School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

Collected Resources on the Ukraine Invasion

a2c8605a-8799-4c95-a603-7f6cea1bd9ff (Paul Snodgrass) — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 17:28:28 +0000

Collected Resources on the Ukraine Invasion a2c8605a-8799-… Thu, 04/07/2022 - 13:28

In This Story

Point of View Statement on Conflict in Ukraine: Negotiate Peace Now

The Carter School has collected articles and seminars written and presented by our faculty to help researchers, peacebuilders, and knowledge seekers understand the scope and impact of Russia’s war on Ukraine. As new resources become available, they will be added to this page.

Student Initiative

The Carter School Peace Engineering Lab and students of the “CONF 695- Peace Engineering and Participatory Approaches to Narrative” course have launched Sensemaking in Ukraine to bring to light the experiences of everyone who has been affected and better understand what can be done to improve the situation in the short term and prepare for peace.

Seminars

Karina Korostelina spoke at a web conference hosted by Al Jazeera Center for Studies on March 28 and 29, 2022 entitled “Redrawing Spheres of Influence: The Dynamics and Implications of the Russian-Ukrainian War.”

Karina Korostelina co-organized a panel entitled Conflict, politics and crisis in Ukraine Implications for EiE, an Education in Conflict & Emergencies Seminar on Monday April 11, 2022.

On April 6, 2022, the Russian and Eurasian Studies Program at George Mason University held an online discussion featuring Karina Korostelina on the Current State of Russia's War on Ukraine with the participation of faculty with specializations in history, politics, and conflict analysis and resolution

Articles

Karina Korostelina was featured in Mason News on March 4, 2022: The conflict in Ukraine is fueled by Putin’s information war, Carter School expert says. Here’s what needs to be done.

Richard Rubenstein wrote The Ukrainian Conflict and the Imperial World System for CounterPunch on March 4, 2022.

Alpaslan Özerdem wrote an article for The Conversation entitled, What the Montreux Convention is, and what it means for the Ukraine war, published March 1, 2022.

Susan Allen and Paula Garb are signatories to the letter Independent American and Russian Women Call for Peace published in The Nation and in Russian at Новые известия on February 15, 2022.

Social Media Image Credit: Image by M.Bitton is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license via Wikimedia Commons.

Updated April, 12, 2022

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Freshman with global worldview ready to tackle her next adventure at Mason

Mariam Aburdeineh — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 00:05:00 +0000

Freshman with global worldview ready to tackle her next adventure at Mason Mariam Aburdeineh Wed, 08/26/2020 - 20:05

Celine Apenteng aboard a boat moving through Hamburg, Germany. Photo provided.

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.”

The incoming freshman from Silver Spring, Maryland, said she is looking forward to continuing her learning and growth at George Mason University, where she will be a member of the Honors College and a University Scholar majoring in conflict analysis and resolution with minors in intelligence studies and data analysis.

“I’m interested in seeing the different perspectives that people bring to the table and how that will shape me into my future self,” Apenteng said, adding that she hopes to work for the FBI or with Homeland Security.

Why conflict analysis and resolution?

“I’ve seen that a lot of new jobs today that are looking for people who know how to deal with conflict,” she said.

Part of resolving conflict can involve navigating cultural differences, and Apenteng has had experiences that could help position her for success, such as her participation in an exchange program to France in 2016.

Apenteng (left) with exchange student Mia Ola enjoy time in a park in Cella, Germany. Photo provided.

Most recently, Apenteng was awarded a scholarship in her senior year of high school to attend the prestigious Congress-Bundestag Youth Program, a U.S.-German exchange program hosted by the U.S. State Department.

“Being in Germany not only taught me different perspectives and different ways of thinking, but also different ways of solving problems that you don’t see in the United States,” she said. “That, and being able to make friends in different languages and understand people.”

The 11-month program where Apenteng was learning German (she also is fluent in French) was cut short by a couple months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Even so, she said it was worthwhile.

“I never thought that I could do what [the exchange students we hosted] were doing,” Apenteng said. “I learned I’m more resilient than I think.”

In addition to learning from her degree program at Mason, Apenteng said she is looking forward to being part of the virtual learning communities, and experiencing all the university has to offer.

“I’m happy to be at Mason,” she said. “I’m really glad I applied, and I can’t wait for the school year to start.”

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Statement from Dean Özerdem on becoming the Carter School

Audrey Williams — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 11:00:00 +0000

Statement from Dean Özerdem on becoming the Carter School Audrey Williams Wed, 07/01/2020 - 07:00

Dean Alaslan Özerdem

For 40 years, George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR) has been a leading figure globally in the field of peace and conflict studies.

Now, our School is starting the next chapter in this leadership with the adoption of our new identity as the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

As the preeminent School for peace and conflict resolution, it is natural that our values and those of the Carters are very well-aligned. This momentous shift to becoming the Carter School is the next step in fulfilling our shared vision for bringing about a more just and peaceful world.

The adoption of this new name is an opportunity for our community to engage with the natural synergies between the Carters’ work and our School’s deep and storied history of scholarship and practice.

It is also a responsibility. In taking on our new name, we have invested ourselves in the important work of honoring the Carters’ legacy of selfless dedication to peace by enabling our community to build upon that same commitment. Our transition to the Carter School is a declaration of our position and an affirmation that we, as a school, pursue a particular set of values: compassion, humility, solidarity, a calling for social justice, and a commitment to peace.

Those values matter for us, because at the Carter School, we are a community of do-ers – faculty, researchers, students, and alumni – who have dedicated ourselves to preventing conflict and building peace while pursuing social justice, whether locally, nationally, or internationally.

To achieve this goal that we have set for ourselves as the Carter School, we will be taking the Carters’ brave and insurmountable dedication to peace as our beacon and our guide. We are honored and humbled to open this next chapter in our commitment to peace and justice.

