Bridging Theory and Practice

The Center for Peacemaking operates at the intersection of thought and action. The center brings together students, faculty and the wider community to achieve three goals:

• Formation – Shaping the values of youth and young adults as nonviolent peacemakers through unique educational, experiential and applied learning opportunities.
• Scholarship – Producing high-quality and community-based participatory research that expands knowledge of how to address inequalities, resolve conflict and promote human dignity.
• Community Peacemaking – Leading social action programs that disrupt cycles of violence, address root causes of conflict, and build strong, resilient and inclusive communities.

Program Model

The center operates four categories of programs that correspond with the above goals. The program model also serves as a framework to develop nonviolent peacemakers and changemakers.

• Immersion – Students understand their own and others' positionality (which is shaped by identity and lived experience). In turn, this informs how to act with subsidiarity and in solidarity.
  • Programs: Civil Rights Pilgrimage; Engaging Muslims, Countering Islamophobia immersion; Near West Side Immersion
• Peace Education – Students gain knowledge and practical skills to become actors of social change.
  • Programs: peace studies major and minor; study abroad courses in India and El Salvador; peace studies course development; speaker series; student peacemaking fellows
• Peace Research – Faculty and students analyze the underlying causes of injustice and structural violence with the aim to inform action and policy.
  • Programs: Rynne research fellows; peace research mini-grants; conferences
• Applied Peacemaking – The center, with the university and community partners, engage in social action to address community needs and transform social structures.
  • Programs: Promoting Assets, Reducing Crime (PARC); Peace Works; Scaling Wellness in Milwaukee (SWIM)