From left: Paul Kyumin Lee, Elsa Barron, Nipunika Lecamwasam, Razan Bayan, Geleta Tesfaye Berisso
Five new students representing five different disciplines have arrived at the Kroc Institute this fall as part of its interdisciplinary doctoral program in peace studies. Incoming students were selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants from around the world. These students join the Institute’s 27 other doctoral students, for a total of 32 students in the 2024-25 academic year.
“The incoming cohort was selected from a record number of applications – more than 490,” said Caroline Hughes, Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., Chair in Peace Studies and director of doctoral studies, “with our new class of students having lived in Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Northern Ireland, Washington, D.C., and Texas, and with work experience with the United Nations, D.C. think tanks and advocacy organizations, faith-based youth organizations, and reconciliation programs.“
“They have a similarly global range of interests: the North Korean diaspora in the United States; religiously inspired social movements' efforts to promote climate justice; the erasure of memories of Abu Ghraib among American teenagers; civil-military relations in post-conflict Sri Lanka; and in religious organizations' approach to faith and national identity in the context of the Ethiopian civil war,” said Hughes.
The doctoral program is a partnership between the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, part of the Keough School of Global Affairs, and the University of Notre Dame’s College of Arts and Letters departments of anthropology, history, political science, psychology, sociology, and theology.
This year’s incoming students include:
Nipunika Lecamwasam (peace studies and anthropology) holds a B.A. in international relations from the University of Colombo, an M.A. in political science from the Central European University, and an M.A.S. in Transitional Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law from the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. She has more than a decade of experience with intergovernmental organizations, research institutes, and universities in South Asia and Europe, with a focus on ethnic conflict, transitional justice, and democratic transitions. Lecamwasam’s research interests broadly revolve around post-war resettlement, everyday violence, and sustainable peacebuilding.
Razan Bayan (peace studies and history) holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees, in human rights and history, from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with minors in Arabic, African/Middle Eastern Studies, and Mathematics. Bayan’s culminating project as part of the University Honors Program at SMU was a study on the collective amnesia in Muslim American youth regarding the Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib detention centers. Bayan’s research interests include the War on Terror and securitization; U.S. militarism and imperialism; state violence against Muslims; colonial history and postcolonialism; and Islamophobia studies. At Notre Dame, Bayan plans to study the history of U.S. government-inflicted violence against Muslims during the War on Terror and the reactions of the general public to its revelation.
Elsa Barron (peace studies and political science) is an environmental peacebuilding and climate justice researcher, writer, poet, and activist. Through her research, she is interested in understanding political processes of truth and reconciliation and the political influence of liberation theology movements. She is exploring opportunities to apply these concepts and processes to international climate diplomacy and climate justice movements. Barron collaborates on related topics as a program associate with the Institute for Climate and Peace, a climate justice organization based in Hawai’i. Her faith and climate advocacy has been featured in the CBS News, Rolling Stone, and the Christian Science Monitor, among others. She has attended COP26, 27, and 28 through the Christian Climate Observers Program, and she is now one of three co-directors of that initiative, which is a partnership of 12 faith-based environmental NGOs. Barron is a Richard and Peggy Notebaert Premier Fellow. She holds a Bachelor of Science in biology with a supplementary major in peace studies and a minor in sustainability from the University of Notre Dame.
Paul Kyumin Lee (peace studies and sociology) is interested in bridging research and peacebuilding practice around facilitating healing and reconciliation from the intergenerational trauma of conflict through collective remembering and dialogue. Since 2016, Lee has led Divided Families USA, an organization dedicated to facilitating closure for elderly Korean Americans who have been separated from their family members in North Korea as a result of the Korean War, and is the co-founder and co-host of the Divided Families Podcast, a platform for connecting stories of family separation. Lee earned an M.Phil in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation at Trinity College Dublin's Irish School of Ecumenics in Belfast, Northern Ireland through the support of the U.S.-UK Fulbright Commission and graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s in political science. Lee is a Notre Dame Presidential Fellow.
Geleta Tesfaye Berisso (peace studies and theology) has been heading the youth division of one of the largest Ethiopian churches, teaching theology, and coordinating national dialogue facilitation projects in the wake of Ethiopia’s 2020 – 2022 Civil War. He received a Bachelor of Theology from Pentecostal Theological College, Addis Ababa, and Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies, with a concentration in systematic theology from the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology. He also holds an M.A. in peace and security studies from Addis Ababa University. Berisso is interested in examining the contemporary political, cultural, and religious narratives shaping the perpetuation of destructive beliefs and actions in Ethiopia, and theological rationalizations that back these narratives within the two largest Ethiopian denominations, i.e., the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahido Church and churches under the Ethiopian Council of Gospel Believers' Churches. He seeks to examine how theological principles of the image of God, humanity, and the state challenge these rationalizations, and help reconceive the state, society, church and social justice in Ethiopia. Berisso is a Notre Dame Presidential Fellow.
Read full bios of all peace studies doctoral students.
In addition to welcoming new students, four current Ph.D. students have been awarded named fellowships funded by the Kroc Institute Advisory Board members at the beginning of the 2024-25 academic year:
Will O’Brien (peace studies and history) and Raege Omar (peace studies and political science) have been named 2024-25 Mullen Family Fellows. The Mullen Family Fellowships were created in 2008 thanks to the generosity of the family of Jack Mullen (B.S. ‘53), chair of the Kroc Institute’s Advisory Council from 2003-2016. His daughter, Paddy Mullen (B.A. ‘80) serves as the current chair of the Kroc Institute Advisory Board.
Julie Hawke (peace studies and sociology) is the 2024-25 Darby Fellow. The Darby Fellowship was established in 2010 in memory of John Darby, professor of comparative ethnic studies at Notre Dame from 1999 until his death in 2012. The award is given annually to students who exemplify his commitment to rigorous, normatively-informed scholarship on peacebuilding and conflict resolution.
Amaryst Parks-King (peace studies and sociology) has been named this year’s Steven D. Pepe Ph.D. Fellow in Peace Studies. The Pepe Fellowship is the result of a generous gift from The Honorable Steven D. Pepe (B.A. ‘65), a retired U.S. Magistrate Judge (Michigan) and member of the Kroc Institute’s Advisory Board. Pepe’s gift provides ongoing support for doctoral students in peace studies who have distinguished themselves in research, teaching, or service.
Established in 2008, the Kroc Institute offers the world’s only fully-joint Ph.D. program between peace studies and one of six traditional disciplines. Beginning with the 2024-25 academic year, the Kroc Institute will offer a doctoral program in International Peace Studies geared toward prospective students who already hold a master’s degree in peace studies or a closely related field. Peace studies doctoral graduates from either discipline program are prepared for a wide range of scholarly, teaching, and professional positions.
Applications for the 2025-26 academic year are due by December 1, 2024. Learn more.
Contact: Kathryn Sawyer Vidrine, krocphd@nd.edu