Dr. Alpaslan Özerdem

Dean of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

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A Statement by the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University Condemning White Supremacy

Audrey Williams — Sat, 30 May 2020 14:36:51 +0000

A Statement by the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University Condemning White Supremacy Audrey Williams Sat, 05/30/2020 - 10:36

Learn about the Mitchell Program

Read about "Stay Woke" by Carter School Professor Tehama Lopez Bunyasi

Our hearts are heavy to see that black and brown communities across the United States, which have already been bearing a disproportionate loss of life during the global pandemic, continue to suffer from the terror caused by the white supremacy embedded in the history and institutions of our nation.

We mourn George Floyd. We mourn Ahmaud Arbery. We mourn Breonna Taylor.

How many more must we mourn?

It is painfully clear that so many beloved members of our community, whether students, faculty, staff, or alumni, could be—and in fact, have been—targets of violence stemming from systemic racism.

As a School focused on peace and conflict resolution, it is our core mission—and our core duty—to bring about a more just and peaceful world, whether by educating the next generation of peacebuilders and changemakers, conducting research into the causes of conflict and its resolution, or working with communities across the world to implement ethical and equitable policies and programs that will enable the transformation of our societies.

We condemn the murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by the police personnel who were supposed to serve and protect them and their communities. We condemn the murder of Ahmaud Arbery by white civilians who felt entitled to attack him on his daily jog—an attack that echoes the long and brutal history of racial terror and lynching in the United States.

We also know that condemnation alone will not do the work that is needed to dismantle systems of racial injustice. As our students learn in their coursework, racism is a multi-faceted phenomenon. It weaves through every aspect of our lives, from our interpersonal relationships to our workplace cultures to our halls of power—and yes, it weaves through even our classrooms, too.

It is our firm commitment as a School to undertake an ethos of research, teaching, and practice that prioritizes antiracism and opposes oppression. That means continually engaging in reflective scholarship and practice that contemplates our own place in this system while lifting up the efforts of our community members working to dismantle white supremacy.

In the coming days, we will share resources spotlighting the work of our community members on racism, white supremacy, and injustice. To begin with, we want to highlight the work of the John Mitchell, Jr. Program for History, Justice, and Race, which is led by Dr. Charles L. Chavis, Jr. here at the Carter School and provides a wide range of resources for dealing with racial trauma and promoting racial healing.

The Mitchell Program will be running several activities in response to the events in Minneapolis and across the United States over the next few weeks. We invite our community and the broader public to learn more on their website.

We will also seek to listen to our own students, staff, and faculty of color about their own experiences at Mason and beyond. In the meantime, I encourage the public as well as our students and colleagues to please be in touch with me regarding how our School can undertake a truly antiracist approach to further our core mission to empower individuals and communities across the world to realize more peace and justice in their daily lives.

We are ready and committed to doing this work together.

Alpaslan Özerdem
Dean, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University
Soon to be the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

S-CAR assistant professor encourages us to "Stay Woke"

Audrey Williams — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 19:44:50 +0000

S-CAR assistant professor encourages us to "Stay Woke" Audrey Williams Fri, 04/24/2020 - 15:44

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By Nora Malatinszky and Marsha Mayhak

In this age of technology and fast news, even the most seemingly direct statements can be interpreted and responded to in an endless variety of ways. Such, of course, is the case with the well-known (and oft-contested) rally cry, “Black Lives Matter.” What, at their core, do these words really suggest? Whose behaviors have necessitated the use of these words, and more importantly, who do they call to action? Does modern society reflect the assertion that Black lives matter, or is there still work to be done?

This is the foundation for Stay Woke: A People’s Guide to Making All Black Lives Matter, a book recently co-authored by Tehama Lopez Bunyasi, an assistant professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and Candis Watts Smith, an associate professor of political science and African American studies at Penn State University. The scholars use their combined expertise and experiences to lay out a framework for approaching dialogue on racial issues, recognizing one’s own personal failings, and taking productive steps towards a more racially conscious society—all in terms accessible to the average person.

Lopez Bunyasi has devoted much of her academic career to the study of racial inequality in America, with a particular focus on perceptions of whiteness.

“The fact that I study race and racism at all has a lot to do with both how my identity is treated in different contexts and also how people talk about race or don’t talk about race in different contexts,” she said. She emphasized the importance of having open conversations about race, even—and perhaps especially—when it might be uncomfortable.

“The thing that Candis and I want to get across [is that] we wrote this book for people of various racial groups. This is not just a book for white people. It’s not just a book for Black people. It’s not just a book about Black people,” Lopez Bunyasi said. “The whole reason that BLM is a thing is not because Black people are living in a vacuum; it’s because Black people live around people who have white supremacist and racist and fearful ideologies that impact their lives.”

"Stay Woke" (NYU Press, 2019) by Tehama Lopez Bunyasi and Candis Watts Smith.

The publication of this book by New York University Press places Stay Woke’s message in a unique position to reach a wide variety of audiences. At the authors’ book launch, hosted by the American Political Science Association on September 27, 2019, Smith highlighted that academic presses are often hesitant to publish books that are written for both academic and non-academic readerships. The editors at the NYU Press, however, were excited to support a project that aimed to balance academic integrity with accessibility to information.

“Stay Woke is unconventional in that way— that we don’t necessarily conform to the language, the words, or the place” that many academics are incentivized to capitalize on, said Smith.

What is wokeness, anyway?

The call for people to “stay woke” engages the popular term that came out of the Black Lives Matter movement, encouraging people to stay alert and maintain awareness of racial injustice within their societies.

