The University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs, is one of the world’s leading centers for the study of the causes of violent conflict and strategies for sustainable peace.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2 Letter from Director
4 Mission in Action
8 Ph.D. program: Expansion and Opportunity
10 Master of Global Affairs program, international peace studies: Reflection Point
12 The Art of Personal Connection
14 Undergraduate Studies: Experiential Learning
16 Stakeholder Engagement and Relationship-building
18 Peacebuilding Meets High Tech
20 The Power and Myriad Meanings of ‘Network’
22 Spanning the Local and the International
23 A Year of Cultivation
24 Key News and Signature Events
28 Awards, Accomplishments and Grants
32 Kroc Institute People
34 Financial Overview
36 Publicity and Outreach
37 History: How It All Began
Dear Colleagues and Friends of the Kroc Institute,
The past year has been dramatically unlike any other since I took the reins as director of the Institute in 2017. Israel/Palestine imploded last October, a few months after I returned from a year-long research sabbatical there. The war continues to rage a year later and is expanding to neighboring countries. The violence and suffering unfolding daily – there, as well as in Ukraine, Sudan, and Bangladesh, among other places – compels those of us working on behalf of a peace institute to double-down, throwing a laserlike focus on the critical need for peacebuilding in our world. I am proud of the many ways the Kroc Institute has acted on this in the past year especially, given the complexity of wars on multiple fronts. Our faculty, staff and students are meeting the crises head-on as you’ll read about in the features that follow this letter. In doing so, we are carrying out the mission and vision of our founders, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C. and Joan B. Kroc.
Another point of pride is that we developed a new five-year strategic plan for the Kroc Institute this past year. It was an inclusive, thorough process that began in August 2023 and wrapped up in May 2024, and was conducted in partnership with University’s Institutional Research, Innovation, & Strategy division – specifically, Lissa Bill and Jessie Schuman. I thank all of you involved throughout, and I am excited about the opportunities in store as we further develop and enhance strategic peacebuilding as the central organizing concept of the Kroc Institute’s work.
Additional, major accomplishments from the past year include the approval of our new doctoral program in international peace studies, which will enroll students beginning in fall 2025; the expansion of the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) to Mindanao, the Philippines (called PAM-M) under the direction of Madhav Joshi, in collaboration with Catholic Relief Services-Philippines led by Kroc Institute alumna Myla Leguro (M.A. ‘10); and the invitation for Josefina Echavarría Álvarez, PAM’s director, to speak before the United Nations Security Council. You can read about these wins and many more in the articles that follow.
Somehow we still made time to host and co-sponsor a multitude of events throughout the year. Our signature events alone were headlined by Leymah Gbowee, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, for the Hesburgh Lecture in Ethics and Public Policy; Rev. Traci C. West, James W. Pearsall Professor of Christian Ethics and African American Studies at Drew University Theological School, for the Annual Dialogues on Nonviolence, Religion, and Peace; Jorge Vargas Cullell (M.A. ‘94), director of Estado de la Nación, a Costa Rica-based research center for sustainable development, who was honored with the 2023-24 Distinguished Alumni Award; and Sa’ed Atshan, an associate professor of peace and conflict studies and anthropology at Swarthmore College, who delivered the keynote presentation at the 2024 Notre Dame Student Peace Conference. We also launched a new lecture series on intersectionality and justice, coordinated by Ashley Bohrer, in April. Our first presenter was Swati Parashar, professor of peace and development studies at the School of Global Studies at the University of Gothenburg, and we look forward to hosting additional speakers in 2024-25.
Lastly, we had many positive team developments I’m delighted to highlight. Laura Miller-Graff, director of our Undergraduate Studies program, was promoted to professor of psychology and peace studies. After an exhaustive search, we hired Drew Marcantonio (Ph.D. ‘21) as our assistant professor of environment, peace, and global affairs. We’ve added two new researchers to the PAM-M team, Mariafernanda (Mafe) Burgos Ariza and Melinda Davis (B.A. ‘19). And we have the good fortune to share Emma Murphy, a postdoctoral scholar, with the Clingen Family Center for the Study of Modern Ireland in our work together on the Legacy Project.
The past year has been arduous given ongoing global upheaval. I have no illusions that wars underway will come to a full-stop, but as I look toward the new academic year, I am confident that the Kroc Institute
will continue to make a difference in our troubled world. We have a new dean, Mary Gallagher, leading the Keough School of Global Affairs, and I look forward to supporting her and her vision for what the School’s next chapter can be. We have a new president for the University, Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., who has a deep connection to the Keough School and its many Institutes, including ours where he was a faculty fellow for many years. With their support and your dedication and good spirit, I know that the Kroc Institute will shine brightly in the year ahead – a beacon of hope for a world in need.
Asher Kaufman
John M. Regan, Jr. Director Professor of History and Peace Studies
Kroc Institute
Asher Kaufman speaks at the 2024 undergraduate recognition ceremony.
Kroc Institute demonstrates ‘mission in action’ in a year of global turmoil
The fall semester of the 2023-24 academic year began like any other year at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. Students arrived on campus, ready to learn, with faculty and staff looking forward to receiving them. Meanwhile, Asher Kaufman, John M. Regan, Jr. director of the Kroc Institute and a professor of history and peace studies, returned to lead the Institute after a yearlong research sabbatical in Israel.
As one of its first events of the year, the Institute hosted an informal “brown-bag” lunch hour discussion on Aug. 31 about Israel/Palestine. The event was open to the internal community – faculty, staff and fellows – and led by Kaufman and Atalia Omer, professor of religion, conflict and peace studies, who spent part of her summer in Israel/ Palestine. The vibrant discussion focused on nonstop demonstrations in the streets, unprecedented civil unrest, increased violence in the Occupied Territories including settler pogroms against Palestinians, the role of the United States in the region, and an uptick in Palestinian armed resistance against Israel.
Learning the latest about the political reality of Israel/Palestine from two experts would prove valuable to attendees for what was to come less than two months later.
On Oct. 7, Hamas, the Palestinian militant group governing the Gaza Strip, launched an attack on Israel, resulting in approximately 1,200 deaths and the abduction of about 250 hostages. Israel responded in full force, declaring war on Hamas and launching military strikes on the Gaza Strip that as of October 2024, have killed 42,000 and wounded more than 92,000. On Oct. 8, Hezbollah, the militant Shi’i group and Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, began crossborder attacks against Israel, which sparked a war of attrition between the parties that has expanded into Lebanon and threatens to engulf the entire region in a full-scale war.
In what seemed like an instant, Israel/Palestine was flipped upside down, with the magnitude of atrocity and violence committed by and on both communities stunning the world. So, too, were the faculty, staff and students at the Kroc Institute – like Kaufman and Omer, many had familial ties to Israel/Palestine specifically, or to the Middle East, more broadly. Others had dedicated their professional or personal endeavors toward peace and justice issues in the Middle East, whether or not they had family there. The grief and shock at the Kroc Institute was palpable.
Atalia Omer moderates a March 2024 panel led by Yousef Munayyer, a senior fellow who oversees the Palestine/ Israel program at Arab Center Washington, D.C. The panel addressed antisemitism, who defines it and its connection to Israel, as well as Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism, and American geopolitics.
The teach-in panel attracted hundreds of attendees, who lined the walls or sat on the floor to listen to panelists and process the start of the Israel/Palestine war.
Despite this, the Kroc Institute rallied, responding to the tragedy unfolding more than 6,100 miles from the Notre Dame campus.
In a mere five days, Omer, along with colleagues Ebrahim Moosa, Mirza Family Professor of Islamic Thought and Muslim Societies at the Keough School; Mary Ellen O’Connell, Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law and concurrent professor of international peace studies; and Daniel Bannoura, a Palestinian doctoral student in theology, organized a ‘teach-in’ panel discussion, targeted specifically to the internal community at Notre Dame – faculty, staff, students, and fellows. No media or external audiences were invited; the goal was to provide space to be in community and support of one another because of the collective anguish felt. Held in the auditorium of the Hesburgh Center for International Studies, the Oct. 12 event, “The Israel/Palestine Escalation: The Current Chapter of a Long History,” was standing-room only, attracting hundreds of attendees who lined up along the walls or sat on the floor once all seats were taken. Such a grass-roots feel produced a sensitive Q&A session, allowing for vulnerability and compassion as attendees processed news of what was happening on the ground in Israel/Palestine.
“Our faculty and staff quickly and smoothly responded to the situation, in service to our community,” said Erin B. Corcoran, executive director for the Kroc Institute. “It was a collective effort that demonstrated our commitment to education and care in the midst of a spectrum of emotions felt by faculty, staff and students.”
