The Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution is proud to announce the establishment of the Scheidt Master’s Fellowship for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention. This prestigious award recognizes the Carter School’s strengths in the scholarship and practice of genocide prevention, with the goal of attracting future thought leaders and increasing visibility for their critical work.
The Carter School is now accepting applications for this year-long, accelerated master’s program, which includes a Certificate in Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention. The Scheidt Fellowship will support 12 students over three years, with targeted recruitment in the African Great Lakes region and the United States. Students will complete their master’s coursework online while they develop a genocide prevention project in their home region. Fellows will come to Arlington in the summer of 2021 for six weeks to complete their certificate and connect with the subsequent cohort as they begin their program.
“By bringing together students with diverse experiences and backgrounds from the United States and the African Great Lakes region, we have the chance to co-create best practices that help communities around the world prevent genocide and build peace in real-time,” said Douglas Irvin-Erickson, who is an assistant professor at the Carter School, where he directs the Raphaël Lemkin Genocide Prevention Program. “So many of our graduates have gone on to be leaders for peace in their home communities and around the world. This fellowship will help ensure the Carter School can help support another generation of genocide prevention leaders.”
This fellowship allows the Carter School to further enrich relationships with organizations like the Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Carter School’s network of peacebuilders, activists, civil society organizations, and alumni give Scheidt Fellows access to practitioners who can enhance their scholarship. They also have the opportunity to put their education into action through the project designed for their communities.
“I am very grateful to donors who make an investment at the Carter School,” said Alpaslan Özerdem, dean of the Carter School. “The Charles E. Scheidt Master’s Fellowship for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention elevates our legacy of nearly 40 years of leading research with impact and honors our shared values to build just and peaceful societies.”