Leonard M. Kurz ’75 Student Peace Award

Through a generous gift from Leonard M. Kurz ’75, this award was established in 2016 to help further campus and community awareness of issues related to peace and conflict studies and to support leadership efforts by students in these areas.

This award includes a financial prize and is announced at Commencement to a third-year student or senior who has exemplified engagement with the field of peace and conflict studies both inside and outside the classroom.

Applications

The Peace and Conflict Studies Program invites applications for the Leonard M. Kurz ’75 Student Peace Award.

The deadline for submission is March 14, 2022.

Applications must be accompanied by: 

  1. a 10-20 page academic paper or equivalent project addressing any topic relating to peace and conflict studies, including work previously completed for coursework at the College or given during the Peace and Conflict Studies Student Conference or at other venues.
    Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
    • Environmental conflict
    • The role of social media in effecting or preventing change
    • Interfaith dialogue
    • International conflicts
    • Education and peacemaking
    • Economic development and peacebuilding
    • Language, power, and conflict
    • The arts and peacebuilding
    • Trauma healing and the arts
    • Trauma and identity
    • Mediation
    • Restorative justice
    • Peace vs. justice
    • Peace, conflict, and human rights
    • Feminist perspectives on peacebuilding
    • Truth and reconciliation commissions
    • Transitional justice initiatives
    • Peace psychology
    • Ethnic conflict
    • Culture and violence
    • Bioethics
    • Human trafficking and human rights
    • Alternatives to violence
    • Community building
    • Nonviolent regime change
    • Political polarization
  2. a 350-word essay that synthesizes what the candidate has learned in the area of peace and conflict studies as a Grinnell College student, and outlines how engagement with the field of peace and conflict studies, broadly defined, has impacted the candidate.
    Engagement may include but is not limited to:
    • experiences during an internship or peace-related project
    • community volunteering or engagement
    • relevant work or off-campus study experiences  
  3. one letter of recommendation from a Grinnell College faculty or staff member who can address the significance of the student’s engagement. 

Please submit questions and all applications materials to PACS Coordinator Simone Sidwell.

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