Dr. Thomas Hensley dedicated several decades of involvement and influential teachings as a professor in the Department of Political Science at Kent State University. Dr. Hensley’s teachings and studies specialized in civil liberty and law. His son, Brad, created this scholarship in honor of the invaluable impact his father has made on students, the university, and his community.
Isobel Day, a senior political science major, earned the Hensley Scholarship this year, and will be using the funds to support her presentation at The Peace Education in an Era of Crisis conference, which will take place this year in Kigali, Rwanda from July 13-16th, 2023. Day will be presenting research on how peace museums can be used as experiential methods of peace education on the experiences of marginalized communities. For this project, Day collaborated with Dr. Molly Merryman, Associate Professor in the School of Peace and Conflict Studies, and Caraline Feairheller, political science PhD candidate.
During the conference, Day hopes to “gain a broadened perspective on the importance of peace museums – as well as peace education as a whole – in cultures different from my own. The location in Kigali makes this conference even more of a learning experience, as the Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum is one of the world's most renowned peace museums.” After graduation, she will be attending American University to obtain a Master’s of Arts in Ethics, Peace and Human Rights. After her time at American, she hopes to “work with an NGO promoting human rights and peaceful change across the world, or for the U.S. Institute for Peace.”