Peace and Conflict Studies Program

The Peace and Conflict Studies (PCON) program at Colgate University draws upon the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences to address some of the most challenging issues in the world today.

Courses in PCON grapple with an array of topics, from the historical legacies of war and genocide to today's most pressing questions of forced displacement, illicit trafficking, terrorism, militarization, great power competition, and how rapid technological and environmental change is altering the global landscape of war and peace. Faculty in the PCON program have research experience in active warzones, post-conflict spaces, and highly contested historical archives.

From a global perspective, the PCON curriculum gives students a range of opportunities to explore the complex causes and impacts of violence, the challenges of human security, and the possibilities for promoting and advancing human rights.

Students seeking a PCON major or minor benefit from exposure to:

I feel like I now have an array of academic tools to address and talk about what is happening in our world today.
Jake Gomez ’21, Winner of the 1819 Award
Colgate students attend a session of International Institutions class
Course Offerings

Learn about both required and elective courses available to students majoring or minoring in peace and conflict studies.

Students visit Belgium and lay a memorial wreath at the site of Great War–era battlefields on the Western Front.
Off-Campus Study

Peace and conflict studies encourages student participation in several off-campus and study-abroad opportunities.

Professor Peter Balakian discusses a poetry reading with Colgate students
Faculty and Staff

Meet the faculty and staff of the Peace and Conflict Studies Program, and learn about their ongoing research and scholarship.