Added Scott Appleby, former Marilyn Keough dean of the Keough School, “The Kroc Institute did what a university does best during a crisis: It assembled a group of concerned, angry, grieving and frightened students, faculty, staff and community members to educate, inform, accompany and exchange perspectives and passions.
“The panelists were extraordinarily compelling as individuals and as a panel. Their presentations and responses to the audience took a good deal of courage and dedication to civil dialogue.”
(from left to right):
Atalia Omer, Ebrahim Moosa, Mary Ellen O’Connell, Erin B. Corcoran, and R. Scott Appleby.
The teach-in marked the first in a long series of activities held throughout the academic year addressing Israel/Palestine by way of panels, roundtable discussions and events to keep attention on the crisis as it has continued.
Omer organized the screening of a hotly contested film, “Israelism,” in November. While other universities around the country canceled their screenings because of threats, Notre Dame proudly proceeded, drawing in a thoughtful crowd who engaged in conversation with the panelists following the film.
Kroc Institute demonstrates ‘mission in action’ in a year of global turmoil, continued (at left — from left to right)
Laurie Nathan, professor of the practice of mediation and the Mediation Program director, responded to the conflict in Gaza by reaching out to the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), the Norway-based organization with which he frequently partners on projects. From November 2023 through February 2024, the Kroc Institute and PRIO cosponsored three webinars tackling issues such as the need for a humanitarian ceasefire, regional implications of the Israel/ Palestine war, and growing humanitarian issues because of the crisis.
The Kroc Institute’s attention to the unfolding war prompted interest from national and international media – the BBC, The Hill, Washington Post, Christian-Science Monitor, New York Times, Voice of America, and National Public Radio
among them – wanting to interview Kaufman, Omer, Moosa, O’Connell, and Nathan, as well as Ernesto Verdeja, associate professor of peace studies and global politics, and Lisa Schirch, Richard G. Starmann, Sr. professor of the practice of peace studies. In addition to being interviewed, several of these experts author byliners and op-eds for media outlets around the globe as the war continues to rage.
“Kroc has extensive experience in responding to crises around the world and fielding media inquiries that seek the lens of peace researchers and practitioners,” said Kaufman. “Just as we were able to respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, we were well positioned to respond to the war in Israel/Palestine and the risk of regional expansion.”
Laurie Nathan, Ernesto Verdeja, and Lisa Schirch. (at right — clockwise)
David Cortright, Anna Romandash, Drew Marcantonio, and Clemens Sedmak.
This points to another Kroc Institute priority – addressing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, now two-and-a-half years in the making. On Feb. 19, a virtual flash panel, “The Effectiveness of Sanctions against Russia,” was organized in collaboration with the Keough School’s Nanovic Institute for European Studies and headlined by David Cortright, professor emeritus of the practice at the Kroc Institute, and Anna Romandash (MGA ‘22, with an international peace studies concentration), an award-winning journalist from Ukraine.
The film “20 Days in Mariupol” was screened the following day, about an Associated Press team of Ukrainian journalists trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol, who continued their work documenting atrocities of the Russian invasion. A panel discussion followed, led by Clemens Sedmak, director of the Nanovic Institute; Khrystyna Kozak (MGA ’25, with an international peace studies concentration); Verdeja; and Drew Marcantonio (Ph.D. ’21), who in July 2024 joined the Kroc Institute as assistant professor of environment, peace, and global affairs.
All three editions of the Kroc Institute’s long-running online publication, “Peace Policy,” focused on either Russia/Ukraine or Israel/Palestine in 2023-24. Issues covered ranged from climate change due to warfare, to nuclear disarmament, to the consequences of urban war on a city’s people and the built environment.
As the academic year wrapped up, Notre Dame saw oncampus protests by students, some from the Kroc Institute, questioning the University’s investments in companies connected to Israel’s war on Gaza, and using Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and commitment to Catholic teaching about social issues and justice to press the point.
Overall, it was a year of turmoil. Yet as demonstrated by the actions and leadership of many, it was a year ripe with commitment to the Kroc Institute’s mission: to end cycles of conflict, poverty, violence and war, and bring about just and sustainable peace that recognizes the dignity of all persons.
“In 2023-24, we stepped up to address crises, not only in Israel/ Palestine and Ukraine, but also in Kashmir, Afghanistan, and in the United States, specifically racial violence here,” said Kaufman.
“We did it individually and through our collective efforts, working together as a team. It hasn’t been easy, but we’ll stay true to the vision and mission of the Kroc Institute because we have a responsibility to do so.”
Expansion and opportunity, markers of the Kroc Institute’s doctoral program in 2023-24
One of the greatest accomplishments of the Kroc Institute’s doctoral program this past year was getting the University’s “green light” to establish a new Ph.D. program in international peace studies, to enroll students beginning in fall 2025. The program joins the Institute’s longtime joint doctoral degree program, which has educated and trained students in peace research and their choice of discipline—anthropology, history, political science, psychology, sociology or theology—since 2008. The Kroc Institute’s new Ph.D. program accompanies another new doctoral program housed at the Keough School of Global Affairs, in sustainable development, which also launches in fall 2025.
“The new peace studies program will offer an additional way for graduate students to engage in peace studies research at Notre Dame at the highest level,” said Caroline Hughes, director of doctoral studies and the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C. chair in peace studies at the Kroc Institute. “It will complement the school’s existing joint doctoral program, which has been enormously successful.”
The new Ph.D. program in international peace studies is geared toward highly accomplished professionals with backgrounds in fields such as conflict resolution, education or human rights who wish to bring professional and interdisciplinary knowledge into their doctoral research and immerse themselves solely in the field of peace studies. Candidates interested in the program are likely to draw on the disciplines and practices most relevant to their specific area of expertise, within the field of peace studies.
Created in response to increasing recognition of the role of peace studies expertise in addressing global challenges, the new program will pair the scholarship of peace studies with the interdisciplinary approaches preferred by policymakers and practitioners. Students will be trained and prepared to disseminate their research findings both among the communities they have researched and also in policy forums with capacity to initiate positive change.
“Our aim is for graduates of the new program to enrich global networks of scholarship, policy and practice,” Hughes said.
To that end, the joint doctoral degree program hosted an inaugural trip to Washington, D.C. in late April for three Kroc Institute Ph.D. students, along with Hughes and Kathryn Sawyer Vidrine, assistant director of doctoral studies at the Kroc Institute. They met with Kroc Institute alumni and other Notre Dame alums working in policyrelated or non-faculty fields, both at the Keough School of Global Affairs’ Washington office and also at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) office, and discussed their pathways from academia to practitioner-based positions.
Student attendees included Khan Shairani (Ph.D. ’24, peace studies and history,), Cat Gargano (peace studies and psychology), and Alyssa Paylor (peace studies and anthropology).
In addition to conversations about career trajectories, the students had the opportunity to present their research to alumni, as well as local invitees in the policy realm.
“I realized that a place like D.C. can be particularly useful for Kroc grads who are interested in maintaining an international connection while remaining in the US and remaining global in their outlook,” said Shairani, who graduated in May 2024 and has since been named a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholar.
“I wanted to attend to think more about how my expertise could be useful in policy and institutional settings.”
Added Hughes, “The visit offered an opportunity for policymakers and Ph.D. students to learn from one another -- how best can peace be supported and promoted in the world?
“Our students learned a lot from the engagement: particularly how to simplify and communicate the key arguments from their research in accessible language. The gap between peace research and U.S. government policy is often wide, but we hope that events like this can start to build bridges.”
Alyssa Paylor (peace studies and anthropology)
Khan Shairani (Ph.D. ’24, peace studies and history)
Cat Gargano (peace studies and psychology)
Past year serves as reflection point for MGA students in international peace studies
The intersection where scholarly theory meets the art of practice.
Research and reflection in the ‘real world.’
Six months on site with an organization, applying classroom learning to a work environment.
“Last year tested all of us, for sure – students, staff and faculty alike,” said Norbert Koppensteiner, director of the international peace studies concentration of the MGA program and associate teaching professor of peace studies, whose first year as the director was 2023-24.
All are hallmarks of the international peace studies concentration, administered by the Kroc Institute and part of the Master of Global Affairs (MGA) program at the Keough School of Global Affairs. They contribute to making the program a stand-out from other graduate peace studies programs around the country. They also serve as the foundation that grounds students when crises surface, like the war in Israel/Palestine, so that they more deeply understand the value of their education and the role of peacemakers in the world.
