About

About Kent State University School of Peace and Conflict Studies

Kent State University's School of Peace and Conflict Studies (SPCS) evolved from what was originally known as the Center for Peaceful Change. The Center for Peaceful Change was founded in 1971 as Kent State University's original "living memorial" to the students killed on May 4, 1970 when Ohio National Guardsmen killed four and injured nine Kent State University students during a student protest against the United States' war in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

Following the shootings, a university-wide commission was charged with recommending long-range institutional responses. The commission's consensus recommendation was that KSU should establish a living memorial in the form of a Center to research, teach and promote peaceful mechanisms of social and political change. Thus the Center for Peaceful Change (CPC) was established in 1971. It was later renamed the Center for Applied Conflict Management (CACM) in 1994, becoming part of the Department of Political Science at that time. In August 2017, CACM transformed into the School of Peace and Conflict Studies within the College of Arts and Sciences.

The School of Peace and Conflict Studies currently offers an undergraduate major and minor in Peace and Conflict Studies. It also offers a Conflict Analysis and Management Track within the Political Science PhD program and is launching a Masters’ program in Peace and Conflict Studies with foci in Applied Conflict Transformation and Peace, Conflict, and Development.