With the release of their book, Lopez Bunyasi and Smith have unpacked an entire glossary of terms for anti-racism that people can incorporate into their vernacular when tackling these subjects. Having this vocabulary opens doors for people to not only ask themselves and their communities tough questions, but also to begin pondering the possibilities for dismantling the structural violence of our racist society and the cultural violence of our racist ideologies.

Of course, it is not only people of color who are affected by these ideologies.

“Even though the focus here is on anti-Black racism, it wouldn’t make sense outside of the context of talking about white supremacy period, which affects all kinds of people—including white people,” Lopez Bunyasi said.

Informing and providing invitations to intervene in structural violence, the authors poignantly draw in everyday people in America. The friction of racial divides in the United States is a living, breathing conflict. Lopez Bunyasi tells us that, though we each “have different roles to play, [and] we’re differently affected,” we are all in this together.

So, what can we do?

Many people can have difficulty determining where they fit into this effort. Upon recognizing the disparities and power dynamics impacting your own life, there are a variety of ways to add your own voice to the conversation.

Lopez Bunyasi encourages us to consider, and even grapple with, questions that place us outside of our comfort zones. “How is your life, the quality of your life, worsened, weakened, because you live in a system of white supremacy?” she asks.

Partaking in social movements or other sustained efforts to make waves of change are important ways that everyone can contribute. Though there can be a hesitation to get involved in activism due to the perception that all politics are corrupt and every campaign is money-driven, everyone can do something for society that will change peoples’ material lives; everyone can be a part of the conversation. “Everyone has something they can offer,” said Lopez Bunyasi.

To learn more about Stay Woke, please join the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for a virtual book talk with Lopez Bunyasi on Friday, May 1, 2020, at 2:00 PM (EDT). The discussion will focus in particular on what the S-CAR community can do to address injustices and build a more equitable and inclusive school and network.

Find the guide from Lopez Bunyasi and Smith on how racial inequality shapes our lives—and what we can do about it—on the websites of your favorite local bookstore, the NYU Press, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon.

Stay woke, everyone.

Virtual town hall with dean ushers in new phase of online community building at S-CAR

Audrey Williams — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 15:40:54 +0000

Virtual town hall with dean ushers in new phase of online community building at S-CAR Audrey Williams Tue, 04/21/2020 - 11:40

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When Alpaslan Özerdem arrived at George Mason University in August 2019 to begin his term as the dean of the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, he made community-building initiatives a top priority, seeking to bolster both the formal and informal opportunities for students, faculty, alumni, and staff to connect around a shared passion for peacebuilding and conflict resolution.

One such effort was the beginning of a new tradition: “Lunched-In with the Dean,” a weekly opportunity for the school’s community to gather for food and conversations in the John Burton Library at Vernon Smith Hall on the Arlington Campus.

Every Wednesday afternoon throughout the fall of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, the normally quiet stacks of the John Burton Library came alive with the chatter of faculty mentoring students and alumni reuniting with old friends.

Now, like many spaces at George Mason University, the John Burton Library is empty. Over the last month, the university has moved more than 5,000 courses online in an effort to protect the health and well-being of its students, faculty, and staff amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the pandemic wears on, it has become increasingly clear that new avenues for community building will need to be developed and expanded at the school.

To that end, on Tuesday, April 14, Özerdem and the school’s faculty and staff marked a new tradition: the first virtual town hall to allow current and prospective students to hear about the school’s trajectory through the pandemic directly from its leadership and faculty.

Register for one of the free week-long online classes we’re offering in April and May

Hosted over WebEx Events thanks to the technical expertise of Paul Snodgrass, the school’s director for technology and knowledge management, the town hall was guided by Özerdem and included a panel of faculty and staff voices, such as associate dean Julie Shedd, advisors Christie Jones and Charisse Cardenas, program directors Agnieszka Paczynska, Terrence Lyons, and Mary Schoeny, and incoming graduate programs director Thomas Flores.

In his opening remarks, Özerdem noted that the meeting was the first town hall since the school announced that it will become the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution on July 1, 2020.

He emphasized that the Carter School, along with George Mason University, is committed to supporting its students during the current crisis, and to learning from its community about how it can improve in its response.

“The sense of solidarity is so important, and we can do so much for each other,” Özerdem said, adding that the town hall was organized to discuss best practices and share a sense of community at the school.

A wide variety of community members tuned in, including both current and prospective students. The discussion covered a multitude of subjects, from questions related to the school’s pandemic response to inquiries about the school’s future coursework and curricula.

The well-being of the school’s students was a central topic of conversation and concern.

Resources for students, faculty, and staff can be found on George Mason University’s coronavirus website.

“For many of our students, the main concern [during the pandemic] has just been mental health and well-being,” said Christie Jones, who is an Undergraduate Academic Advisor and Field Experience Coordinator at the school, as well as a PhD candidate.

She noted that the school’s students each have unique challenges that they are facing—and these go beyond the academic.

Christie Jones, Undergraduate Academic Advisor

“Some of our international students have been stuck on campus, and several of them remain on campus as undergraduates, obviously without access to things like libraries, the bookstore, and relatively few options in terms of food and taking care of themselves in terms of personal safety,” she said, adding that many undergraduates are also experiencing financial concerns.

She emphasized that students who faced vulnerabilities before the pandemic are seeing those challenges compounded.

“Several of our students are undocumented, and are often primary bread earners in their homes,” Jones said. “And then we have a number of students who are marginalized in a variety of ways in terms of access to Internet, in terms of access to mental healthcare, physical healthcare. We have a couple of students living with disabilities or different abilities and having had to make adjustments to Blackboard.”

In these situations, academic anxieties are simply one part of an intricate web of difficulties that are often beyond students’ control.

“For many of us in the services arena, I think a lot of us are simply dealing with students trying to cope with this change,” Jones said, adding that on top of these concerns, students are also grappling with the grief of losing a sense of community at the school.