“The concentration’s focus on self-reflection, and our connection as a cohort community gave us strength, as well as a reality check on how peacebuilding skills are sorely in need.”
The curriculum of the international peace studies concentration is rigorously interdisciplinary, and pushes students to move beyond simplistic solutions to violence and toward conflict transformation in complex, dynamic environments. In light of global upheaval – Russia and Ukraine’s ongoing war and Sudan’s displacement and humanitarian crisis, in addition to the bombardment of Gaza – students had the opportunity to apply their learning and question what they were hearing through news media, happening far away from the classroom.
A core part of the curriculum includes an off-site internship for students in the international peace studies concentration. Following a year of coursework on campus, students spend six months working with leading organizations in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, or the United States, strengthening their professional skills through reflective practice.
Norbert Koppensteiner
“The program emphasizes relationship-building that students practice with each other and as a cohort,” said Jennifer Betz, assistant director of the concentration. “Throughout last year, these relationships grounded our students, both those doing their internships off-campus as well as our new cohort of students oncampus, as we processed the latest news coming from their communities, which were often experiencing difficult conflict.
“These relationships allow the students to learn from each other for their peacebuilding practice.”
Internships vary in terms of the type of work students undertake. Recent placements have included International Crisis Group, Nairobi; Outright International, New York; United States Institute of Peace, Washington, D.C.; Jesuit Refugee Services in Tapachula and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico; American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA), Beirut, Lebanon; Bangsamoro Transition Authority, Mindanao,
the Philippines; Catholic Relief Services, Baltimore; and Search for Common Ground, Colombo, Sri Lanka, among many other locations.
Students return to campus for their final semester to complete an integrative master’s capstone project.
Hay Mar Khaing, Khrystyna Kozak, and Henri Fabrice Ndayizeye are students in the class of 2025, currently on site with organizations to complete their six-month internships. Khaing is working with the Karen Organization of San Diego, to support refugees there. A native of Myanmar, Khaing is involved with intergenerational educational programming ranging from summer programs for children, to language courses, to working with elders so they can comfortably adapt to new intergenerational settings.
“My work here is really peacebuilding in action,” said Khaing. “Community, family, language, education – we’re supporting all age groups to adapt to life here, along with resources to promote their health, physically and emotionally.”
First and second year MGA students, with concentrations in international peace studies.
A reflection point for MGA students, continued
Kozak interns with the Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, Council of Europe, in The Hague, Netherlands. A lawyer by training and originally from Ukraine, Kozak works with a legal team of 12 to draft claim forms related to property loss and cases of torture and disappearance.
“I love living in The Netherlands, as the culture feels familiar to me given where I came from,” said Kozak. She added that she bikes 35 kilometers to and from work – something she appreciates now as the rainy season will soon arrive.
Ndayizeye, meanwhile, is based in northeast Kansas, where he works with Catholic Charities to support refugees in the area. His work is deeply personal; from Burundi originally, he had lived as a refugee in the Mahama Refugee Camp, located in the Eastern Province of Rwanda, since 2015. He is interested in exploring effective, inclusive strategies, whereby refugees can contribute to conflict prevention and resolution nonviolently in their host country, country of origin, and worldwide.
“I visit clients and am working with a variety of languages and cultures,” said Ndayizeye, who commutes to work by bus and a short walk from where he’s living.
“Seemingly now more than ever, the world needs skilled peacebuilders who understand global and local dynamics,” added Koppensteiner, ”and who take strategic action for peace and justice. Our students are leading this effort, and I look forward to seeing the impact they’ll have upon graduating.”
The art of personal connection
The name Anne Hayner equates with legacy. She has been with the Kroc Institute since 1987, shortly after its launch courtesy of Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., and philanthropist Joan B. Kroc. As its associate director of alumni relations, Hayner is responsible for leading outreach efforts with the Kroc Institute’s more than 2,000 alumni sprinkled around the globe, who represent peacebuilders at work in governments, nongovernmental organizations and businesses in more than 100 countries.
(left to right)
Khrystyna Kozak, Hay Mar Khaing, and Henri Fabrice Ndayizeye.
ND Alumni Association meetings in Manila, March 2024.
“I
think I have the best, most rewarding job at the Kroc Institute, as I get to stay connected with the next generation of peacemakers whose education at the Institute influences their everyday decisions to build sustainable and just peace,” said Hayner.
In March 2024, her outreach work took her to the Philippines, Manila specifically, where the Notre Dame Alumni Association hosted its Asia Pacific Regional Meeting, enabling Hayner to meet with local Notre Dame Club leaders and alumni based there. Later that month, the Kroc Institute honored Jorge Vargas Cullell (M.A. ‘94) with the 2023-24 Distinguished Alumni Award, a designation to highlight Notre Dame graduates in peace studies whose careers and lives exemplify the ideals of international peacebuilding. Vargas Cullell is the director of Estado de la Nación, a Costa Ricabased think tank that conducts research on sustainable development. Hayner, meanwhile, leads the committee that selects the honoree each year.
In April 2024, Hayner headed to San Francisco for the annual International Studies Association (ISA) conference, where she led a workshop, “Leveraging LinkedIn for Research and Professional Connections.”
The conference saw more than 30 faculty, staff, alumni, graduate students and fellows affiliated with the Kroc Institute and Keough School of Global Affairs participate in sessions over four days. As part of the activities, the Kroc Institute hosted its annual ISA reception for conference attendees, organized in great
part by Hayner. The reception serves as a reunion of sorts and a networking opportunity for alumni, allies and collaborators; this year’s event attracted approximately 125 attendees from throughout the United States and around the world.
“Anne’s ongoing efforts to build on existing relationships with Kroc Institute alumni around the world have benefited us greatly,” said Asher Kaufman, John M. Regan, Jr. director of the Kroc Institute and professor of history and peace studies. “Our alumni network is one of the Institute’s greatest strengths and resources.”
Anne Hayner
Experiential learning: The bedrock of undergraduate studies at the Kroc Institute
“I chose to study peace because I wanted to grow a pragmatic and empathetic worldview, focusing on authentic voices and alternative understandings,” said Francesca Masciopinto (B.A. ’24).
For more than three decades, the Undergraduate Program in Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute has sought to deliver on this aspiration. The program equips undergraduates with a peace studies lens and language to navigate and transform systems of inequity and violence, and work toward justice and peace.
And its “special sauce” is the experiential learning and skills-building it offers. Peace studies as a discipline and a program values the connection between theory and practice; students graduate with experience and training they can apply throughout their lives in other situations and arenas.
“We purposefully integrate both aspects into the program – they represent strategic peacebuilding in action,” said Laura Miller-Graff, associate professor (now professor, as of July 2024) of psychology and peace studies and director of Undergraduate Studies at the Kroc Institute. “That intersection of classroom learning and real-world learning is what makes our program unique.”
Mary Kate Cashman (B.A. ‘24), Erin Tutaj, and Ella Ermshler took a deep dive into experiential learning in August 2023 thanks to their participation in the SheLeads4Peace Summer School in Geneva, Switzerland. Each summer, the Undergraduate Program in Peace Studies sponsors up to seven Notre Dame undergraduate women to attend the two-week seminar. Hosted by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, the gathering encourages young women to explore what it means to be a female leader in global peace as they meet with current women leaders shaping the international peace and development landscape.
“I was fascinated by the ecosystem of so many international organizations in Geneva, working together through the United Nations,” said Tutaj. “It was inspiring to see how the many individuals we met are so dedicated to their jobs and hardworking.”
(left to right)
Lina Abdellatif, Garrett Pacholl, and Mia Moran.
Said Ermshler, “The program did a great job at showing us different kinds of peacebuilding roles and places where they work. We met leaders from a variety of U.N. agencies, like the International Red Cross, as well as Kroc Institute alumni living in Geneva. The networking was one of the best experiences.”
Added Cashman, “It offered an incredible opportunity to study with students from other schools, all wonderful women our own age, and learn about the peacebuilding field. The program created a ‘sacred space’ of women only, a place where we could discuss issues – it was really transformational.”
SheLeads4Peace was one among several 2023 summer abroad programs offering experiential learning for peace studies students. Emmanuel Katongole, professor of theology and peace studies, taught “Religion, Peace & Development in Africa” in Uganda as part of the University’s “Uganda Summer” program, and Jerry Powers, director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies and coordinator of the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, taught “Catholic Approaches to War and Peace: The View from Rome” at Notre Dame Rome.
