Dr. Michael Gross is a Visiting Research Scholar at AC4 this Fall 2016, coming from Colorado State University. Dr. Gross is the Editor-in-Chief for Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, the 2016 Past Division Chair, Conflict Management Division, Academy of Management, and the 2015 recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award for the College of Business…. read more

“You will feel pain. You will feel the pain of my people.” These words circulated my mind as I dressed, covering my neck, to my wrists, to my ankles. “Do not try to fit in and wear Karen clothes; you are not Karen.” I wore a plaid shirt, never having buttoned to the top, a… read more

It was a picture-perfect summer day when I went searching for answers about the dramatic transformation of my hometown that has taken place over the past twenty years. In front of me, a ribbon of highway traversed the hilly countryside of western Maryland. Above my head, cotton candy clouds glowed in an electric blue sky…. read more

When I lived in Mexico in 2013 and 2014, I knew even less than the little I now know about the country. As part of my education, I would often ask friends and colleagues about education systems in Mexico. From these conversations, I learned a bit about topics such as Zapatista schools and autonomous communities… read more

My Background in Peace and Conflict Education Conflict is no stranger to me or my heritage. My grandparents, devout followers of Catholicism, fled Northern Vietnam due to the fear of religious persecution. My parents were refugees from the Vietnam War—a war spanning nearly two decades—having lived through episodes of direct violence in their communities, their… read more

Arriving to ‘The Field’ For my project, I’m working as an intern in the Adolescent Development and Participation (ADAP) Section for UNICEF’s MENA regional office. The role is mainly focused on analysing the trends in youth social media engagement in the region, with an aim of understanding emerging digital technologies and how they can be… read more

I am no stranger to war. Many times, I consider myself a product of it. I was born in Liberia, a country where 14 years of violent civil war pushed my family to relocate to the United States. I later moved to Mozambique and Zimbabwe, where violent conflict took a different but equally devastating form… read more

After three weeks in Cairo, I have developed a quiet affection for this place. Maybe it’s being in one of the most ancient societies in the world that has left me a bit star-struck, or maybe it’s the fact that the city itself requires a certain amount of infatuation to avoid constant infuriation with dangerous… read more

On June 26th, 2016, Columbia’s Faculty House became home to the 29th Annual International Association of Conflict Management (IACM) Conference. Conflict resolution scholars and practitioners flew in from all over the world for four days of knowledge sharing. The Faculty House building turned into a beehive with several floors buzzing with presentations, roundtables, symposiums, and… read more

I love doing research because it gives me an excuse to get to know people in a way that I would never have known them otherwise. As a child, I used to dream of being able to meet every single person in the world, hearing their stories, understanding their dreams and struggles. I soon realized… read more