It’s an issue that Özerdem is taking to heart.

“The pandemic has affected all of us, but in different ways. We obviously have different needs because of this,” he said.

He emphasized the Carter School’s dedication to meeting student needs. He also encouraged students to make sure to learn more about the resources based at University Life. To date, University Life has distributed more than $1 million in emergency assistance to more than 950 students, and it is continuing its “Patriots Helping Patriots” campaign to increase that amount to $1.5 million.

Most importantly, Özerdem invited students to be in touch with their advisors, faculty, and the school’s leadership—including himself and Shedd—to open up discussions on how best the school can support different needs during the pandemic.

“In times of crisis, our well-being is really critical,” he said. “We need to look after ourselves, but also others, as much as possible. And that sense of solidarity is really fulfilling.”

Shedd encouraged students to continue to reach out to the school’s advisors and leadership to communicate any difficulties they encounter as they endeavor to complete their coursework, noting that the school has been working with university officials, such as those at the libraries, to make previously unavailable resources accessible online.

Watch Interim President Anne Holton's April 17, 2020, virtual town hall with students and families.

The school’s leadership cautioned that even as the university’s coronavirus response settles into a period that may sometimes seem akin to normalcy, there are still many unknowns.

The university recently announced that its Summer 2020 courses will be delivered online. However, Özerdem said that the university is still considering options for how it will teach its Fall 2020 courses, including both online and “blended” possibilities.

Given the continuing period of adjustment, Özerdem emphasize that as the school’s response to the pandemic continues to evolve—and as the school moves forward with previously planned developments, like its shift to the Carter School and its review of degree program curricula—student input and feedback will be essential.

“[During] the next six months to a year, we’ll be looking at what we teach, how we teach, and how we can actually improve that with the current dynamics. And obviously, with the experience of the pandemic, that will be one of the issues,” he said.

As a school that focuses on peace and conflict resolution, the Carter School has an additional opportunity—and responsibility—to respond to the crisis from a place that emphasizes accessibility, well-being, and inclusion.

“In times of crisis and post-crisis, what’s the role of peace and conflict studies? What’s the role of the Carter School? After all, we are taking the name of the school from Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, who [have] dedicated their lives to the issues of human security, human rights, freedom, [and] equality," Özerdem reflected.

In setting the stage for how the Carter School will approach its programming and coursework to address both the current pandemic and the broader constellation of conflict resolution challenges affecting the world, the next few months will be crucial.

“Watch this space,” Özerdem said.

Carter School seeks alumni to join roster of facilitators and trainers

Audrey Williams — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 16:22:53 +0000

Carter School seeks alumni to join roster of facilitators and trainers Audrey Williams Mon, 04/06/2020 - 12:22

Alumni: Join Our Roster of Facilitators and Trainers

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When conflicts arise, whether in the boardroom or on the battlefield, sometimes it takes a change of scenery to make a breakthrough.

That’s the thought behind the Point of View International Retreat and Research Center (POV) at George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, which will become the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution on July 1, 2020.

Since POV was inaugurated in 2016, a wide variety of organizations, delegations, and companies have sought out the facility to host workshops, trainings, dialogues, and retreats, often counting on its views of Belmont Bay and quiet, wooded pathways to spark insights, reflection, and connection.

The center’s indoor and outdoor meeting spaces at the heart of woodland in Lorton, Virginia—approximately 25 miles south of Washington, D.C.—have even prompted some to call it a “civilian Camp David.”

When organizations, delegations, and companies seek out POV and the soon-to-be-Carter School to host their workshops and dialogues, increasingly it isn’t just the natural beauty of the retreat center that is a draw.

According to Sheherazade Jafari, director of POV, the school’s specialization in facilitation techniques has led many POV clients to request the facilitation and training services of the school’s experts to support their meetings and programs.

Are you an alum of our school with experience in facilitation or in leading trainings? We’re expanding our roster through POV

This expertise is critical for moving conflicts from a destructive status quo to a constructive resolution or transformation.

“Facilitation is a foundational skill for all peacemakers, because the work of resolving conflicts and building a just and sustainable peace ultimately is rooted in countless meetings that, when they go well, help conflicting people and groups forge a path forward together, and, when they do not, reify the existing conflicts,” said Bill Potapchuk, who received his Master’s of Science in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from the school (then an institute) in 2005.

Currently the president of the Community Building Institute, an adjunct faculty member at the school, and a senior fellow at the school’s Center for Peacemaking Practice, Potapchuk is one of the facilitation experts that the school calls upon when clients at POV are looking to carry out a successful workshop, training, or dialogue.

His experience in the facilitation of conflict resolution processes is rooted in the school’s earliest years. As the then associate director of the Conflict Clinic, Inc., Potapchuk arrived at the school—which was then the Center for Conflict Analysis and Resolution—in 1987 when the clinic moved from its former home at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

The clinic was led by James Laue, a civil rights advocate and conflict resolution specialist who joined the school in 1987 as its first Vernon M. and Minnie I. Lynch Chair of Conflict Analysis and Resolution.

For Potapchuk, Laue was a mentor. While the former had been practicing as a public policy dispute resolver before coming to the school, his work at George Mason University as part of the Conflict Clinic and his study of conflict analysis and resolution as part of his master’s degree helped him to refine his understanding and expertise.

The school’s scholarship and practice opportunities around facilitation approaches were similarly transformative for Alma Abdul-Hadi Jadallah, who earned her PhD from the school in 2006.

“I give [the school] credit for modeling and teaching us former students the ‘elicitive approach’ in running conversations and understanding competing worldviews,” said Jadallah, who is the president and managing director of Kommon Denominator, Inc., as well as an adjunct faculty member at the school.