Meanwhile, the 2024 Notre Dame Student Peace Conference took place April 12-13, 2024 with hundreds of proposal submissions and attendees from around the world. The annual gathering is organized by student leaders and aims to provide space for undergraduate and graduate students from around the world to dialogue about peacebuilding, social justice and conflict transformation.
(clockwise, from top left)
Participants network at the 2024 Student Peace Conference; Faiza Filali (B.A. ‘26) and Rachel DeGaugh (B.A. ‘26); Fernando Ixpanel (MGA ‘24), Olfa Jelassi (MGA ‘24) and David Campos (MGA ‘24); and Sara Laine (MGA ‘25).
“This year’s event was one of our strongest in terms of content, numbers, calibur of speakers, and overall engagement,” said Anna Van Overberghe, assistant director of Academic Administration and Undergraduate Studies, who advises the student organizers.
With the theme “Peace by Piece: Disrupting Dualities in Peacebuilding,” the conference attracted nearly 135 participants on campus (with another 45 students participating virtually), from 42 colleges and universities representing 30 countries. The event was organized by co-chairs Garrett Pacholl (B.A. ‘24), Lina Abdellatif, and Mia Moran (B.A. ‘24). With support from Kroc Institute administration, the co-chairs coordinated all conference logistics, from the call for proposals, to registration, to the session schedule and confirmation of the keynote address.
“There is so much to creating and running an event of this size,” said Abdellatif. “I learned a lot of practical, lifelong skills working on this project – the importance of being organized, having a back-up plan, and staying calm throughout.”
Added Moran, “It was really cool to finally meet our participants in person after so many months of working with them virtually or reading their names on email.”
The benefits of stakeholder engagement and relationship-building
It was another powerhouse year for the Kroc Institute’s Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) program, which stemmed in great part from its prioritization of relationship-building to advance its goals.
The program has built a worldwide following because of its successful work in Colombia. There, PAM’s Barometer Initiative has been entrusted with a mandate to monitor implementation of Colombia’s 2016 Peace Accord, a major turning point in ending the country’s 52-year armed conflict. Using its work in Colombia as both a framework and a foundation, PAM launched its latest global project, PAM Mindanao (PAM-M) in the Philippines, in March 2024. The effort is a partnership between PAM and Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Philippines.
“The PAM team has supported Mindanao peace efforts by engaging with the negotiating parties since 2011,” said Madhav Joshi, associate director of PAM and helping to lead PAM-M. “Our efforts are bolstered by our relationship with CRS, which has played an instrumental role in peacebuilding efforts in Mindanao.”
Added Myla Leguro, technical advisor for Social Cohesion and Church Engagement at CRS and a graduate from the Kroc Institute (M.A. ‘10), “Meaningful involvement of all stakeholders makes the process run smoothly and provides stability.”
PAM-M aids the peace process in Mindanao, stemming from a 2014 agreement between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. As a partner on the project, PAM provides monitoring methodology and technical assistance to measure progress of the agreement’s stipulations.
Much of the past year also was devoted to PAM’s nurturing and cultivation of the Legacy Project, a vast collection of more than 200,000 transmedia files including audiovisual, non-textual knowledge, and digitized documents about the Colombian civil war and peace process. The archive was created under the mandate of the Colombian Truth Commission. The University of Notre Dame now serves as its curator, with all files having been successfully transferred and a website newly launched to help visitors more easily navigate the files. A 19-episode online series, in both Spanish and English, ran from January to May 2024 to teach participants how the different components of the transmedia collection can be used.
Top: Streets of Davao City, the Philippines.
Middle: PAM-M July workshop in Davao City, the Philippines.
Bottom: Josefina Echavarría Álvarez meeting with Justice Roberto Vidal, president and magistrate of the Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz (JEP).
As part of its Legacy Project work, PAM hosted representatives from the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, the tribunal that judges and sanctions the gravest crimes from Colombia’s civil war, and the United States Institute of Peace to engage in an on-campus workshop in April 2024. Discussions addressed the challenges of implementing transitional justice inspired by a restorative approach for those charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity during the armed conflict. Over the past year, researchers from Colombia, Ecuador, the United Kingdom and the U.S. came to Notre Dame as part of Legacy Project grants sponsored by the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, both part of the Keough School of Global Affairs at Notre Dame. Likewise, two graduate students received Kellogg Institute research grants to conduct investigations using the transmedia files, which was crucial to finishing their degrees.
Over several months in 2023-24, PAM partnered with the Clingen Family Center for the Study of Modern Ireland, part of Keough-Naughton, to provide technical advice to the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) for Northern Ireland. The ICRIR operational design now includes key insights based on policy research from PAM stemming from its work in Colombia.
Finally, 2023-24 saw the creation of FuturePeace founded by PAM Director Josefina Echavarría Álvarez. The network represents a geographically and methodologically diverse group of peace and conflict researchers from the University Javeriana (Colombia), University of Bristol (U.K.), Hekima Institute of Peace Studies and International Relations (Kenya) and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (Norway). FuturePeace proposals underscore the importance of creating an inclusive platform for dialogue between civil society and the United Nations to support localized, bottom-up peace processes and post-accord peacebuilding. Virtual consultations were held in December 2023 and February 2024; language was put forth to the U.N. that was integrated into the draft of the “Pact of the Future Zero,” a starting point for discussions at the U.N. Summit of the Future that took place in late September 2024.
“It’s been a year of growth and expansion for PAM, as well as deepening our current projects and our collaborations,” said Echavarría Álvarez. “We’ve accomplished so much, and there remains much work to be done. I see this as an opportunity.”
Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies
(left to right) Myla Leguro (M.A. ’10), Bencel Gerard Giguiento, Josefina Echavarría Álvarez, Alexandra Myra Tañada Medina, and Ian Digal in Manila, the Philippines.
Peacebuilding for the future –Grassroots networking meets high tech opportunity
It was late June 2024, and while the campus had grown quiet in the month since graduation, the Kroc Institute was buzzing with activity. Lisa Schirch, Richard G. Starmann, Sr. professor of the practice of peace studies and a senior research fellow with the Tokyo-based Toda Peace Institute, facilitated a four-day workshop on deliberative technologies used for peace. The event was a co-sponsorship between the Kroc Institute and Toda, and marked a return to summer programming for the Kroc Institute, the first since the pandemic.
“Deliberative Technologies, Computational Democracy, and Peacebuilding in Highly Polarized Contexts” attracted nearly 50 peacebuilding practitioners, democracy experts, and computer scientists from around the world, who discussed how deliberative technologies can be harnessed to promote democracy and social cohesion, and reduce polarization.
“It was a beautiful fusion of technology intersecting with peace,” said Schirch. “We had about a dozen computer scientists from companies focused on developing tech for democratic deliberation, in conversation with peace practitioners – from Afghanistan, Palestine, Myanmar, Colombia, Nigeria, Kenya, the DRC, South Africa, and the US – who want to learn how technology platforms can be used to support dialogue in conflict regions.”
The workshop grew out of Schirch’s long-standing collaboration with the Toda Peace Institute, starting in 2016 to investigate and develop constructive roles for technology to play in peacebuilding. Their research led to the creation of a Notre Dame course, “Digital Peacebuilding and PeaceTech,” and the PeaceTech and Polarization Lab, which coordinates with global stakeholders at tech companies, the United Nations, and peacebuilding NGOs, and provides Notre Dame students and research fellows an opportunity to work jointly on research, product development, and digital content development.
Over time, their partnership evolved to a global research project, which produced an edited book and the formation of the Council on Technology and Social Cohesion made up of representatives from technology companies, research institutes, and peacebuilding organizations. Schirch serves as a co-chair for the council, which launched in February 2023 with a conference in San Francisco. More than 250 attended, including nine Kroc Institute students who accompanied Schirch. Thanks to on-site networking and relationship-building, several students landed internships and employment with tech companies.
Lisa Schirch (center – top right and below) orchestrated the June 2024 workshop to bring together peacebuilders, democracy scholars and technology experts around the topic of high tech used for social cohesion instead of polarization.
This was followed by the council’s first meeting in December 2023, in Nairobi, Kenya, attended by Schirch and two Kroc Institute students. A few months later, in March 2024, the Keough School of Global Affairs sponsored a symposium on deliberative technologies in Washington, D.C. with Nobel Peace Laureate Maria Ressa, which Kroc Institute students also attended – further testimony to the importance of strategically developing the place and function of deliberative technologies in peacebuilding.
“Our world is hurting in so many ways, but I remain hopeful,” said Schirch.
“Practitioners and students are hungry to apply their peacebuilding skills and education. New technology platforms offer great potential to reverse the trend of technology being used to polarize and disenfranchise.
