PEACE STUDIES Spring 2025 Undergraduate Studies Newsletter

MIZZOU PEACE STUDIES

Spring 2025 Undergraduate Studies Newsletter

Peace Studies Spring 2025 Courses and Course Updates

New Peace Studies Instructions for Independent Study Courses and Capstones
Core course requirements are in bold (*Indicates graduate course).

PEA_ST 1050 (WI)- Introduction to Peace Studies M/W/F 12-12:50PM Tate Hall 102 Fett/Brown

PEA_ST 3280 – Internship in Peace Studies TBA Dunkley

PEA_ST 3330 - Environmental Justice T/Th 11:00AM-12:15PM A&S Bldg 234 Scott

PEA_ST 1051 - International Conflict Resolution and Group Reconciliation T/Th 9:30AM-10:45AM Hill Hall 309 Abousalem

PEA_ST 2150W - Amish Community (WI) T/Th 9:30AM – 10:45AM Middlebush Hall 212 Brock

PEA_ST 2286 (W) – Technological Futures, National Security, and Civil Liberties, Internet Lo

PEA_ST 2293 – Globalization, Identity and Citizenship T/Th 9:30AM-10:45AM Townsend Hall Decker

PEA_ST 2310 - Brazilian Civilization T/Th 2:00PM-3:15PM Strickland Hall 217 Draper

PEA_ST 2550 – Human Rights, Law, War and Peace, Internet Lo

PEA_ST 3350 - Readings in Peace Studies, Arranged

PEA_ST 3510HW - Think Global: Fundamentals of Globalization and Digital Technologies (Honors) (WI) Th-3:30PM-4:45PM Internet Fischer/Butler/Topouria

PEA_ST 4005 - Topics in Peace Studies: Humanities, Fischer

PEA_ST 4005 - Topics in Peace Studies: Humanities, Kopp

PEA_ST 4230 - Women, Development and Globalization MWF 10:00AM-10:50AM Gentry Hall 325 Fett

PEA_ST 4810 - Case Studies in an Inter/Multicultural World, Fischer

PEA_ST 4970 - Senior Thesis, Arranged

Breaking News

The John Galliher Postdoctoral Fellowship in Peace Studies and Black Studies

The Peace Studies Program and the Department of Black Studies are seeking applications for a 9-month postdoctoral teaching fellowship in Peace Studies and Black Studies, beginning August 15, 2025. Find out more.

Black Studies and Peace Studies Spring 2025 Fair

Affiliated faculty and students are welcome to join us on Monday March 3rd 1:30-2:15 PM in the MU Student Center 2006 B&C. Free lunch provided!

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2025 Scholarship Winners

Lucy Banion (Recipient of the Helen M. Mehr Scholarship and the Peace Studies Enhancement Scholarship)

I am a current junior at the University of Missouri, pursuing an Interdisciplinary BA with an emphasis in Peace Studies, and a minor in History. I plan to attend Mizzou Law school and work as a Human Rights Lawyer, bridging the gap between the legal system and the people that it takes advantage of. I previously attended Webster University for two years where I studied International Human Rights. I chose Peace Studies for my new major, as I assumed it to be similar to my Human Rights courses. However, what I found was a degree program that perfectly allowed me to combine every aspect of my education, experiences, and interests. Under a Peace Studies lens, the validity of Human Rights Law is often questioned, and rightfully so. Institutions are not always the best peacebuilders, and when it comes to the enforcement of international law, they rarely build any lasting peace. In my first semester at Mizzou, Peace Studies has allowed me to critically think about my own passions, and critique my own beliefs. There is a unique relationship between the concepts of human rights and peace studies, and it is one I want to continue to focus my research on.

I have been passionate about studying peace for far longer than I knew it was its own discipline. Injustices in the prison system developed my convictions and the ignorance of environmental issues raised my internal temperatures. One of the most impactful experiences I have had in studying peace, was working with ARISE Adelante at the Texas-Mexico border. I participated in their “Border Witness Program” with the Legal Studies department at Webster, where we heard personal stories of community members, volunteered at a local respite center, and assisted with immigration law education for residents seeking paths to citizenship. It is local groups like ARISE that are facilitating the real peacebuilding on site.

I am a current member of the Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity and the Deaton Scholars program, through which I have been afforded the opportunity to delve into the gaps in environmental sustainability at Mizzou. The project developed through this program will be further implemented this semester, and I am excited to see where it will go. Additionally, it has been a goal of mine since arriving to revive the Amnesty International chapter on campus, something I was actively involved with at my previous University. I believe a revived chapter would introduce like-minded students of the Peace Studies discipline, increase awareness of global events, and be the driving force that connects on-campus activist groups, individual students, and community organizations This scholarship money will allow me to focus my time and efforts on projects like these- building peace where I can and broadening my horizons. I have just begun to know all that University of Missouri has to offer, and look forward to pursuing Peace Studies as I complete a degree about which I am wholeheartedly passionate.

