Peace Studies Minor

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Students minoring in Peace Studies design their programs of study in consultation with a rotating committee of PEAC advisors. The program is administered by the PEAC Committee which must approve all programs of study.

A student’s course of study must have a clearly stated focus and the courses selected must be justified in terms of that focus. Examples: procedures for international conflict management; alternative views on the causes of war and conditions of peace; the role of science and technology in war and peace; the history of peace movements; nonviolence in theory and practice; nonviolent communications; military history; the variety of potential world order systems; regional conflicts and their management; international law and organization; nuclear weapons and world security; international conflict and human rights; causes and resolutions of human conflict; relationships between inner and outer peace; international environmental policy; economic causes for conflict; international economic development; etc.

Required and Elective Courses

The minor consists of 18 semester hours. Many courses within existing university departmental curricula are potentially relevant to the minor, and it is the responsibility of the student to design a program (in consultation with PEAC faculty) based on his or her own interests and field of specialization prior to submission of the program to the PEAC Committee for approval. Six hours of the minor must be devoted to the two required courses: Introduction to Peace Studies (PEAC 200 ) and the interdisciplinary Senior Seminar (PEAC 487 ) or, in years the seminar is not offered, a senior thesis appropriate to the student’s area of specialization (PEAC 489 ). The thesis will be supervised by an interdisciplinary PEAC committee which may be chaired in the student’s major department. Courses taken for other majors or minors may not be counted with this minor.