Master of Global Affairs, International Peace Studies Concentration

Building on the strength of the Kroc Institute's long-standing Master’s in International Peace Studies Program, the Master of Global Affairs (MGA) program at the Keough School welcomed its sixth cohort of students during the 2022–23 academic year. Of this cohort, 15 students chose to pursue a concentration in International Peace Studies (IPS). The IPS concentration, administered by the Kroc Institute, attracts scholar-practitioners with wide-ranging interests and work experience related to peace, justice, conflict transformation, and human rights. This cohort’s students, in the IPS concentration, represented 13 countries:

• Eskandar Ataallah, Syria

• Matthew Bocanumenth, United States/Colombia

• Halkano Boru, Kenya

• Noha Elsebaie, Egypt

• Rawand Faeq, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

• Adeela Firdous, Indian Administered Kashmir

• Ciera Griffin, United States

• Nasiba Hamidy, Afghanistan

• Aung Myo Hein, Myanmar

• Fatima Faisal Khan, Pakistan

• Aleithia Low, Singapore

• Tes Osborne, United Kingdom

• Zakira Rasooli, Afghanistan

• Asma Rassem, Yemen

• Angela Ghana Seidu, Ghana

In December 2022, the program celebrated the graduation of seven Kroc Scholars, whose studies had been disrupted by the pandemic:

Anna Romandash, Ukraine

Sarah Nanjala, Kenya

Susan Nchubiri, Kenya

Rayangnewende Jean Marc Tiendrebeogo, Burkina Faso

Juan Mosquera Sepúlveda, Colombia

Sophia Garcia, Philippines

Tinaishe Maramba, Zimbabwe

In May 2023, the Kroc Institute celebrated the graduation of an additional 17 Kroc Scholars from the MGA IPS program, representing 11 countries:

Haleemah Ahmad, Nigeria

Elizabeth Boyle, United States

Catherine Bruno, United States

Euda Fils, United States

Muhammad Shahzad Hussain, Pakistan

Emma Jackson, United States

Catherine Jassey, The Gambia

Eunhye Lee, South Korea

Saadat Musabaeva, Kyrgyzstan

Mongalla Joseph John Ngbabare, South Sudan

Musu Bakoto Sawo, The Gambia

Melvin Sharty, Sierra Leone

Alberto Solís Castro, Mexico

Emily Tatum, United States

Audrey Thill, United States

Safiatou Touray, United Kingdom

Clevyra Wang, Indonesia

Six-Month Field Experience

Each year, students have worked with Susan St. Ville, the outgoing director of the International Peace Studies concentration, and Assistant Director Jennifer Betz to determine placement opportunities with organizations whose focus matches their research and peacebuilding interests. Students also drew on support from Kroc Institute faculty member Anne Hayner, associate director for alumni relations, who supports the Kroc Institute’s global alumni network of more than 1,900 peacebuilders.

“A hallmark of the International Peace Studies concentration curriculum is the six-month immersive field internship experience,” said Betz. “This extended time in the field gives students the opportunity to think in new ways about the theories they’ve learned in the classroom, and to consider the challenges raised by practical situations they encounter on the ground. We emphasize reflective practice at the Kroc Institute; these internships give students the opportunity to grow under the mentorship of incredibly talented peacebuilding professionals, while also refining their own future direction,” she said.

The IPS cohort of 2022-23 has confirmed internships for the fall 2023 semester with a variety of organizations around the world:

• Catholic Relief Services Headquarters (Baltimore)

• Dunna (Bogotá, Colombia)

• Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa (Nairobi, Kenya)

• International Crisis Group (Nairobi, Kenya)

• Nationalities Service Center (Philadelphia)

• Outright International (New York City)

• SaferWorld (Washington, DC)

• Search for Common Ground Headquarters (Washington, DC)

• The Embodiment Project (Oakland, CA)

• UNISHKA (Juneau, AK)

• United Nations System (various locations)

• United States Institute for Peace (Washington, DC)

• Wikimedia Foundation – Human Rights Team (San Francisco)

MGA Student Highlights

Awards:

The past year was one of celebration, with several award winners to honor. The Hesburgh Global Fellowship is a two-year award that provides funding for a graduate of the MGA program who pursues work related to peace, justice, development, or other related fields. Funding subsidizes entry-level employment, commensurate with experience, with partnering organizations and agencies.

Sarah Nanjala (MGA IPS, December 2022) was awarded this fellowship for 2022, to work with United Nations Women in Geneva, Switzerland as an intergovernmental support and liaison intern. Haleemah Ahmad (MGA IPS, ‘23) won the 2023 fellowship in May and is serving as the Senior Technical Advisor for Da’wah Institute in Nigeria, for the organization’s Peacebuilding and Justice Program.

Anna Romandash (MGA IPS, December 2022), was honored with the inaugural Howard S. Brembeck Fellowship. The newly established one-year award for MGA graduates enables aspiring scholars to develop practical skills in the field of international peace and security. Romandash is working with Notre Dame Professor Emeritus David Cortright to promote the New Paradigm Project. The effort uses the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War to assess the costs of that conflict and consider more humane and effective approaches to security and development as part of a new paradigm for U.S. foreign policy.

The Kroc Cast:

An episode of The Kroc Cast featured three current Keough School of Global Affairs students who participated in the course, “Racial Justice In America,” offered through the Center for Social Concerns. The conversation was hosted by Euda Fils (MGA IPS, '23), with guests Bernice Antoine (B.A. '26) and Aidé Cuenca Narvaéz (MGA '23).

The course's curriculum centered around Clint Smith's book, How the Word Is Passed, focused on Smith’s visit "to eight places in the United States as well as one abroad, to understand how each reckons with its relationship to the history of American slavery.” Over spring break, students were offered the opportunity to visit some of the same sites Smith had visited, as well as additional sites in the U.S., pivotal to both the history of slavery and the struggle for civil rights.