Anna Coletto (Recipient of the Charles L. Atkins Peace Studies Scholarship)

Anna Colletto is a senior majoring in Journalism and Political Science with a minor in Peace Studies at the University of Missouri. While it was journalism that brought Colletto to the university, the Peace Studies program has come to feel like Colletto’s intellectual home at MU. Taking ‘Race and the American Story’ with Political Science Professor, Dr. Jennie Ikuta, as a freshman at MU opened Colletto’s eyes to the possibility of studying race, gender, colonialism, and globalization formally in undergrad. So, she declared her second degree in Political Science, later diving deeper into human rights, dissent and protest, intersectional politics and peacebuilding. Searching for more opportunities to study these topics, Colletto found the Peace Studies department — and it was exactly what she was looking for.

The is pict sues of equity, identity, and the impacts of structural violence color a great deal of Colletto’s work as a journalist. Currently, she is working as an Assistant City Editor at the Columbia Missourian, an anchor at KBIA, and investigative researcher with the Watchdog Writers Group. In her reporting, she’s covered transgender healthcare and rights, American protests around Israel and Palestine, queer art, faith and politics, and homelessness. In her role as a Watchdog Writers Group researcher, she is assisting writer Caleb Gayle with historical, property and socioeconomic research for two book projects on Black Western expansion and creation of the racial wealth gap in South Carolina. She’s also worked as an intern for professional newsrooms in Minnesota, Texas, and Cincinnati, and served as the editor-in-chief of MU’s student paper, The Maneater.

The Charles L. Atkins Peace Studies Scholarship is granting Colletto the flexibility financially to finish out her minor in the department, alongside her other two degrees. Colletto hopes to work as a reporter after graduating in May, reporting on education, health, religion and/or politics. The theories, writings, and concepts she’s learned in Peace Studies inform and shape these professional interests. Eventually, she hopes to report on issues related to peacebuilding, at home and abroad, with a keen focus on structural inequities and the impact of policy.

Annual Student Scholarship Opportunities

Students can apply for only one scholarship each year and cannot receive the same scholarship more than once:

John Galliher Peace Studies Scholarship ($2,000)
Charles L. Atkins Peace Studies Scholarship ($1,000)
Justin C. Huang Peace Studies Scholarship ($1,500)
Peace Studies Enhancement Scholarship ($1,500)
Helen M. Mehr Peace Studies Scholarship ($1,500)
Discover more about our scholarships!

Peace Studies Speakers’ Series, Spring 2025

Dr. Michael Loedenthal is offering a “Digital Self-defense Training” (Friday, April 4, 2025, 1:15-2:45 PM, MU Student Center Rooms 2006 B&C) “Through utilizing the methodology of Threat Modeling, attendees will be challenged to identify, map, and rank threats, risks, and dangers faced by contemporary organizers, academics, and activists. We will review both preventative digital hygiene practices and operational security basics, including virtual private networks, encryption, identity separation, and secure storage.” This training will be particularly useful for academics, activists, and anyone with any kind of web presence. **Open to the public, Free lunch!**
Please join us for the Peace Studies Spring 2025 Reception prior to the lecture below (Open to the public, Friday, April 4, 4:45-5:30 PM (Location TBA)
“The War of the Flea: White Nationalism and Far-Right Accelerationism in the Modern US” lecture by Dr. Michael Loadenthal, Assistant Research Professor, Center for Cyber Strategy & Policy, University of Cincinnati (Friday, April 4, 2025, 5:30-6:30 PM (Location TBA)

Mark your calendars for the Peace Studies Speakers’ Series, Fall 2025

“Religion and Peace: Confronting Warrior-Pacifist Contradictions” by Dr. Lester Kurtz, Professor of Sociology, George Mason University, August 29, 2025, 5:30-6:30 PM
“How Student-Led Peace Movements Have Altered U.S. Foreign Policy and Ended Wars” by Dr. Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and Director of Middle Eastern Studies, University of San Francisco, September 25, 2025, 5:30-6:30 PM
“Embracing the Challenges of Intersectional Mobilizing to Foster Community On and Off Campus” by Dr. Dave Reilly, Chair of Political Science Department and Co-Director of the Vincentian Center for Justice, Niagara University, October 23, 2025, 5:30-6:30 PM
“Religion AND Peace, Religion AND Conflict: Contending with Misperception of the Role of Religion in the Discipline of Peace and Conflict” by Dr. Jeremy A. Rinker, Department of Peace & Conflict Studies, University of North Carolina Greensboro, November 21, 2025, 5:30-6:30 PM

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