SDSU Summer Institute Offers a Course in Peace

for Future World Leaders

Students from around the world to study leadership and conflict resolution at SDSU starting July 2

SAN DIEGO (Tuesday, June 26, 2007)-- Constant fear of Serbian snipers drove Goran Dedovic and his family to flee his native Bosnia. Socheat Nhean counseled the victims and perpetrators of the Cambodian genocide to help reconcile their deep-seated hostilities. Sophary Nory coordinated 200 volunteers to help Cambodian villagers rebuild their lives and communities after the Khmer Rouge government was overthrown. Aristomenis Papaonisifrou of Greek descent and Nadir Ozyukselen of Turkish descent belong to opposing communities in the battle over Cyprus.

These international students, along with 17 others, will gather to study leadership and conflict resolution at San Diego State University for three weeks this summer starting July 2.

Watch news coverage about the SDSU Hansen Summer Institute

They come from the world's developing nations, countries which are currently at risk for conflict including Kazakhstan, India, Morocco, China, Romania, Moldova, and Nepal, as well as Bosnia, Cambodia, the Congo and Cyprus, where violence is a recent and painful occurrence.

“We are bringing together a group of students from diverse backgrounds, but with one critical thing in common: they want to help their country overcome its current political, social or violent conflict,” said Ron Bee, managing director of the institute.  “This program will provide the tools for these students to go back to their homes and build a more peaceful future.”

The 22 students will be the first group to participate in SDSU’s Hansen Summer Institute on Leadership and International Cooperation.  None of them have ever been to the United States.

The first-of-its-kind international program is designed to provide a unique university-based leadership experience and program in international cooperation.  Funding for the program came from a $1.7 million donation from the Fred J. Hansen Foundation. 

Hansen Summer Institute students meet with San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders.

Participants were selected in an application process and were required to demonstrate their potential for community or international leadership through extra-curricular activities in their country.   In addition to the international students, nine SDSU students majoring in International Security and Conflict Resolution or political science and one University of San Diego student who studies with the Kroc Institute for World Peace and Justice will also participate in the institute.
                                              
The program will focus primarily on creating an international community of young scholars who will use their summer experience to form lasting friendships and common practical understandings for a more peaceful future.   A variety of topics will be discussed including: “Image of the Enemy – From Identity to Violence” presented by Dipak Gupta, SDSU’s Fred J. Hansen Professor of Peace Studies; and “Understanding Immigration and Border Issues” presented by Rudolfo Jacobo, SDSU professor of Chicano/Chicana Studies.

“The lessons will demonstrate to students that the process by which we all create enemies of our neighbors follows a well-worn path, with almost identical use of vocabulary, analogies, and images,” Bee said.  “We want these international participants to have a chance to generate deep personal insights regarding how their societies became involved in their current cycles of conflict, which are repeated for generations to come, and then explore how these cycles can be broken.”

The students will also visit the Mexico-San Diego border with SDSU professor and border expert Paul Ganster, and will meet with San Diego dignitaries when they visit San Diego City Hall.

Hansen Summer Institute participants visit Petco Park to cheer on the San Diego Padres.

In addition, the program will include broad-ranging cultural experiences including a Fourth of July celebration in Coronado, a San Diego Padres game and visits to the San Diego Maritime Museum and the U.S.S. Midway.

The all-expenses-paid program provides travel, room and board and all activities, both on and off campus for both the international and local students.

The current grant from the Fred J. Hansen Foundation will fund the program for five years, and the program’s creators hope to expand the program, allowing more students to participate and eventually establishing a partnership with a university in Washington, D.C. to make the program bi-coastal.

The SDSU Research Foundation received the first grant from the Fred J. Hansen Trust in 1979 and formed the Fred J. Hansen Institute for World Peace. Since then, the Hansen Institute has received annual grants, including a one-time grant in 1997 to establish the Fred J. Hansen Chair for Peace Studies at SDSU.

Hansen came to the United States from Denmark at the age of ten. Eventually he settled in the San Diego area and was among those who developed the first major avocado orchards in the region. Foreign travel convinced Hansen that adversarial nations could settle their differences if encouraged to work together on projects of mutual benefit. He designated a portion of his estate to support this conviction.

SDSU Research Foundation was incorporated in 1943 as an auxiliary organization authorized by the Education Code of the State of California. A non-profit corporation, the SDSU Research Foundation is self-financed and chartered specifically to provide or augment essential services that are an integral part of the educational program of SDSU.

San Diego State University is the oldest and largest higher education institution in the San Diego region. Since it was founded in 1897, the university has grown to offer bachelors degrees in 81 areas, masters degrees in 73 areas and doctorates in 16 areas. SDSUs more than 34,000 students participate in an academic curriculum distinguished by direct contact with faculty and an increasing international emphasis that prepares them for a global future. For more information, visit www.sdsu.edu.

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