In response to growing interest in peace studies worldwide, the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies is offering its first Summer Institute for Faculty in Peace Studies Program Development from June 14 to 19 (Sunday to Friday).
For one week, 56 faculty members from 20 colleges and universities will gather at Notre Dame to learn how to start their own peace studies programs or to strengthen existing programs. This year’s participants represent a wide range of institutions, including public research universities, private liberal arts colleges and a number of universities and colleges based in Catholic and other religious traditions.
“Part of the Kroc Institute’s mission is to seed the field,’ not only by educating our own students but by providing leadership so new programs in peace studies can flourish,” says professor George A. Lopez, who is coordinating the institute and will be among about a dozen Kroc Institute faculty and staff who will teach and consult with participants. “We receive many requests for help every year. This is a way to consolidate faculty forces and engage more institutions with the latest issues in peace research and teaching.”
Peace studies is an interdisciplinary field that draws on political science, history, sociology, psychology, anthropology, theology, law and other disciplines to address complex issues of war and peace. About 400 colleges and universities around the world offer peace studies classes or programs for undergraduates. The Kroc Institute is unique in higher education for its combination of a substantive research agenda and degree programs at all levels — undergraduate, master’s and doctoral.
The Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor of Peace Studies, Lopez is an authority on peace studies program development. For more than 30 years, he has consulted on dozens of campuses and written extensively for peace journals and peace education curriculum guides. More information is available on the Web at http://kroc.nd.edu .
Contact: George A. Lopez, 574-631-6972, glopez@nd.edu
Originally published by at newsinfo.nd.edu on April 28, 2009.