School of Peace and Conflict Studies

A group of Kent State University students departed Saturday, July 1, for Kigali, Rwanda, where they will take part in the three-week Kigali Summer Institute.

Jeffrey Hartmann, Ph.D., principal of Stow-Munroe Falls High School, said he was interested in attending the conference to learn skills to deal with his school district’s changing landscape. 

Kent State University is building on the legacy of May 4, 1970, and the mission of its School of Peace and Conflict Studies, when it joins forces with the University of Rwanda in July to help advance peace education across the globe. 

The Department of English, School of Peace and Conflict Studies, Department of Political Science and Department of Africana Studies are collaborating with South Korean universities, Chonnam National University and Jeonbuk National University, to bring Kent State the Second International Graduate Colloquium on Cultural Memory Studies.

Molly Merryman, Ph.D., associate professor in Kent State’s School of Peace and Conflict Studies, and Lauren Vachon, assistant professor in Kent State’s LGBTQ studies program and coordinator of the LGBTQ studies minor program, were instrumental in obtaining a $35,000 grant from the U.S. Department of State for the project Resilience During the Pandemic: LGBTQ+ Stories. 

Neil Cooper, Ph.D., director of the School of Peace and Conflict Studies, says civil disturbances of the kind witnessed since the death of George Floyd represent moments of opportunity for societies.