In a time of global conflict, more and more Notre Dame students are opting to be a part of the peacebuilding process - especially when it comes to careers. In the past three years, the number of ND undergraduates who chose peace studies as either a minor or major has more than doubled -- from fewer than 100 students in the 2003-04 academic year to 216 in the 2006-07 academic year.
According to Jaleh Dashti-Gibson, director of academic programs at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Notre Dame is seeing growing numbers of students who report that they knew about the peace studies program before they enrolled, and that it's one of the reasons they chose the University.
What's more, ND's program attracts highly accomplished students. In fact, of the 64 peace studies undergraduates who graduated from Notre Dame last spring, 30 graduated with honors.
"Our students are very enthusiastic about their professors and classes," Dashti-Gibson said. "They tend to be very active at Notre Dame and throughout the community, so they spread the word about peace studies all year long."
Peace studies undergraduates organize their own peace conference every year, conduct research and are active in peacebuilding projects on campus and worldwide. But because peace studies is a supplementary major, its students also major in other fields ranging from political science to business, anthropology, biology, history and liberal studies.