“The Kroc Institute’s PeaceTech and Polarization Lab has the opportunity to help peacebuilding practitioners and the next generation learn to use technology for peacebuilding. In these challenging times, we think we have a new methodology to foster peace, democracy and inclusion,” she said.
The power and myriad meanings of ‘network’
For the Catholic Peacebuilding Network (CPN), the word network is both a noun and verb, and one central to its identity and mission.
“Network” as a noun speaks to the global aspect of CPN, an assortment of 24 affiliated partners, including bishops conferences, academic institutions, and humanitarian and aid organizations. As a verb, “network” undergirds CPN’s work to cooperatively share capacity and experience, which is vital to effective peacebuilding in areas struggling with intractable conflict and violence.
This commitment was reflected in a multitude of activities and outreach led by CPN, both abroad and at home, over the past year. In late October 2023, Jerry Powers, director of Catholic Peacebuilding Studies at the Kroc Institute and CPN’s coordinator, and George A. Lopez, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., professor emeritus of peace studies, presented at the Catholic Korea Peace Forum, “DMZ to Hiroshima: The Role of American, Korean, and Japanese Religion for Peace in Northeast Asia.” The gathering, held in Paju, South Korea and Hiroshima, Japan, was the first gathering of representatives of the Korean, Japanese, and U.S. Catholic episcopal conferences on nuclear disarmament.
Soon thereafter, Powers, an advisor to the Holy See Mission, headed to the United Nations as part of the Vatican delegation that participated in a meeting of the state parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
In March 2024, Caesar Montevecchio, CPN’s assistant director, and Douglass Cassel, Notre Dame Presidential Fellow and professor emeritus of law, represented Notre Dame at a seminar in Accra, Ghana, “Conflicts in Africa in the Context of the Exploitation of Natural and Mining Resources.” Cosponsored by CPN, the gathering of approximately 40 participants was convened by the Symposium of the Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar to deliberate the connection between natural resource exploitation and conflicts within the African continent. Discussions ranged from the exploitation of mining and other natural resources to theological reflections, legal frameworks and regulations, the Church’s commitment in this domain, advocacy initiatives, and strategies to address associated challenges with these issues.
Jerry Powers teaches a three-week summer course in Rome, Italy for undergraduates, “Catholic Approaches to War and Peace: the View from Rome.”
“It was exciting to see the bishops rallying around these issues,” Montevecchio said. “But it is also challenging because of how difficult and complicated the problem is.
“My role was to emphasize why these issues are church issues,” he continued. “There can be hesitancy among church leaders to engage in certain kinds of social issues that fall outside their area of expertise. My talk was meant to emphasize why engaging with mining is, in fact, something that fits within the mission of the church in Africa.”
In early June 2024, CPN gathered a working group of women peacebuilders, representing several global organizations and institutions, in Michigan to discuss ways to advance women’s leadership in Catholic peacebuilding. Worldwide, women’s leadership guides a significant amount of peacebuilding work, both inside and
outside the Catholic community. The meeting examined ways to increase opportunities for such women, making their stories more widely known and their wisdom and experience accessible. The meeting also addressed problems that arise when women are excluded from strategic levels of peacebuilding, including lack of attention to gender-based violence and exclusion from resources and benefits within peace agreements.
“CPN has helped to fill in the ‘missing middle’ between the grassroots level and higher levels of policymaking and negotiation,” said Maryann Cuismano Love, one of the presenters, and associate professor of international relations at The Catholic University of America and a member of CPN’s steering committee. “[CPN] works to support peacebuilders in areas of war to enhance capacity or resources to really be able to be more effective at the strategic level.”
Caesar Montevecchio (top photo: first row, fourth from the left; bottom photo: third row, fourth from the left) traveled to Ghana, to participate in a conference focused on the exploitation of mining in Africa.
Spanning the local and the international
Over the course of his professional career, Laurie Nathan has established himself as an internationally respected mediator, known for his many and varied global partnerships with government and non-government entities. This year alone has seen Nathan facilitating the development of the Swiss government’s strategic framework for mediation, supporting the Kosovo government as part of its dialogue with Serbia, leading mediation training for the United Nations in Montreux, and facilitating dialogue for Sudanese civil society actors as part of a process hosted by the European Union.
As the director of the Kroc Institute’s Mediation Program, Nathan intentionally taps his international partnerships for the benefit of graduate students. For example, he has partnered with the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) on research projects and Ph.D. programs since 2015. Leaning on that relationship, Nathan teaches a course on international mediation every year in June, onsite at PRIO’s headquarters in Oslo, Norway. The course covers academic, policy and practitioner perspectives and is targeted to a cohort of doctoral students.
Perhaps what isn’t as well known is Nathan’s work at the local level. Since 2021, Nathan has led annual, multi-day mediation workshops with community leaders and city officials in South Bend, supported by the City of South Bend’s Division of Community Initiatives. This year’s three-day workshop took place in early May 2024 with representatives from a variety of City departments, all seeking to develop mediation competency and skills to resolve conflicts, and for those working with young adults, to inspire them to become peacemakers.
“Pain, frustration, anger…all of these feelings are normal, human emotions, and parties in conflict hold on to them tightly,” said Nathan.
“What is pivotal in mediation is to acknowledge these feelings. Recognition is an act of respect, and it helps to build trust and rapport with the parties in the dispute.”
Nathan structures his City training so that participants gain a broad understanding of mediation skills and concepts such as conflict analysis, negative and positive peace, and the positions, interests and needs of parties in conflict. In addition to offering guidance to these peacemakers, he also highlights mediation examples from his career, to offer case studies for analysis and reflection.
“These sessions are a trainer’s delight, as participants are eager to learn and apply their newfound skills and knowledge in their workplaces, with those they serve,” said Nathan.
“Workshops like these are an example of a program and Institute offering a service that is in their wheelhouse, and one that is desired by the agency or city. In this way, the Kroc Institute contributes to Notre Dame’s commitment to engaging the South Bend community.”
Laurie Nathan leads a three-day workshop in May 2024 for community leaders from the City of South Bend’s Community Initiatives division.
A year of cultivation
Established in 2021 and embedded within the Kroc Institute’s Mediation Program, the Afghanistan Program for Peace and Development (AfPAD) expanded its sphere of influence in the past year as it focused on relationship-building.
In partnership with the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies (AIAS), AfPAD hosted and organized a two-day colloquium in late April 2024, “Generating a Political Process in Afghanistan.” The event attracted 29 Afghan scholars, academics, and practitioners from around the world to the Notre Dame campus, where they presented their research and papers and engaged in discussion on the colloquium topic.
“It was an honor to host such an esteemed, diverse group of individuals from a variety of Afghan communities at Notre Dame, together with our partners USIP and AIAS,” said Aref Dostyar, AfPAD’s advisor and program leader, who orchestrated and managed the colloquium. “It was a ‘think tank’ of sorts, coming together to share ideas and energy about Afghanistan’s potential and future.”
Participants were selected from a pool of more than 100 abstract proposals. The result? Professors, lecturers, visiting fellows, and doctoral candidates representing Columbia University, Oxford University, American University of Afghanistan, and Georgetown University, among other institutions, made up the gathering. A handful of participants joined the meeting virtually due to VISA issues preventing them from traveling. Together, the participants came to Notre Dame where they engaged in scholarly discussions and received peer and expert feedback on their papers.
Over the two-day window, the group outlined high level policy recommendations for international actors who want to open dialogue among Afghans, to break the ongoing political impasse. They also addressed traps and patterns that serve as lessons to be learned from Afghanistan’s history as they seek a better future for the country.
The colloquium represented one layer of a multi-layered initiative being led by Dostyar called the Afghanistan Dialogue and Visioning Process. Using innovative and time-tested platforms, the effort aims to facilitate greater understanding, trust and cohesive action among Afghanistan’s diverse emerging and established social and political movements. This work is in addition to AfPAD’s expanding library of research and policy briefs, drafted for officials and diplomatic personnel from the United Nations, European Union, the United States Agency for International Development, and approximately 20 countries.
“Efforts like these, collectively, are helping us elevate the critical thinking and learning needed to strategically contribute toward peacebuilding in Afghanistan,” said Dostyar. “At the same time, we’re cultivating professional relationships and friendships based on trust. This is key to our future success.”
Aref Dostyar (above, center) is the visionary leading the Afghanistan Program for Peace and Development. Photos below stem from the April 2024 colloquium he organized.