According to Jadallah, who is one of the alumni that has helped lead trainings and facilitate meetings through POV, facilitation is both an art and a science.

As part of the science of facilitation, Jadallah draws on an elicitive methodology, which places primacy on the knowledge that already exists among the parties to a conflict. By describing this approach to the groups with which she works, she seeks to gain trust and establish a relationship that is collaborative.

As to mastering the art of facilitation, according to Jadallah, it comes with time.

“One’s toolkit is refined with experience,” she said, adding that effective facilitation needs to be “contextually sensitive and adjusted to meet the needs and the cultural norms of the group.”

As such, Jadallah tailors her own facilitation approaches to whichever audience she is working with, whether companies, grassroot organizations, international organizations like the UN, European Union, and World Bank, or even federal agencies.

A good facilitator will eventually be able to create a space “that is ‘sort of sacred’ to allow all voices to be heard and give people the time to reflect on their attitudes, perceptions and behaviors, and the way they impact the conversation,” Jadallah said.

For Liz London, who earned her Master’s of Science in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from the school in 2017, serving as an effective facilitator is less about mastering the content of the conflict at hand and more about mastering how to effectively guide the people in the room toward a constructive outcome.

“I believe very firmly that as a facilitator, I'm not a content expert, I'm a process expert,” she said. “My job is to figure out how to create an experience that will allow a group to reach their goals and cull the wisdom that already exists within them.”

In the years since she has graduated from the school, London has developed a strong facilitation portfolio as the founder of and lead trainer at Constructive Communities. That work has included serving as a facilitator through POV.

Having only recently graduated from the school herself, she firmly believes that aspiring conflict resolvers and peacemakers can benefit from developing a facilitation toolkit suited to their work.

“There are a lot of ways to practice conflict resolution work, but I think much of it relies on strong facilitation skills,” she said. “Learning theories and frameworks about conflict is incredibly beneficial, but when it comes down to actually working with groups, you need to be able to apply those ideas and move people through a hard or complex process. That's where facilitation training can be immensely helpful.”

As in the school’s years as a center in the ‘80s, facilitation training remains a core element of the school’s coursework, scholarship, and practice opportunities, including as a required component of the master’s program.

Now, Jafari is working with leadership at the school to expand opportunities for both current students and alumni to develop their facilitation practices at POV by joining a roster of facilitators and trainers that the school can call upon when POV clients request this expertise.

Up until now, the requested facilitation services have been carried out by Jafari and alumni such as Potapchuk, Jadallah, and London, as well as some of the school’s faculty and advanced graduate students, such as Molly Tepper, a PhD candidate who also serves as a fellow at POV. On occasion, students at the school have assisted with the design and implementation of programs, as an opportunity to gain hands-on experience.

According to Jafari, an expanded effort to broaden the school’s roster of facilitators and trainers will offer alumni the opportunity to connect with clients and build their portfolios, while it will give facilitation-focused students the opportunity to refine their skills before graduating.

An initiative to expand the alumni roster will begin in April 2020, and alumni who serve as facilitators will receive financial compensation for their services.

In the near future, Jafari is hoping to roll out a concerted initiative to involve students in facilitation at POV as well. She and the school’s leadership are currently exploring how students will be compensated for their work, including through course credit.

Beyond helping alumni and students build their own practices and refine their facilitation techniques and approaches, Jafari sees another potential benefit to this initiative in it's potential to provide increased peer-to-peer and student—alumni connections.

It is her hope that as the initiative expands, alumni will have the opportunity to mentor students who are looking to refine their facilitation skills, and students will have the chance to access networks that will support them when they graduate.

To help foster this connection, Jafari is hoping that POV can host one or two gatherings of the facilitators and trainers each year to bring together alumni and students for mutual learning and reflection.

“It can be an opportunity for folks to learn about each other’s work, maybe even train each other on different aspects of their work. But mostly, [it can be] an opportunity to connect, to collaborate, [and] to support each other,” Jafari said.

For London, being able to continue her facilitation practice through POV has alrady been a boon.

“There's so much incredible facilitation work to be done around conflict resolution and great opportunities to apply the work of our field out in the world,” she said. “Point of View is a unique and special place where a lot of this work is happening—and an amazing place for S-CAR students [and alumni] to get more plugged into.”

Becoming the Carter School: Our community weighs in

Audrey Williams — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 02:37:13 +0000

Becoming the Carter School: Our community weighs in Audrey Williams Sun, 04/05/2020 - 22:37

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Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter observe the 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections as part of an 80-member delegation, organized by The Carter Center and the National Democratic Institute. (Photo credit: The Carter Center)

For nearly forty years, the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR) has been a leading institution in the field of peace and conflict studies. From its launch in 1981 as a center through its evolution into an institute and then a school, S-CAR has maintained a deep commitment to training conflict resolvers from all walks of life to imagine a more peaceful and just world.

Among the school’s community of peacemakers are more than 500 students, more than 2,000 alumni, and a wide variety of advisors, supporters, and friends across the world who are dedicated to doing their part—big and small, working at the local, national, and global levels—in the pursuit of peace.

On July 1, 2020, in recognition of the school’s leading role in furthering the study of peace and the practice of conflict resolution, the school will take the next step in its evolution by becoming the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

In advance of the name’s official launch, S-CAR News is highlighting the voices of our students, faculty, alumni, and advisory board as they reflect on what the legacy of the Carters means for our school.

This article is the first in a series that will be published throughout April 2020.

Check our news page at the end of each week for the latest article.

(The below quotes have been edited for clarity.)

