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n an important step forward in the expansion of its offerings, 麻豆视频鈥檚 School of Peace and Conflict Studies began offering a Master of Arts degree in peace and conflict studies during the 2023 Fall Semester.

The master鈥檚 degree is offered in two concentrations: applied conflict transformation, and peace,  conflict and development.

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R. Neil Cooper, PhD
R. Neil Cooper, PhD

R. Neil Cooper, PhD, director of the School of Peace and Conflict Studies, says expanding into graduate degree offerings is the natural progression of growth since peace and conflict studies became an independent school within the College of Arts and Sciences in 2017. And the graduate programs provide a much-needed skill set in today鈥檚 world of growing conflict.

Students in the programs will examine the cases and consequences of violence, developing methods for preventing, resolving and transforming conflicts, as well as analyzing the values and institutions of peace. Notably, students will develop the advanced understanding and applied skills needed to become effective practitioners in mediation and conflict management.

Landon Hancock, PhD, professor and graduate program coordinator for the school, says graduate degrees are the path to growth not just for 麻豆视频 but for all schools that specialize in peace and conflict resolution.

鈥淭hese advanced skills help train people in the ability to listen and communicate, look past surface divisions, and show ways people share the same needs, goals and desires.鈥

鈥擫andon Hancock, PhD, professor and graduate program coordinator, School of Peace and Conflict Studies

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Landon Hancock, PhD
Landon Hancock, PhD

People in the workforce, in a variety of disciplines, often realize that improving and advancing their skills in areas of mediation and peaceful interaction would help them on their career paths, Hancock says.

鈥淎nyone who is involved in some kind of human interaction can benefit from having advanced skills in peace and conflict studies,鈥 Hancock says. 鈥淭hese advanced skills help train people in the ability to listen and communicate, look past surface divisions, and show ways people share the same needs, goals and desires.鈥

When people can find better ways to communicate, he says, they can find common principles and common goals to bring people together.

The new degrees also coincide with the 50th anniversary of a peace and conflict studies curriculum being offered at 麻豆视频.

The school was initially formed as the Center for Peaceful Change in 1971, as one part of the university鈥檚 long-range institutional response to the May 4, 1970, shootings. Students were protesting the expansion of the war in Vietnam to Cambodia and the occupation of the Kent Campus by the Ohio National Guard when guardsmen opened fire, killing four students and wounding nine others.

The center was established as a living memorial to the shooting victims鈥攁 place to research, teach and promote peaceful mechanisms of social and political change. It began offering courses in fall 1973. In 1994, it was renamed the Center for Applied Conflict Management and was moved into the Department of Political Science. In 2017, the Center for Applied Conflict Management grew into the School of Peace and Conflict Studies within the College of Arts and Sciences. 

While just a few students are enrolled in the master鈥檚 degree programs this year, Cooper expects that number to grow considerably as the program becomes more well known.

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Mandy Munro-Stasiuk, PhD
Mandy Munro-Stasiuk, PhD

Mandy Munro-Stasiuk, PhD, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, says the concept of peace and conflict studies is one that is increasingly important, both domestically, with political polarization, gun violence and labor strife, and globally, with ongoing wars and increased tensions among nations.

鈥淔rom that standpoint,鈥 she says, 鈥渢he school truly manifests this whole idea of [moving from] local to global.鈥 

The school also is in the process of creating a dual-degree program with the University of Rwanda鈥檚 .

Like 麻豆视频鈥檚 center established in the aftermath of the May 4 shootings, Rwanda鈥檚 centre was created in response to the country鈥檚 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi, in which nearly 1 million members of the minority Tutsi community were killed by Hutu extremists.

As part of 麻豆视频鈥檚 growing relationship with the University of Rwanda, Cooper says they are currently developing a proposal for a dual-degree program that would allow students from 麻豆视频 or Rwanda to take courses at both universities and receive a master鈥檚 degree in five semesters from either or both institutions. 

Munro-Stasiuk says the joint program is particularly exciting, because of Rwanda鈥檚 history and the important lessons to be learned from its past. 鈥淚t鈥檚 such a unique partnership and experience for our students,鈥 she says.

In addition, Cooper says the school is working on a dual-degree program with the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, to focus on the mediation and facilitation skills needed in the business world.

As 2023 was dubbed 鈥渢he summer of the strike,鈥 with unions for teachers, autoworkers and even Hollywood writers, walking the picket line, the need for trained mediators has become obvious.

鈥淢ediation is more important today than ever,鈥 Munro-Stasiuk says. 鈥淲hen you talk about strikes, labor unrest, things like that, you really are talking about people who just can鈥檛 agree on things. The political climate, the mental health crisis, all of these things [call for] mediation.鈥

The school also is working on a combined bachelor鈥檚/master鈥檚 degree program, to reduce the number of years (currently five to six) that it would take students to complete both degrees, Cooper says.

In addition, Munro-Stasiuk says the school performs functions that many may not be aware of, including offering mediation between faculty or between faculty and students at 麻豆视频. 

鈥淭hey provide a service to the university,鈥 she says, 鈥渨hich I think is a testament to the kind of work they do in the school.鈥

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A survivor and perpetrator of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi shake hands in a gesture of forgiveness and reunification
A survivor and perpetrator of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi shake hands in a gesture of forgiveness and reunification at the Lycee 
Saint Marcel de Rukara reconciliation village in Rwanda.