Key News and Signature Events
Academic year 2023-24 marks the launch of the Kroc Institute’s new strategic plan
In August 2023, faculty and staff at the Kroc Institute launched a collective effort to develop a strategic plan for the Institute for the next five years. Contributions, vision, and creativity produced a road map for the future, through 2029, that showcases the Institute’s values and commitment to its partners and those it serves – namely, researchers, students, peace practitioners, policymakers, and communities affected by violence. It builds on the strength of the Kroc Institute’s foundation nearly 40 years in the making, with goals and objectives outlined for three priority areas – research; policy, practice & outreach; and educational programs in undergraduate studies, international peace studies as part of the Keough School’s Master of Global Affairs program, and doctoral studies.
30th Annual Hesburgh Lecture in Ethics and Public Policy features Leymah Gbowee
Leymah Gbowee, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, was the marquee name of the annual Hesburgh Lecture in Ethics and Public Policy, held in September 2023.
Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist, trained social worker, and women’s rights activist, presented “Redefining Peace: A Necessity for Global Sustainability” to a full house in the Hesburgh Center Auditorium. She is widely known for leading Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, which brought together Christian and Muslim women in a nonviolent movement that was pivotal to ending Liberia’s civil war in 2003. Gbowee’s life and work is chronicled in her memoir, Mighty Be Our Powers, and in the documentary, “Pray the Devil Back to Hell.”
The annual Hesburgh Lecture in Ethics and Public Policy, established by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies in 1995, honors the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., president emeritus of Notre Dame, a global champion of peace and justice, and the founder of the Kroc Institute. Each year a distinguished scholar, policymaker, or peace advocate is invited by the Kroc Institute director to deliver a major lecture on an issue related to ethics and public policy in the context of peace and justice.
Kroc Institute hosts a panel discussion to honor 2023 International Day of Peace
Sanctioned by the United Nations in 1981, the International Day of Peace is observed around the world on September 21. Each year offers a new theme, with “Actions for peace: Our ambition for the #GlobalGoals” serving as the thematic arch for 2023.
In honor of the day, the Kroc Institute formed a panel of in-house experts to discuss their thoughts on the United Nations’ new agenda for peace.
Moderated by Asher Kaufman, John M. Regan, Jr. director of the Kroc Institute and professor of history and peace studies, the panel featured Erin Graham, associate professor of global affairs, Keough School of Global Affairs; Maira Hayat, assistant professor of environment and peace studies; Lisa Schirch, Richard G. Starmann, Sr. professor of the practice of peace studies; Josefina Echavarría Álvarez, professor of the practice and director of the Peace Accords Matrix; and Laurie Nathan, professor of the practice of mediation and director of the Mediation Program.
Peace Accords Matrix invited to address the United Nations Security Council
Josefina Echavarría Álvarez, director of the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) program and professor of the practice, presented to the United Nations Security Council in October 2023. She offered a briefing as part of the open debate, “Peace through Dialogue: the Contribution of Regional, Sub-regional and Bilateral Arrangements to the Prevention and Peaceful Resolution of Disputes,” which was broadcast live on the U.N. livestream service.
Debate attendees included both permanent and nonpermanent members of the U.N. Security Council, in addition to civil society representatives such as Michelle Bachelet, former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights and former President of Chile. The debate was convened by the Mission of Brazil to the U.N., which occupied the Presidency of the Council in October.
“An invitation to present on a world stage such as this is testament to the pivotal work of Josefina and the entire PAM team,” said Asher Kaufman, John M. Regan, Jr. director and professor of history and peace studies.
Media resource page created regarding Israel/Palestine
Shortly after the Israel/Palestine war erupted in October 2023, several faculty with the Kroc Institute began to field media inquiries from around the world. As the war continued to spiral, the Kroc Institute developed a resource page on its website of media coverage related to the war that featured faculty – articles, byliners, op-eds, radio and television segments. The page continues to be updated monthly with new articles and segments that have run in local, national and international media outlets.
Walking the walk toward racial justice and justpeace
In January 2023, the Kroc Institute hosted a forthright conversation about the status of racism in the United States and how the pathways toward racial justice are impacted. As the year progressed, the country continued to witness and experience episodes and incidents of racial violence, racism denial, and more.
As part of the University’s “Walk the Walk Week 2024,” the Kroc Institute hosted “part two” of the discussion. “Continuing the Conversation: Walking in the Spirit of Truth: Charting the Pathways to Racial Justice, 2.0” took place in January 2024. The panel opened with Dr. Gwendolyn Purifoye, assistant professor of racial justice and conflict transformation. Discussion was led by Dr. Derrick Brooms, executive director of the Black Men’s Research Institute, Morehouse College; Dr. Carla Goar, professor of sociology and director of the Anti-Racism and Equity Institute, Kent State University; Dr. Amber A. Hewitt, counseling psychologist and racial equity practitioner; and Dr. David Stovall, professor, Department of Black Studies and Department of Criminology, Law and Justice, University of Illinois, Chicago.
Kroc Institute launches new series on intersectionality and justice
In April 2024, the Kroc Institute hosted the first installment of a new series focused on intersectionality and justice as a beneficial framework and methodology to pair with peace studies. Led by Assistant Professor Ashley Bohrer and featuring a variety of guest presenters, the series addresses the potential of intersectional analysis to transform timely global conversations and issues, and illustrates how peacebuilding contributes to the strength and value of intersectionality and justice as an analytical tool and concept.
Mary Gallagher tapped to lead the Keough School of Global Affairs
Mary Gallagher, most recently with the University of Michigan where she was the Amy and Alan Lowenstein Chair in Democracy, Democratization and Human Rights and the director of the International Institute, was appointed the Marilyn Keough Dean of the Keough School of Global Affairs. She replaces R. Scott Appleby, the School’s founding dean. Her five-year term began July 1, 2024.
Traci C. West headlines the 25th Annual Dialogues on Nonviolence, Religion, and Peace
“Racism, Gender Violence, and Hypocrisies of Christian Love and Peace” was the topic of the Kroc Institute’s 25th Annual Dialogues on Nonviolence, Religion, and Peace, which took place in April 2024.
Traci C. West, a scholar-activist and the James W. Pearsall Professor of Christian Ethics and African American Studies at Drew University Theological School, delivered the presentation. The Dialogues on Nonviolence, Religion, and Peace, which began in 1999, were established through a gift to the Kroc Institute from Mrs. Anne Marie Yoder and her family. Each year, the Kroc Institute invites a leading thinker, writer, scholar, and/or peace advocate to deliver a lecture related to nonviolence, religion, and peace. Following the lecture, audience members join in informal dialogue and discussion with the speaker and each other.
Jorge Vargas Cullell honored with 2023–24 Distinguished Alumni Award
Each year the Kroc Institute bestows its Distinguished Alumni Award on a Notre Dame graduate in peace studies whose career and life exemplifies the ideals of international peacebuilding. The honoree, who is chosen by a committee, travels to Notre Dame’s campus to deliver a public lecture and meet with current peace studies students.
Jorge Vargas Cullell (M.A. ‘94), director of Estado de la Nación, a Costa Rica-based think tank that conducts research on sustainable development, was this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. He visited the campus in March 2024 and presented “The Uneasy Relationship of Peace, Democracy and Human Development: Reflections on the Hopes and Disappointments of Central America’s Peace Agreements.”
Awards, Accomplishments, Grants
Becca Blais (B.A. ‘18), who earned her degree in political science and peace studies, was recognized as a Forbes Magazine “30 Under 30” recipient. Forbes unveils its “30 Under 30” list each fall, spotlighting the 30 most accomplished individuals in the United States under the age of 30 in various industries. Blais is the co-founder of Bluebonnet Data, a Texas-based nonprofit whose work includes using public data to aid in voter registration, voter outreach, donor research and voting analysis.
The Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) program, led by Josefina Echavarría Álvarez, was awarded five grants from various organizations for its different projects.
The Department of State’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations awarded PAM a $567,237 grant for the PAM Mindanao (PAM-M) project and a $1,973,000 grant for the Colombian Barometer Initiative, bringing the Barometer Initiative grant total to $3,948,000. Humanity United awarded two additional grants to PAM for its newest initiatives –PAM-M was awarded $50,000, and the Legacy Project was awarded $108,000. PAM was also awarded a Global Policy Impact grant from the Keough School of Global Affairs for $3,400.
Oleksii Kovalenko (MGA ’19, with an international peace studies concentration) is a journalist with Voice of America, the largest international broadcaster in the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., he is part of a team of 30 reporters that produces in-depth coverage on Ukraine, Kovalenko’s home country.
