Program Description
The Peace Studies Certificate and Associate Degree offers an interdisciplinary, theoretical, and practical approach for students to enter into the academic and/or professional field of Peace Studies. Students gain skills to critically analyze current affairs related to peace and conflict. Students evaluate global consequences of events leading to violent conflict to offer alternative solutions to create more peaceful, just and equitable societies. The Peace Studies program allows students to gain professional experience with an organization working within a related field through participation in the required one unit capstone course on service learning.

Program Emphasis
The four main pillars of the Peace Studies program are human rights, conflict studies, peace processes and the concept of justice in relation to peace. The program explores issues related to these four pillars on an inter/intra personal, communal, and global level. An emphasis is placed upon 1) the interdisciplinary nature of addressing issues related to peace and conflict, 2) active participation and involvement in the service learning component of the required capstone course, and 3) affective and analytical responses to concepts related to the four pillars.

Program Goals
To provide the opportunity for the student to contemplate, analyze, and discuss issues related to peace and conflict on all levels; to apply theory in academic disciplines such as literature, anthropology, environmental science and philosophy to the field of peace studies; to critically think about their role in the world and their possible contributions to a more peaceful world; to demonstrate theories related to both positive and negative peace; to gain an understanding of the role of human rights and other moral and ethical concepts.