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SDSU Summer Institute Offers Course in Peace for Future World Leaders Students from Africa, Pakistan, China to study leadership and conflict resolution SAN DIEGO (Monday, June 30, 2008) — In the aftermath of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination last December, Pakistani student Anam Khan and her family were marooned in their homes while others set fires in the streets, looted banks and killed at whim. The vividness of her experience underscores her country’s deep divides. For Khan, conflict and intolerance are widely associated with her country’s name but she is committed to one day seeing Pakistan as peaceful and thriving. Kahn and 19 other international students are participating in San Diego State University’s second annual Hansen Summer Institute on Leadership and International Cooperation. From June 30 to July these students will learn conflict resolution skills they can take back to their country to being to help heal the deep seeded problems.
The students, who are all between the ages of 19 and 25, come from the world’s developing nations and countries which are experiencing conflict or are at risk for conflict including Kenya, Congo, Morocco, China, Bosnia and Pakistan. “For these students, violence and civil unrest is a sometimes daily occurrence,” said Ron Bee, managing director of the institute and SDSU professor of political science. “This program provides the skills these students need to go back to their homes and help build a more peaceful future.” For all of the international students, it will be their first visit to the U.S. For the 10 SDSU and University of San Diego students participating, they will get first-hand accounts of the dramatic conflicts taking place around the world and what it is like to be in the heart of it. 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 in 2006. “We have students coming from opposite sides of current conflicts who will be living and learning together for nearly a month,” Bee said. “Just the opportunity for these students to interact in a neutral environment will be of great benefit to them.” 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: “Who Would I Be Without My Country?” presented by Barbara Filner, director of the Training Institute of the National Conflict Resolution Center; sessions in negotiation with mediator Lisa Maxwell and in leadership and presentation skills with international motivational speaker Jenni Prisk. Participants were selected from a pool of 155 applicants; triple that of last year’s pool. Each student demonstrated their potential for community or international leadership through their involvement in extra-curricular activities such as relief work in their country or internships with organizations supporting peace. Several students are also journalists in their countries. Aside from the academic curriculum, students will visit the Mexico-San Diego border to learn about our how our local border functions; meet with San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders; and visit Junior Achievement to learn about business and entrepreneurship. 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. (See editors note below.) 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 through 2011. 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. SDSU received its 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. ### Contact: |
