Dr. Patrick G. Coy, director and associate professor at the Center for Applied Conflict Management of Kent State University and resident of Peninsula, Ohio, has won a Fulbright Scholar Award to Botswana for the 2010-2011 academic year. Coy will be posted at the University of Botswana in Gabarone.

A well-published expert and award-winning author on conflict management, Coy will be researching the development of community-based, collaborative conservation policies in Botswana from a conflict management perspective. He intends to connect this to his ongoing research into the public participation aspects of white-tailed deer management policies in Northeast Ohio park systems and municipalities.

Coy also will be assisting the University of Botswana in developing a curriculum in peace and conflict studies. Kent State’s Center for Applied Conflict Management was established in 1971 as “living memorial” to the Kent State students killed by the Ohio National Guard during a protest against the U.S. war on Vietnam and Cambodia. Now enrolling more than 1,100 students in its Applied Conflict Management courses every year, the center administers one of this country’s largest and most highly-regarded programs in peace and conflict studies.

“I am very pleased and honored by this award and the many opportunities it presents,” Coy said. “I look forward to learning about conflict management from the Batswana point of view, and also to sharing some of the strategies we have used here to make Kent State University a leading center in peace and conflict studies.”

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Established in 1946, the Fulbright Program provides participants—chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential—with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

Each year, the Fulbright Scholar Program sends approximately 800 U.S. faculty and professionals to 140 countries to lecture, research or participate in seminars. More information is available at www.fulbright.state.gov.

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Media Contacts:
Patrick Coy, pcoy@kent.edu, 330-672-2875
Emily Vincent, evincen2@kent.edu, 330-672-8595