Manchester College Peace Studies Institute & Program in Conflict Resolution

Peace studies explores the frontiers of nonviolent alternatives to conflict, whether in our personal lives or international relations. This interdivisional major and minor consist of courses drawn from a number of disciplines that relate to the analysis and transformation of conflict. Formal concentrations within the major are: interpersonal and intergroup conflict studies, religious and philosophical bases, and international and global studies. Students may also choose to design an individualized concentration within the major.

Established in 1948, the Peace Studies Institute and Program for Conflict Resolution at Manchester College pioneered as the first undergraduate Peace Studies program in the United States. The curriculum offers a major in Peace Studies as well as a minor.

The Peace Studies Institute sponsors public conferences and programs for the college and community on topics related to world peace and conflict resolution. Nonviolent Social Change, formerly known as the Bulletin of the Peace Studies Institute, publishes academic papers and news of the program. Recent issues have included award-winning student research papers, autobiographies of contemporary peacemakers, faculty and staff articles on peace and justice topics, and reports from our non-governmental representative to the United Nations.