The Kroc Institute’s Mediation Program, led by Laurie Nathan, and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) were awarded a $170,000 grant by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the ministry of foreign affairs within the United Kingdom’s government. The grant supports research on mediation in regionalized conflicts.
Kathryn Sawyer Vidrine was honored with a Keough School of Global Affairs Staff Recognition Award, 2023-24.
Master of Global Affairs, International Peace Studies Concentration Honors and Accomplishments
Mercy Jerop (above), a second-year student in the Master of Global Affairs program, was nominated and selected for the International Visitor Leadership Program under the Women Leaders—Promoting Peace and Security by the U.S. Embassy (Kenya). This exchange program took place from June 8-29, 2024 in the United States and offered an exploration of women’s roles in peace and security, particularly with political transitions and peace efforts.
Euda Fils (MGA ‘23), and Ciera Griffin (MGA ‘24) were named finalists for the Presidential Management Fellowship, the U.S. government’s flagship leadership development program.
Adeela Firdous (MGA ‘24), Angela Seidu (MGA ‘24), Tes Osborne (MGA ‘24), and Noha Elsebaie (MGA ‘24) were awarded Keough Launch Fellowships, which offer up to $6,000 to support short-term, post-graduate practical experiences that help jump-start the careers of recent MGA graduates.
Kroc Institute Research Grants to Faculty and Faculty Fellows
The Kroc Institute offers grants of up to $5,000 to Kroc Institute core faculty members and faculty fellows to enhance current research or initiate new research projects broadly related to peace studies. In 2023-24, Kroc Institute grants were awarded to:
Rachel Sweet
PROJECT GOALS: “Conflict Narrative and Violent Control in Civil War Environments – Community Documenter Training” –$5,000
Catherine Bolten
NOVEL: “Unknowing the World: Humans, Chimpanzees, and Climate Change in Sierra Leone” – $5,000
Madhav Joshi
RESEARCH: “Taliban’s Engagement with International Actors and Quest for International Recognition” – $5,000
Laurel Quinn named Presidential Achievement Award winner
Each year, the University honors staff colleagues who exemplify Notre Dame’s core values of accountability, teamwork, integrity, leadership in excellence, and leadership in mission with Presidential Awards. Laurel Quinn, associate director of operations and policy for the Peace Accords Matrix (PAM), was honored with a Presidential Achievement Award for her exceptional contributions in 2023-24. Specifically, these were her expert management of a multimillion-dollar grant and PAM operations both in South Bend and in Colombia. Quinn has led the administrative aspects of various grants and funding strategies, leading a campaign that raised more than $2 million for PAM in 2023.
Undergraduate Honors and Accomplishments
Two students stood out for their academic prowess and unwavering commitment to fostering peace and justice in a world often fraught with conflict. Analina Barnes and Lina Abdellatif were the recipients of the prestigious 2024 Yarrow Award in Peace Studies.
The award is given annually by the Kroc Institute to one or two undergraduate peace studies majors or minors who demonstrate academic excellence and commitment to service in justice and peace. Selected students show a particular commitment to the undergraduate program and its learning community, and have identified career goals that reflect a future dedication to peace and justice.
Annika Barron and Clare Barloon were awarded Senior Seminar Essay Awards as part of the 2024 graduation. Barron received first place for her essay, “Synaptic Slow Violence: How Neural Architecture Mirrors Systems of Violence,” and Barloon was awarded second place for her essay, “Toxicity and Power: Local Responses to
Chlordecone Pollution in the French West Indies.” The award is given annually to two graduating peace studies students who have demonstrated excellence in research and academic writing within the field of peace studies.
Grace Connors (B.A. ‘23), a major in computer science and a supplementary major in peace studies, was selected as a spring 2024 Scoville Peace Fellow. The Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship is a prestigious program aimed at recent college and graduate school alumni interested in working with non-profit and publicinterest organizations addressing peace and security issues.
Eva Garces-Foley was awarded an Undergraduate Research Grant from the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and the Kroc Institute to complete field research in Peru. Garces-Foley’s research examines the relationships between native communities and external conservation organizations in the Awajún indigenous communities of Alto Mayo, Peru.
Ph.D. Honors and Accomplishments
Eddie Ablang – Peace Studies and History
Accepted as a Hesburgh Democracy Fellow at the Rooney Center for the Study of American Democracy.
Joel Devonshire – Peace Studies and Psychology and Sehrazat Mart – Peace Studies and Sociology Both successfully defended their dissertations and are staying on for post-doctoral experience at Notre Dame. Devonshire will undertake an internship in the Graduate School, while Mart will stay at the Kroc Institute to help initiate a new edited book project on the evolving concept of strategic peacebuilding.
Ben Francis – Peace Studies and Political Science
Published an article in Environment and Security entitled, “Be a man: A theory of climate change, masculinities and violence.”
Francesca Freeman – Peace Studies and History
Selected as the Notre Dame Gender Studies teaching apprentice for the 2024-25 academic year.
Cat Gargano – Peace Studies and Psychology
Selected for a Fulbright García-Robles Research Award to conduct her dissertation research in Tijuana, México starting in fall 2024. Her dissertation is entitled, “Migrant and Refugee Insights: Policies, Observations, Strengths, & Adaptations (MARIPOSA).” Participated in a virtual panel for the NGO Commission on the Status of Women, alongside her research collaborator, Adriana Minerva Espinoza Nolasco, Subsecretary of Migratory Affairs for the State of Baja California. Launched Umed.me Migration, an app co-created with people who are migrating, doctors, psychologists, social workers, shelter directors, government officials, and others working to support migrant communities in Tijuana, Mexico.
Isabel Güiza-Gómez – Peace Studies and Political Science
Was one of nine Graduate Women in Science recipients for 2023-2024. This is a prestigious scholarship granted to women working in STEM and social science. Awarded a prestigious United States Institute of Peace, Peace Scholar Fellowship.
Julie Hawke – Peace Studies and Sociology
Accepted as a Lucy Graduate Scholar for 2024-26, to help build an interdisciplinary graduate student research community motivated by domain-informed data science and AI research for societal impact.
Helal Khan – Peace Studies and Anthropology
Accepted a Lecturer position at Georgetown University’s Justice and Peace Studies program.
Joséphine LeChartre – Peace Studies and Political Science
Won second place in the Shaheen Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition for her research on the ways past experience of violence affects contemporary political mobilization among survivor populations. She is now at Tulane University, for post-doctoral work.
Catherine Maloney – Peace Studies and Psychology
Published an article in Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology entitled, “Early childhood parenting programs and community peacebuilding behaviors: A case study from postconflict Liberia.”
William O’Brien – Peace Studies and History
Selected for the Notre Dame-IBM Technology Ethics Lab’s Tech Ethics Graduate Fellowship program. Students were selected based on their research proposals on topics such as fair methods of evaluating human labor in the digital age, the efficacy of privacy policies, and the role of technological advancement in violent conflicts.
Alyssa Paylor – Peace Studies and Anthropology
Received the G. Margaret Porter Gender Studies
Graduate Writing Award for the best graduate student essay written for the Peace and Justice Studies Association Annual Conference and the Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference. Paylor’s essay was entitled, “’We don’t want to lose any more of our blood’: Palestinian Young Men Navigate Masculinity in Israeli-Palestinian Peacebuilding.”
Sean Raming – Peace Studies and History
Won a competitive Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Guggenheim Predoctoral Fellowship. Wrote a policy brief, “Counter Recruiting in the Online Gaming Community,” published by Toda Peace Institute, and a review on the book, Towards a Theory of Peace: The Role of Moral Beliefs, which was published in the July 2023 issue of Journal of Peace and Justice Studies.
Debora Rogo – Peace Studies and History
Honored with the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award by the Kaneb Center, which recognizes graduate students who demonstrate excellent teaching at Notre Dame.
Flora Tang – Peace Studies and Theology
Won a highly sought-after Louisville Institute Dissertation fellowship.
The Kroc Institute is housed within Jenkins Nanovic Halls at the University of Notre Dame.
