Members of the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies family – alumni, staff, faculty, graduate students, and visiting and faculty fellows – made their presence felt at the 2023 International Studies Association Conference, which took place March 15-18 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
More than 40 Kroc Institute-affiliated conference-goers participated in sessions throughout the four-day event. Josefina Echavarria Alvarez, director of the Peace Accords Matrix, part of the Kroc Institute, chaired a panel on March 16. “Navigating the Micro-dynamics of Intergroup Cooperation and Contention in Post-Accord Societies” featured six panelists from around the globe, including Roddy Brett from the University of Bristol and a visiting fellow at the Kroc Institute this year.
Panelists including, from left, Roddy Brett and Josefina Echavarría Alvarez
The panel, “Critical Feminist Approaches to Peace and Conflict Studies: Principles, Practises, and Dilemmas,” was chaired by Kroc alumna Catia Confortini (M.A. ‘96) of Wellesley College and former visiting fellow Lisa McLean, of King’s University College, Ontario, and included two alumni as panelists, Karie Cross Riddle (Ph.D. ‘17) of Pepperdine University and Maria Lucia Zapata (M.A. ‘07) of Javeriana University, Colombia.
Each year at the ISA, the Kroc Institute hosts a reception for conference attendees organized in great part by Anne Hayner, associate director for the Institute’s Alumni Relations. Hayner has been part of the Kroc Institute since close to its beginning 35 years ago. Over time she’s developed a rich database of Kroc Institute graduates with whom she keeps in regular contact. For Hayner, the annual ISA reception is a reunion of sorts, enabling her to welcome alumni and catch up on their lives, laugh and reminisce. This year’s Kroc Institute reception attracted approximately 130 attendees from at least a dozen countries.
“It’s a delight to see the faces of so many of our graduates and former fellows who have gone on to do path breaking work around the globe since leaving the Kroc Institute,” said Hayner. “The annual ISA conference is a wonderful way to stay connected and celebrate the impact of the Kroc Institute on peace education and peacebuilding over the past 35 years.”
