Patrick Mason has been named coordinator of the Program in Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding (PRCP). Mason earned his doctorate in history in 2005 from the University of Notre Dame, with a dissertation exploring violence against Jews, African-American Protestants, Latter-day Saints, and Catholics in the late 19th-century southern United States. His research and teaching specialties include religion, race, and violence in U.S. history, and comparative religious violence and peacebuilding. He is a graduate of Brigham Young University (1999) and the Kroc Institute’s M.A. in Peace Studies Program (’03).
     Mason replaces another Kroc Institute alumnus, Rashied Omar (M.A. ’01). Omar will remain at Notre Dame as research scholar of Islamic studies and peacebuilding. He will teach Islamic ethics, among other subjects. A native of South Africa and former imam of a Cape Town mosque, Omar received a doctorate in religious studies from the University of Cape Town in 2005.
     PRCP is an interdisciplinary, inter-religious program that explores the complex roles of diverse religious traditions in contemporary conflicts. It
is entering its sixth year of activities, which include hosting Rockefeller Visiting Fellows.