(left to write): Stephaney Patrick (PhD), Ashley Hayward (PhD), Adey Mohamed (PhD), Tara Sheppard-Luangkhot (PhD), Ngozi Okose (MA), Kimberly Cork (MA), Carl Heaman-Warne (PhD), Izzeddin Hawamda (PhD), Leonardo Rafael Luna Eslava (PhD). Not shown: Jennifer Dunsford (PhD IIS, PACS-Nursing).
Milestone Moment: PACS program celebrates 20 years with largest PhD graduating cohort
As the University of Manitoba’s Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) program in the Faculty of Graduate Studies approaches its 20th anniversary this January, it marks a major milestone: the largest PACS PhD graduating cohort in its history!
This spring, seven PACS doctoral and two master’s students received their degrees—bringing the total number of PACS PhD graduates to 63. Students graduating from the PACS PhD program include Izzeddin Hawamda, Ashley Hayward, Carl Heaman-Warne, Leonardo Rafael Luna Eslava, Adey Mohamed, Stephaney Patrick, and Tara Sheppard-Luangkhot. Also graduating this year is Jennifer Dunsford, who completed her PhD through the Individual Interdisciplinary Studies (IIS) program with her primary unit being PACS, and including Nursing. This years class also included Kimberly Cork (MA) and Ngozi Okose (MA) graduating from the Master’s program in Peace and Conflict Studies, offered jointly with the University of Winnipeg.
These graduates are part of a growing legacy. Since PACS launched in January 2006 as an initiative of the Arthur V. Mauro Institute for Peace & Justice at St. Paul’s College, its students and alumni have gone on to publish numerous books and articles, work in policy and governance, contribute to community-based peace building, and teaching in institutions around the world.
“The program in Peace and Conflict Studies has been made by the efforts of so many who believed in the importance of a program focusing on peace which includes leadership from UM and St. Paul’s College, the Winnipeg community, and the dedication of more than 75 UM faculty who have served on PhD committees, PACS staff, and PACS students,” said Dr. Jessica Senehi, Director of Peace and Conflict Studies. “Graduate Studies has created a valued space for interdisciplinary education and research.”
The program’s first director was Dr. Sean Byrne, who drafted the original proposal in collaboration with faculty across the university. He served as the inaugural PACS director and first director of what was then known as the Mauro Centre. Zana Lutfiyya and Adam Muller have also served as PACS directors.
Dr. Senehi also stated “For me, this graduating class is an outcome of some of the best values that UM, Manitoba, and Canada have to offer—working together and forming partnerships, often across differences, to make good things possible. PACS originated from the work of the Mauro Institute at St. Paul’s College, working closely with UM administration. The Board of Directors who championed PACS by developing a body of scholarships for PACS students was an interfaith group that came together across different cultural backgrounds and party affiliations to work toward a shared dream of a world characterized by peace and justice.”
In May 2011, Maureen Flaherty was the first PACS Phd graduate, receiving the university’s Distinguished Dissertation Award. That fall, she joined the PACS faculty, and now serves as a Senior Scholar. Her dissertation was published as a book, an achievement that resonated deeply with the late Dr. Arthur Mauro O.C., O.M, K.C., former UM Chancellor and founding donor for the Mauro Institute, who valued education as critical for a peaceful and just society. When asked what stood out in his work with the Institute, he said it was receiving Dr. Flaherty’s bound dissertation in the mail.
Three other PACS graduates Robert Christmas, Benjamin Maiangwa and Evelyn Namakula Mayanja have since received the UM distinguished dissertation award, adding to the program’s growing list of scholarly accomplishments.
“For over 20 years, this program has had a significant and lasting impact on both scholarship and the scholars who have been part of the program. I look forward to the accomplishments of the next 20 years” says Kelley Main, Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies where the PACS program is housed.
As PACS prepares to celebrate its 20th anniversary, its graduates continue to live out its mission around the world. In the words of alumna Mavis Matenge, a former Commonwealth Scholar now working in the Botswana government: “We’re all in this together.”