Mary Jo Larson (PhD ‘01)

Member of the Advisory Board;
Senior Advisor for ESG/Sustainability, International Finance Corporation;
Peace Corps Volunteer (1972–74), Peace Corps Staff (1992–97)

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter are internationally recognized and respected for their principled leadership, strategic coalition building, and pragmatic ‘peace engineering’ initiatives. With this name change, our school values the Carter legacy and strengthens its commitment to results-oriented scholarship and inclusive practice in addressing basic human needs, conflict prevention, and the peaceful resolution of conflict.

William Jennette (BA ’18, current MS student)

Becoming the Carter school represents a recognition to ourselves and to the outside community of what the school is really about—through understanding and researching conflict both here and abroad, the ultimate hope and ambition of our scholarship is to contribute to peace and conflict resolution. I can’t imagine a better name or legacy to fall under than Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.

Kirubel Fessessework (BA ’18, MS ’19*)

I think that S-CAR renaming itself to the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution is certainly a remarkable moment within the school’s history. Furthermore, I’m genuinely intrigued in the direction in which the school will engage as it further continues to shape the minds of future generations in their conception of peace and conflict resolution from numerous scopes.

* Fessessework graduated from our Dual Degree Program in Malta.

Michael Shank (PhD ’13)

Member of the Advisory Board;
Communications Director, Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance;
Adjunct Faculty, Center for Global Affairs, New York University

It’s all about thought leadership. The Carters are constantly creating new content—for consideration, application and intervention—in emerging crises around the world. That’s the Carter tradition. The new name signals that our school carries on this tradition, thought leading—for policymakers, the press, and even the public—on global conflicts and how they can and should be transformed. That’s the new mission and message.

Thomas Flores

Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Programs

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s core values perfectly align with our school. They have emphasized the peaceful resolution of conflict throughout their lives. Those are our values, as well.

Antti Pentikaïnen

Research Professor;
Director, Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation

I think a lot of us in this field look to [Jimmy Carter] as somebody who, in his position, took some really serious challenges and tried to make a contribution, so it will be beautiful to carry that legacy. Peace is never easy. It always challenges everything we know, and I think with that humility—but also ambition—to make a difference, we’ll try to carry on his legacy.

Fatma Jabbari (PhD student)

Graduate Teaching Assistant

As a PhD student, I believe that this is a great opportunity for our school. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter’s legacy of service around the world has been a catalyst for social change, and that aligns with the Carter School’s overarching mission and vision.

I am excited to be part of a legacy that is tangibly transformational, one that undertakes a theory of change that promotes integrity and emphasizes the importance of individual citizens as the locus of change by presenting opportunities for change.

Robert Harris (MS ’96, PhD ’03)

Chair of the Advisory Board

The renaming of the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution to the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution is both a natural progression as well as a watershed moment for the larger field of conflict resolution and peace studies.

It is a natural progression in the specific history of the Center, then Institute, then School, and now Carter School. The precursors to the now Carter School have not only played a seminal role in developing the larger field, but have stayed true to its initial origins to promote peace and social justice while equally seeking to study and resolve conflict before it becomes violent.

The Carter legacy is known worldwide. Both Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have been peacemakers, whether at the global level or community level. Their legacy will help further place George Mason University on the global map as the preeminent academic, research, and practice institution for peace studies and conflict resolution.

Alpaslan Özerdem

Dean of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

The legacy of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter in peace and conflict resolution is amazing, because what they have done is to really come up with significant interfaces of peace, security, and development.

Reporting by Audrey Williams and Nora Malatinszky. Editing and introductory text by Audrey Williams.

S-CAR to become the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Audrey Williams — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 08:00:00 +0000

S-CAR to become the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution Audrey Williams Tue, 03/10/2020 - 04:00

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Rosalynn Carter and Jimmy Carter in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1993. (Photo credit: The Carter Center)

By Audrey Williams

For nearly forty years, George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution has been a leading figure in the field of peace and conflict studies. On July 1, 2020, it will start the next chapter in its leadership with the adoption of a new name: the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution.

The name was approved on February 27, 2020, by George Mason University’s Board of Visitors. In September 2020, the School will host an event to commemorate this next step in its evolution.

The new name will serve as a tribute to the Carters’ steadfast commitment to the peaceful resolution of conflict worldwide, a transition made timely as the world faces both entrenched and emerging global threats and human security challenges.

“By becoming the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, we’ll be starting the next phase of our journey as an institution committed to furthering both the research and practice of conflict resolution,” said Alpaslan Özerdem, dean of the School. “In this effort, we will be taking the Carters’ unwavering dedication to peace as our beacon and our guide.”

The renaming will mark the latest stage in the School’s transformation from a center (1981–1989) and institute (1989–2012) to a school that has been recognized since 2012 as the largest degree-granting institution in the world dedicated to peace and conflict studies.

As the School’s research, practice, and impact on the field of peace and conflict studies have grown, the School has developed from the first institution in North America to grant a master’s degree in conflict resolution into the first conflict resolution department in the world that provides four degree-granting curricula at the bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral, and graduate and professional certificate levels.

Now, four decades after its founding, the School is set to mark a new chapter in the study and practice of peace and conflict resolution with its evolution into the Carter School.

The Carters’ legacy of peaceful conflict resolution and service

Former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe (2014–2018) was joined by two members of Congress, Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA-11) and Donald S. Beyer, Jr. (D-VA-8), in endorsing the School’s proposal to become The Carter School.

“I don’t think, today, everybody quite understands or appreciates the great work that President Carter had done,” said McAuliffe, who served on Carter’s re-election campaign following college.

“[The Carter School] will provide a fitting tribute to [the legacy of President and Mrs. Carter] in the field and ensure that future generations are equipped with the skills and training necessary to make similarly enduring contributions to peace,” Connolly wrote in a letter of support for the proposal.

