational quotes, as well as several calls to action. Soetoro-Ng also said to the audience to speak with one another about their definition of peace, and instructed attendees to create personal goals to help achieve peace.

“What I would like to end with is this idea that all of this takes tremendous courage,” Soetoro-Ng said. “As we redefine peace, we have to redefine courage.”

Soetoro-Ng will also be giving a workshop oriented toward students at 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 26 in the University Union Redwood Room.