News

When Nina Bailey-Dick began at the University of Waterloo (1992-1999) she knew that it was community development that interested her, and since the university did not offer this as a program, she chose to purse a General Arts degree with a PACS option; taking courses that would prepare her for working in community development.

Stephen Kotev has dedicated his professional career to the practice and study of conflict resolution. His first exposure to conflict resolution began as a high school peer mediator over twenty years ago. From high school, Stephen attended Conrad Grebel, graduating with a History degree, with a PACS option and an International Studies option.

The Peace and Conflict Studies department is pleased to be offering a new PACS 301 Special Topics course called "Engineering and Peace." This course has been built around the idea that Peace and Conflict Studies has an important contribution to make to the practice of engineering, and that engineers have an important role to play in advancing peace.

Aly Ostrowski made her way to the Masters of Peace and Conflict Studies (MPACS) program at Conrad Grebel University College as a way to continue her passion for peace studies.

The Spring 2015 edition of Grebel Now, the newsletter for Conrad Grebel University College, was recently published. Included in this publication is an article by Rachel Reist, the Field Study and Internship Coordinator for PACS, on the lasting impact of international travel. The full article is below, and the Spring 2015 Grebel Now can be accessed online.

Rachel Urban-Shipley is a fourth year PACS student, with minors in Music and Psychology. She originally came to UW to study peace and conflict studies for her interest in mediation, but as she learned more about the field and other issues within PACS, her options and interests have also grown.

Jessica was drawn to the MPACS program because of its interdisciplinary nature and to further explore what she feels “is something of a calling, to look at peaceful solutions to significant problems”. She completed her undergraduate degree at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, and then came to Conrad Grebel for the MPACS program after working for a few years with a consulting firm.  

As she nears the end of the 16-month program, Jessica is able to reflect on her time here. Through the small classes and flexible program design, Jessica found that it was:

An opportunity to study what you really feel passionate about and research the things you really love.