Those contributions have included the work of President Carter and his administration on the Panama Canal Treaty, which restored the canal’s sovereignty to the nation and people of Panama, and the SALT II Treaty with the Soviet Union, which pursued the reduction of nuclear arms. The legacy of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter also includes their post-presidency work on human rights, democracy, gender equality, and global health through the Carter Center, which is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Perhaps the best known of President Carter’s contributions to peacemaking are the 1978 Camp David Accords, which paved the way for the development and signing of the 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty. The accords are often lauded as a demonstration of the invaluable impact that dialogue can have on addressing even intractable conflicts.

“When I was elected president, nobody asked me to negotiate between Israel and Egypt. It was not even a question raised in my campaign. But I felt that one of the reasons that I was elected president was to try to bring peace to the Holy Land,” President Carter told the Huffington Post in 2012.

In 2002, President Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his efforts to defuse international conflicts. During the Nobel Prize ceremony, he poignantly emphasized his belief that peace can only be achieved through nonviolent means.

“War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children,” he said.

President Carter’s commitment to the transformative role of dialogue is shared by the School’s faculty, students, alumni, and supporters, who have been continually engaged in research and practice that support the evolution of different approaches to dialogue processes.

One such approach, the “Sustained Dialogue” process, was developed by the late Harold H. (“Hal”) Saunders, a dedicated supporter of the School who taught and mentored its students and contributed to its peacemaking research and practice.

As Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs during President Carter’s administration, Saunders played a central role in the Camp David Accords. In a letter to the Carters in support of the School’s renaming proposal, Carol Saunders, Hal’s wife, wrote that he “often spoke…of how transformational his experience was” in supporting President Carter at Camp David.

Point of View (Photo credit: Evan Cantwell/GMU)

She noted that the School’s commitment to serving as an institution for not just the study but also the practice of dialogue processes through its Point of View retreat and research center in Lorton, Virginia, is a key reason why the school is equipped to honor the Carters’ legacy.

Established by the School thanks to the generosity of two of the School’s earliest champions, Edwin and Helen Lynch, Point of View serves as a setting for reflective thinking, transformative conversation, dialogue, and peacebuilding. Its location on the site of the Lynch family’s home on the Potomac River, coupled with the School’s ability to convene some of the world’s most skilled conflict resolution practitioners through an alumni network of 2,000 and its reputation as the oldest graduate-degree granting institution in the field of conflict analysis and resolution, has caused many to consider Point of View to be a “civilian Camp David.”

Carter legacy to inspire next generation of peacemakers at George Mason University

Both Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have dedicated their lives to peace. Their tireless efforts, which have included participation in citizen diplomacy initiatives and community-based service work with organizations like Habitat for Humanity, have always been grounded in their faith.

“The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices,” President Carter said during his Nobel Lecture. “God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace.”

The Carters’ belief in the transformative power of communities working together in the pursuit of peace is exemplified in their commitment to empowering and encouraging new generations of peacemakers.

In a 2016 interview with the Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, Rosalynn Carter underlined her belief in the impact that new generations can have on forging a better, more peaceful world.

“I tell young people that if they help someone else, they'll have a better life,” she said. “I also tell them that one of the most important times, I think, in their lives is when they get through college and through universities and through their schooling and go out into the world. They are as free as they’ll ever be.”

In its nearly forty-year history, the School has been similarly dedicated to empowering each new generation of peacemakers to resolve conflicts of all scales and types across the world. In carrying the Carter name, the School will continue its tradition of connecting students from around the world with the knowledge, networks, and opportunities they need to do the difficult, rewarding, and necessary work of peaceful conflict resolution.

As part of the renaming campaign, the School is seeking to empower both current and future peacemakers through securing a total of $10 million to support teaching, research, and practice. As part of this effort, the School has already raised $4.4 million, including a $2 million lead gift from Steve Cumbie and Drucie French, a couple based in the Washington, D.C. area who have been among the School’s earliest and longest supporters.

“Our intent with this gift is to advance the field of conflict resolution, by strengthening [the school] as an institution,” Cumbie said at the time of the donation. “The number of graduates the school has produced is impressive—but we need even more people to go into this field. Point of View is a great asset, as well, which should be fully developed.”

The funding the School is seeking will empower current and future peacemaking efforts by supporting the academic and professional development of students from across the world through increased scholarships; by enriching faculty production through robust research support; and by cultivating opportunities for peacemaking practice through the further development of the School’s “civilian Camp David” at Point of View.

These efforts will be aided by the School’s commitment to increasing outreach to individuals and institution across academia, the public sector, the private sector, and civil society that are working in the pursuit of peace.

About the School

George Mason University’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, soon to be the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, is the world’s oldest and largest school for conflict analysis and resolution, and the only one that offers undergraduate through doctoral degrees. Its multidisciplinary faculty educates students from across the world in an innovative curriculum designed to prepare the next generation of peacemakers to develop whole-of-society solutions to conflict. Learn more at scar.gmu.edu.

Mason researchers study the complicated and cascading effects of Arctic ice melt

Martha Bushong — Sat, 22 Feb 2020 14:08:37 +0000

Mason researchers study the complicated and cascading effects of Arctic ice melt Martha Bushong Sat, 02/22/2020 - 09:08

The Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of the rest of the planet, but for a team of researchers at George Mason University that’s just the tip of the iceberg of the changes to come.

The team members, led by faculty from Mason’s Volgenau School of Engineering and the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, are diving into how melting ice in the Arctic will affect the people, habitats, and social fabric of this remote region.

The National Science Foundation grant, “An Expanding Global Maritime Network, Its Arctic Impacts and Reverberations,” provides the resources, time, and support to better understand this global challenge and to help mitigate its effects on the Arctic.

