Carter School News

Graduating senior Nicole Herman said Mason made the world her campus.

In April, Natalia Kanos was elected Mason’s new student body president.

Of the more than 4,000 lynchings of Black Americans that took place in the United States between 1865 and 1950, at least 43 cases occurred in Maryland. George Mason University’s John Mitchell Jr. Program (JMJP), housed within the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, has been helping research several of these cases since 2019 to support the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In October, they received news that they will be taking their research to the next level, thanks to a $300,000 Department of Justice grant they helped secure for the commission.

The Carter School has partnered with Restorative Arlington, a new initiative aimed at incorporating restorative justice practices into Arlington County’s public schools, legal system and community.

Fakhira Halloun holds two contradictory identities: She is Palestinian and an Israeli citizen. It wasn’t until she began facilitating peace dialogues between Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem in 2000, that she realized Palestinian citizens of Israel could be the missing link in bridging ties between the two groups.

A number of Carter School faculty and staff members are working closely with President Gregory Washington to make our university a national model for anti-racism and inclusive excellence.

A number of Carter School faculty and staff members are working closely with President Gregory Washington to make our university a national model for anti-racism and inclusive excellence.

What does social justice look like during a pandemic and a time of racial turmoil? George Mason University’s John Mitchell Jr. Program for History, Justice and Race (JMJP) has been busy answering that question.

Celine Apenteng may only have one biological sibling, but she regards nearly a dozen people from around the world as her sisters. This “extended family,” as she calls them, and Apenteng’s travels abroad, have had a profound impact on her view of education. “There’s always something for you to learn,” said Apenteng, whose family has hosted exchange students from France, Moldova and Germany since she was 10. “Even if it’s not something new, the way somebody says something could impact how you think about it.”

On July 1, 2020, George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution opened the next chapter in its evolution from a center to a school when it officially became the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

Dean Alpaslan Ozerdem addresses the adoption of our new identity as the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

Dilafruz Khonikboyeva and her family won the Green Card Lottery while living through Tajikistan’s civil war, but they didn’t know about it until the years-long blockade was lifted in 1995. They crossed multiple battle lines to reach the U.S. consulate in Moscow. Luckily, even though their green cards had expired by the time they arrived, the U.S. government honored them, Khonikboyeva said.