Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution Concentration

While peacemaking is needed on a global scale, peace is also needed in our daily lives. Peace is not merely the absence of violence, but the restoration of how the world is meant to flourish. This concentration will prepare you with practical, hands-on methods to resolve conflict while delving into a deeper understanding of the needs and fears of others, equipping you to compassionately help people with great differences move forward to reconciliation.

Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution is offered as a concentration within both the political science and international affairs majors.

Why study peace, security and conflict resolution at Gordon?

While many in the peacemaking field are nonreligious or universalists, at Gordon we believe peacemaking to be central to the Christian calling. Indeed, according to Matthew 5:9, we are to pursue peace because we worship the Prince of Peace. Through the context of Christian liberal arts and faculty with expert knowledge and experience in conflict resolution, you’ll learn to make peace with yourself and God so you can pass on that peace to others, being God’s hands and feet for restoration and redemption.

What careers can I pursue by studying peace, security and conflict resolution?

This concentration will prepare you for the work of peacemaking in a variety of fields, including diplomatic, educational, nonprofit, corporate and more:

• Professional mediator
• Social worker
• Government agent
• Refugee resettlement officer
• United Nations agent
• Human resources manager

Learn more about jobs and internships ➔

Go the extra mile!

Peace, security and conflict resolution students are engaged in several on-campus groups, such as the Dialogue Club, which helps students engage in healthy discussions and learn to mediate conflict. You can practice your skills volunteering at a community partner like the New American Center, an afterschool program for refugee students, through Gordon’s Community Engagement Office. Gordon also offers an internship class in “Politics, International Affairs and Vocation” and has connections to places like the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, as well as law firms on the North Shore and in Boston.

Global Opportunities

Most peace, security and conflict resolution studies students study abroad in Zagreb, Croatia, in the Balkans Semester for the Study of War and Peace—a program that fits extraordinarily for this concentration. Gordon also partners with a sister school in Washington, D.C. for an off-campus semester program on Capitol Hill.