“Our project is not about whether climate change is real,” says Elise Miller-Hooks, professor, the principal investigator, and Bill and Eleanor Hazel Chair of Infrastructure Engineering at the Volgenau School. “We are considering the effects of the sea ice melting in the Arctic and the potential for this change to affect world trade flows and a myriad of things that connect to these flows.”

As previously ice-bound passageways open, shorter trade routes will save time and money in the transport of goods and services. Some call this route the new Northwest passage, referencing the path to China that explorers from European nation-states of the 15th century sought but never found.

“The opening up of this northwest route will affect trade in many ways,” says Miller-Hooks. “It will affect large nations and local economies. It will affect wildlife and the environment. It will affect transportation and infrastructure.”

As more traffic passes through the Arctic, the people who live there will experience both positive and negative effects. There will be changes in supply chains, increased pollution of the shipping lanes, and changes to the fragile arctic ecosystem. On the other hand, there will be jobs and the potential for economic growth, but these opportunities could disrupt the lives of indigenous people and threaten the survival of their cultures.

Sara Cobb, the grant’s co-principal investigator and director of the Center for the Study of Narrative and Conflict Resolution says, “The Arctic is sort of the canary in the coal mine.” Cobb brings her expertise in conflict and narrative studies as the team seeks to understand the impact of the coming changes and develop early warning systems for arctic communities.

“Those of us in the social sciences are good at qualitative work,” says Cobb, Drucie French Cumbie professor at Mason’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. “Now the modeling work is so advanced that we need experts in that field.”

“The Arctic ice melt is a big problem. Big problems demand big answers and big teams. We are leading a team of experts from many different areas, including civil engineering, applied mathematics, anthropology, ice physics, coastal dynamics, and narrative approaches to conflict analysis and resolution.”

Elise Miller-Hooks

The study’s unique pairing of mathematical analysis with narrative studies aims to help develop tools that could lead to early responses to help mitigate the effects of the many changes in the Arctic.

Celso Ferreira associate professor in the Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering and a co-principal investigator on the grant, adds his knowledge of flood hazards to the team.

As it turns out, sea ice in the Arctic protects coastlines from erosion like the marshes and wetlands protect the Chesapeake Bay that he studies. “As the Arctic ice diminishes the coastlines are more vulnerable to storms and erosion,” says Ferreira. The team hopes to be co-producers of knowledge with the people who live in these areas as they develop sustainable solutions to the challenges of the ice melt.

“The Arctic ice melt is a big problem. Big problems demand big answers and big teams,” says Miller-Hooks. “We are leading a team of experts from many different areas, including civil engineering, applied mathematics, anthropology, ice physics, coastal dynamics, and narrative approaches to conflict analysis and resolution.”

Mason researchers will study the effects of Arctic ice melt in a five-year multidisciplinary grant funded by the National Science Foundation. The study blends quantitative and qualitative methods to provide a more complete understanding of the effects of melting ice on the people of the region. (Stock photo).

Ultimately the research team wants to develop a toolbox that will support research around the globe with Mason researchers at the center of the work. The toolbox will include mathematical techniques for modeling how the goods will be rerouted under different scenarios. It will also consider the risks associated with the new trade routes made possible by the melting ice.

The researchers will seek to understand the coastal dynamics, consider how to best build on the melting permafrost, investigate how to plan for emergencies when the ice breaks apart, and look at the cultural impacts.

Miller-Hooks says the team’s work has opened her eyes to the interconnectedness of our world. Although she has traveled around the globe, she never thought she would visit the Arctic—it seemed so distant and remote. “I realize now that we are all in this together. What happens in Nuuk, Greenland or Barrow, Alaska affects us all.”

People Mentioned in This Story

Elise Miller-Hooks

Sara Cobb

Celso Ferreira

Topics

Sustainability Research

global climate change

Conflict Resolution

Volgenau School of Engineering

School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

Research

National Science Foundation

CEC faculty research

School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution

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Statement from Dean Özerdem on becoming the Carter School

Dr. Alpaslan Özerdem

Dean of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

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A Statement by the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University Condemning White Supremacy

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So, what can we do?

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(The below quotes have been edited for clarity.)

Mary Jo Larson (PhD ‘01)

Member of the Advisory Board;Senior Advisor for ESG/Sustainability, International Finance Corporation;Peace Corps Volunteer (1972–74), Peace Corps Staff (1992–97)

William Jennette (BA ’18, current MS student)

Kirubel Fessessework (BA ’18, MS ’19*)

Michael Shank (PhD ’13)

Member of the Advisory Board;Communications Director, Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance;Adjunct Faculty, Center for Global Affairs, New York University

Thomas Flores

Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Programs

Antti Pentikaïnen

Research Professor;Director, Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation

Fatma Jabbari (PhD student)

Graduate Teaching Assistant

Robert Harris (MS ’96, PhD ’03)

Chair of the Advisory Board

Alpaslan Özerdem

Dean of the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Reporting by Audrey Williams and Nora Malatinszky. Editing and introductory text by Audrey Williams.

S-CAR to become the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution

Read the Mason News Story

Subscribe for Updates from S-CAR

By Audrey Williams

The Carters’ legacy of peaceful conflict resolution and service

Carter legacy to inspire next generation of peacemakers at George Mason University

About the School

Mason researchers study the complicated and cascading effects of Arctic ice melt

People Mentioned in This Story

Find Out About Research at Volgenau

Learn About Conflict Resolution at Mason

Learn about Engineering at Mason

Topics

Member of the Advisory Board;
Senior Advisor for ESG/Sustainability, International Finance Corporation;
Peace Corps Volunteer (1972–74), Peace Corps Staff (1992–97)

Member of the Advisory Board;
Communications Director, Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance;
Adjunct Faculty, Center for Global Affairs, New York University

Research Professor;
Director, Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation