Alpaslan Özerdem
Dr. Alpaslan Özerdem is the Dean of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution and professor of peace and conflict studies. Prior to his appointment as Dean in August 2019, Dr Özerdem was Associate Pro-Vice- Chancellor for Research at Coventry University in the UK. Dr Özerdem specializes in conflict resolution, peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction. With over 20 year field research experience in Afghanistan, Bosnia- Herzegovina, El Salvador, Kosovo, Lebanon, Liberia, Nigeria, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan and Turkey.
Bob Mitchell
Bob Mitchell is the founder of the Michigan Political Leadership Program that has been operating at Michigan State University for the last 26 years and now volunteers as Founder and President the Bipartisan Leadership Project. Bob is an educator and business innovator having initiated the nation’s first independent electric transmission company. He has had an extensive partisan career in campaigns and government service in the cabinet of Gov. Blanchard, Chief of Staff of US Sen. Gravel and heading an agriculture agency in Michigan for President Carter.
Charles Davidson
Dr. Charles Davidson is the Executive Director of the PLA and serves as Research Faculty at the Carter School. He is also the founder and President of Innovations in Peacebuilding International, an organization which works to creatively accompany peace in war-torn countries. His current professional pursuits with IPI include the economic reintegration of former child soldiers in the Eastern D.R. Congo. He has also worked and/or researched in Iraq, Afghanistan, Uganda, Burundi, Colombia, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia, Indonesia and across Europe.
Current Instructors
Jeni Davidson-Clement is from Memphis, Tennessee where she is a 5th grade teacher in a local, public, charter elementary school. Jeni holds an undergraduate degree in Early Childhood Education and a Masters in Teaching. Since working in the public school system, Jeni has become passionate about providing an equitable education to all students and educating others how to work together to achieve this task.
Executive Director, Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture
Terri Lee Freeman was appointed Executive Director of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture in December 2020. The seventh director of the State’s largest museum devoted to African American history, Freeman is responsible for providing strategic leadership in furthering the museum’s mission as an educational and cultural institution. Prior to joining The Lewis, Freeman served as President of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee for six years.
Assistant Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Carter School
Tehama Lopez Bunyasi is Assistant Professor at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. A political scientist by training, her scholarship is broadly concerned with matters of race, racism and antiracism in the United States, with specializations in structural inequality, racial attitudes and ideologies, racial marginalization, and the politics of whiteness.
Howard Ross is a lifelong social justice advocate and is considered one of the world’s seminal thought leaders on identifying and addressing unconscious bias. He is the author of ReInventing Diversity: Transforming Organizational Community to Strengthen People, Purpose and Performance, and the Washington Post best seller, Everyday Bias: Identifying and Navigating Unconscious Judgments in Our Daily Lives. His latest book, Our Search for Belonging: How Our Need to Connect is Tearing Us Apart, won the 2019 Nautilus Book Award Gold Medal for Social Change and Social Justice.
Associate Dean, Carter School
Associate Professor of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Carter School
Associate Professor at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Carter School
Marcia is an attorney and brings over 20 years of experience working in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) across industries and with various levels within those to include Fortune 500 companies, chief and senior executives, financial institutions, universities, not-for-profit, faith-based and within the public-sector.
Past Instructors
Jamie Raskin, U.S. Representative for Maryland’s 8th Congressional District
Paul Ray, Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Charles Chavis, Assistant Professor of Conflict Resolution and History, Carter School
Qasim Rashid, US Congressional Candidate for Virginia’s 1st District
Mara Schoeny, Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Programs, Carter School
Allison Silberberg, Former Mayor of Alexandria
Antti Pentikäinen, Director and Research Professor, Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation, Carter School
Patricia Maulden, Associate Professor and Student Engagement Coordinator, Carter School
Barbara Favola, Virginia State Senator
Sara Cobb, Drucie Cumbie Professor and Director, Center for the Study of Narrative and Conflict Resolution, Carter School