The Peace, War and Social Conflict Section of the American Sociological Association (ASA) presented Patrick G. Coy, Ph.D., professor and director of new the School of Peace and Conflict Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State University, with a career award: the Robin M. Williams, Jr. Award for Distinguished Contributions to Scholarship, Teaching and Service in the areas of peace, war, and social conflict.
The career award was presented to Coy in Montreal, Canada on August 15 at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.
“Dr. Coy has been instrumental in the establishment of a new School of Peace and Conflict Studies at Kent State University,” Lisa Leitz, Ph.D., the chair of the Peace, War and Social Conflict section of the ASA, said. “He has a distinguished record of scholarship that includes publications that developed innovative theory and research on peace activism. He is also the long-time editor of the peer-reviewed research series, Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change, including work that translates what scholars know about nonviolence to those who wish to make social change."
A professor at Kent State since 1996, Coy has co-authored or edited 14 books and published over 35 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. He served as the long-time director of Kent State’s Center for Applied Conflict Management which recently expanded to the School of Peace and Conflict Studies.
Coy has worked as a community mediator, as a human rights observer and nonviolent accompanier in Sri Lanka during the ethnic conflict, and co-led or been a member of peacemaking missions and delegations to Libya, to Iraq, and to the Soviet Union during times of international crises. He was formerly the national chairperson of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a research fellow of the Albert Einstein Institution, the executive director of the Lentz Peace Research Laboratory, and a Fulbright Scholar in Botswana.
Media Contacts:
Patrick G. Coy, 330 672 2875, 330 510 7497 (cell), pcoy@kent.edu
Jim Maxwell, 330-672-8028, jmaxwel2@kent.edu