Press Releases

GRANVILLE—Two Denison University students have been jointly awarded a $10,000 grant from Davis Projects for Peace.

The winning proposal by Ian Darrow ’10 and Kara Lemarie ’11 is called “Ten Years of Recovery: Healing Processes in Post-Conflict Ireland.” For eight weeks this summer, Darrow and Lemarie will be “student journalists” in Northern Ireland. They will conduct a study of Irish culture with a specific focus on life in Northern Ireland since the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which was a major development in that country’s peace process.

Darrow and Lemarie will concentrate their inquiries in Belfast. They’ll gather accounts from a wide range of people, including Loyalist and Republican activists, Irish police officers, civilians who suffered the loss of a family member due to the conflict, ordinary citizens, and youth. They’ll solicit detailed accounts of the 10 years since the peace treaty was signed, focusing on the current relations between Irish political and religious groups.

The students plan to synthesize their research into an article they will later submit for publication. The article will be written from a nonpartisan perspective and will be aimed at educating the public about the struggles and successes of the Irish people as they attempt to recover from decades of sectarian conflict. Darrow and Lemarie also hope the article will be a resource on the processes of recovery for those currently living in conflict zones in other parts of the world.

Davis Projects for Peace, now in its second year, honors philanthropist Kathryn Wasserman Davis, who launched the initiative on the occasion of her 100th birthday in 2007. The program encourages and supports undergraduates to create and implement their ideas for building peace throughout the world. Denison is one of more than 85 schools eligible for these awards because it is a Davis United World College Scholars Program participant institution.