This program will develop opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to examine the conflict between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, a relatively rare case of a seemingly intractable conflict that has moved from violence to productive political dialogue. Four mediators who have been deeply involved in the conflicts in Northern Ireland will visit the UO to share their experiences and insights. In addition to public presentations and a faculty seminar, this program will also initiate two new courses within the CRES program and the Clark Honors College and will create a faculty-led study abroad program and internships in Northern Ireland. Learning about the negotiations and mediations that have been successful in Northern Ireland through this diverse, ongoing programming will provide conceptual and practical insight for both students and faculty.

Through an interdisciplinary and collaborative exploration of nonviolence, this program will enrich our understanding of peaceful families, communities, and nations, and in the process facilitate a conversation about concrete means of building a peaceful future. This program will begin with a six-week visit from a prominent peace scholar, followed by an international conference in Fall 2008 co-sponsored with the Oregon-based Coalition for Nonviolent Living. The conference will highlight the work of community organizations, educators, and practitioners who strive to make peaceful living a reality across various fields, from parenting to international politics. This program will also include a monthly speaker series and initiate an undergraduate Savage Internship and Award for Peace that will forge bridges between faculty, students, and community professionals. This multifaceted program will enhance ongoing efforts at the University of Oregon to become a high-quality center for peace and conflict studies in the Pacific Northwest.

Building on the belief that peace in personal, national, and international affairs begins with how we educate our children, Project PEACE will create lasting effects by providing campus communities with opportunities to critically examine how children’s attitudes about violence develop and how school-based strategies can promote conflict resolution. Faculty members from each of the diverse departments within the College of Education will form a task force to integrate issues related to peace and violence across the College’s curriculum. This project will also bring visiting scholars to campus for a speaker series on understanding peace and violence within educational contexts. These visiting scholars will also meet for work sessions with the task force to discuss ways to enhance the College’s curriculum. Through these inter-related activities, Project PEACE will have immediate positive impacts on the College and long-term positive effects on children and youth within schools.

The intellectual core of this initiative was Chaim Perelman’s work, which demonstrated that reasoned argumentation could be an effective alternative to power and violence in resolving disputes. This initiative disseminated these ideas among scholars, graduate and undergraduate students through six integrated components: 1) an international conference that brought international and national scholars, 2) undergraduate and graduate master classes with the visiting scholars, 3) a public forum that featured a debate on an issue of critical concern and discussed whether the debate illustrated principles of ethical argument and conflict resolution, 4) a scholarly book consisting of the essays of the conference participants, 5) a textbook project to foster ethical reasoning across the curriculum, and 6) Fall Convocation events with a visiting professor.

The intention of this program is to further our understanding of war and peace through understanding of buildings and cities that have been affected or inspired by war. As material culture provides a lens through which cultural life can be brought into focus, the ways in which citizens, architects and planners respond to the effects of war and conflict will provide a lens into how war and conflict affect the physical contexts within which daily life is lived. This two-year program will combine major symposia and design charrettes, an undergraduate course, and a memorial for the UO campus. 

This program attempts to evaluate the place of Truth Commissions within regional and international efforts towards peace, reconciliation, and democratic governance. The program aims to make the University of Oregon and its Latin American Studies program at the forefront of an emerging conversation about international human rights and the role of Truth Commissions in bringing about reconciliation in countries affected by international wars and conflicts. Included in this two-year program will be several undergraduate courses, a speakers series and an international scholarly symposium.