Adar Cohen ’04, whose academic and professional life has been dedicated to the cause of nonviolent resolution of conflict worldwide, was one of 12 students nationwide selected to receive a 2006 George J. Mitchell Scholarship for graduate study in Ireland.

January 13, 2006

Wheaton College alumnus Adar Cohen '04, whose academic and professional life has been dedicated to the cause of nonviolent resolution of conflict worldwide, was one of 12 students nationwide selected to receive a 2006 George J. Mitchell Scholarship for one year of post-graduate study in Ireland. Cohen will enter the master of philosophy program in international peace studies at Trinity College in Dublin next fall.

''As the founder of a grassroots campaign that addressed poverty in Mexico's maquilladoras and the transnational economic policies that perpetuate such conditions, I have come to understand development issues as central--and potentially detrimental--to international security,'' Cohen wrote to the selection committee.

A native of Peterborough, New Hampshire, Cohen designed an independent major at Wheaton in conflict resolution, an approach to learning grounded in anthropology, political science, religion and history. His undergraduate work considered the complex dimensions of world peace and security; nonproliferation and disarmament; faith-based peace building; contemporary social justice campaigns; and international mediation.

Since graduation, he has worked with leading human rights organizations as a trainer and organizer. In summer 2005 he organized ''get out the vote'' efforts in Washington, D.C., minority communities with America Coming Together; at the same time, Cohen researched human right abuses at Guantanamo Bay and Iraq's Abu Graib prison with the Center for International Human Rights. Today he is a trainer with New York-based Fellowship of Reconciliation, teaching nonviolent conflict resolution in schools, congregations and other organizations.

He is also the recipient of a 2004 Watson Fellowship, a 2003 Truman Scholarship in public service, two Wheaton Fellowships, Phi Kappa and a Davis Fellowship, among other college honors. At Wheaton, he is also well known for founding the campus chapter of Backpack to Mexico, which collected school supplies for children in Mexican border communities, and as a member of the Dimple Divers improvisational troupe.