Ashley Bohrer
Assistant Professor of Gender and Peace Studies
Catherine Bolten Professor of Anthropology and Peace Studies
Erin B. Corcoran
Associate Teaching Professor; Executive Director
Josefina Echavarría Álvarez Professor of the Practice; Director, Peace Accords Matrix
Maira Hayat
Assistant Professor of Environment and Peace Studies
Anne Hayner
Associate Advising Professor; Associate Director for Alumni Relations
Caroline Hughes
Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Chair in Peace Studies; Director of Doctoral Studies
Madhav Joshi
Research Professor; Associate Director, Peace Accords Matrix
Emmanuel Katongole Professor of Theology and Peace Studies
Asher Kaufman
John M. Regan, Jr. Director; Professor of History and Peace Studies
Norbert Koppensteiner
Associate Teaching Professor of Peace Studies; Director of the International Peace Studies Concentration (Master of Global Affairs)
Laura Miller-Graff (B.A. ‘08)
Associate Professor of Psychology and Peace Studies; Director of Undergraduate Studies
Ann Mische
Associate Professor of Sociology and Peace Studies
Laurie Nathan Professor of the Practice of Mediation; Mediation Program Director
Mary Ellen O’Connell
Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law; Concurrent Professor of International Peace Studies, Kroc Institute
A. Rashied Omar
Associate Teaching Professor of Islamic Studies and Peacebuilding
Atalia Omer
Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peace Studies
Gerard F. Powers (M.A. ’88, J.D. ’86)
Professor of the Practice; Director, Catholic Peacebuilding Studies; Coordinator, Catholic Peacebuilding Network
Gwendolyn Purifoye
Assistant Professor of Racial Justice and Conflict Transformation
Jason Quinn
Research Associate Professor, Peace Accords Matrix
Lisa Schirch
Richard G. Starmann, Sr. Professor of the Practice of Peace Studies
Jason Springs
Professor of Religion, Ethics and Peace Studies
Rachel Sweet
Assistant Professor of Politics and Global Affairs
Ernesto Verdeja
Associate Professor of Peace Studies and Global Politics
* In addition to 24 core faculty members, there are 59 faculty fellows from across the University that are affiliated with the Kroc Institute
David Cortright (B.A. ‘68)
Professor Emeritus of the Practice
Gary Goertz
Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Peace Studies
Robert C. Johansen
Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Peace Studies
John Paul Lederach
Professor Emeritus of International Peacebuilding
George A. Lopez
Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies
Susan St. Ville (B.A. ‘85)
Associate Teaching Professor Emeritus
Peter Wallensteen
Richard G. Starmann, Sr. Research Professor Emeritus of Peace Studies
KROC INSTITUTE STAFF
Hilal Omar Al Jamal (M.A. ‘12)
Program Coordinator, Peace Accords Matrix
Jennifer Betz (B.A. ‘02, M.A. ‘08)
Assistant Director of the International Peace Studies Concentration
Associate Director of Operations and Policy, Peace Accords Matrix
Andre Ratasepp
IT Solutions Specialist
Cristian Sáez Flórez (MGA ‘21)
Research Associate, Peace Accords Matrix
Kathryn Sawyer Vidrine (Ph.D. ‘18)
Assistant Director for Doctoral Studies
Carolina Serrano Idrovo (M.A. ‘17) Research Associate, Peace Accords Matrix
Dania Straughan (M.A. ‘16)
Program Manager, Contending Modernities
Michele Talos
Senior Office Coordinator
Anna Van Overberghe (B.A. ‘99, MNA ‘13)
Assistant Director for Academic Administration and Undergraduate Studies
Ari Woodworth
Events Coordinator
KROC INSTITUTE ADVISORY BOARD
Philip D. Brady (B.A. ‘73)
J. Patrick Danahy (B.A. ‘66)
Kelsey Davenport (M.A. ‘11)
Garrett FitzGerald (Ph.D. ‘20)
Elizabeth Hume
Monica Montgomery (B.A. ‘19)
Paddy Mullen (Chair, B.A. ‘80)
Elias Omondi Opongo (M.A. ‘04)
Steven Pepe (B.A. ‘65)
Maria Camila Posse Gaez (MGA ‘19)
Paul T. Rogalski (B.A. ‘80)
Michael P. Rooney
John E. Scully, Jr. (B.A. ‘64)
Judy Scully
Mike Smith (B.A. ‘93)
Richard G. Starmann
Peter Wallensteen
SCHOLARS IN RESIDENCE
Tim L. Fort (B.A. ’80, M.A. ’84)
VISITING RESEARCH AND ALUMNI FELLOWS
Seyedbabak (Babak) RezaeeDaryakenari
Ana Velitchkova (Ph.D. ‘14)
Qasim Wafayezada
Jenna Sapiano
Maria Paula Prada Ramírez
Maria Micaela Anna (M.A. ‘06)
CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES FELLOWS
Ivonne Solorzano
Henri Muhiya
Investing in Peace: Annual Expenditures
* Of the Peace Accords Matrix expenditures noted above, $1,740,413 were financed by external grants from the U.S. Department of State, Humanity United, and the Swiss Confederation.
** Of the Kroc Institute Faculty Research expenditures noted above, $125,050 were financed by external grants.
Investing in Peace: How You Can Help
The Ph.D. program in International Peace Studies trains scholars, practitioners and educators in peace research and practice, as it recognizes the critical role of peace studies expertise to address global challenges. Designed for individuals with professional backgrounds in conflict resolution and transformation, education or human rights, among other related fields, this program enables students to integrate their professional experiences and interdisciplinary knowledge into their doctoral research.
$42,000 per student, per year (includes stipend, healthcare, and research funds)
$7–8 million to endow a student over six years of study (includes stipend, healthcare, and research funds)
The Peace Accords Matrix (PAM) is a unique source of comparable data on peace agreements that enables scholars and practitioners to compare 51 different themes in comprehensive peace agreements signed since 1989. The 2016 Colombia Peace Accord gives the Kroc Institute primary responsibility for technical verification and monitoring of implementation of the accord through PAM’s Barometer Initiative.
PAM Endowment:
$25 million
PAM Directorship Endowment:
$5 million
PAM Research Assistant Endowment:
$3 million
The Catholic Peacebuilding Network is a voluntary network of practitioners and academics, clergy and laity that links 24 bishops’ conferences, academic institutions, development and aid agencies, and Catholic associations. Its priorities are to enhance the study and practice of Catholic peacebuilding in areas struggling with intractable conflict and violence, and build on its longstanding commitment to nuclear disarmament.
$150,000 per year, to support the program
$5 million to endow the program (including staff positions, program and research costs)
The Master of Global Affairs, International Peace Studies concentration attracts students from around the world who are committed to lifelong careers in public policy, political change, management of organizations in peace and justice, and conflict transformation. The pursuit of a graduate degree is challenging, and even more so for graduate students with meager, if any, resources when they arrive at the Kroc Institute. While the Institute offers fullyfunded scholarships, there are costs that fall outside the financial scope of what the program offers. Please consider supporting our student hardship fund, which allows the Institute to provide financial assistance to students with extenuating circumstances beyond what is covered by the student stipend and other programmatic costs.
$50,000 per student, per year (includes stipend, healthcare and a six-month experiential internship in the field)
$3 million to endow a student over two years of study (includes stipend, healthcare and a sixmonth experiential internship in the field)
Kroc Institute of International Peace Studies
Publicity and Outreach
# OF WEBSITE NEWS STORIES
58 (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024)
ACADEMIC ARTICLE PUBLICATIONS, PUBLICITY IN CONSUMER OUTLETS AND IN NOTRE DAME CHANNELS:
Academic publications: 70
Consumer publications: 675+
Number of Events: 50
SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING ON ALL CHANNELS:
Facebook: 10,732
X (Twitter): 9,526
Instagram: 2,244
LinkedIn: 6,038
YouTube: 2,062
ALUMNI NETWORK
With the addition of the class of 2024, the alumni network has surpassed 2,000 worldwide. This includes nearly 1,300 graduates from the undergraduate major or minor in peace studies. More than 750 alumni from our graduate programs now work in more than 100 countries around the world.
How it all began
The seeds of the Kroc Institute’s formation were sown when its founder, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., president emeritus of the University of Notre Dame, delivered a lecture in San Diego, California. Joan B. Kroc, widow of McDonald’s Corp. founder Ray Kroc, was in the audience and was impressed with Fr. Hesburgh’s visionary approach.
In 1985, Mrs. Kroc made a $6 million founding gift to establish the Kroc Institute, which Fr. Hesburgh described as “a center for multidisciplinary research and teaching on the critically important questions of peace, justice, and violence in contemporary society.” This gift would be followed by additional contributions from Mrs. Kroc, totaling more than $70 million.
Mrs. Kroc’s generous gifts have enabled the Kroc Institute to advance the field of peace studies and the search for sustainable peace through pivotal educational, programs, research, policy, and practice.
Joan B. Kroc is flanked by Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh (right) and Rev. Edward A. Malloy, president emeritus (behind Fr. Hesburgh).
