Denison University is announcing a call for students to participate in a program that supports grassroots projects for peace all over the world. Proposals for the Davis Projects for Peace initiative are limited to undergraduate students, including graduating seniors, at Davis United World College Scholar institutions, of which Denison is one, and must be submitted to Joyce Meredith (meredithj@denison.edu) in the President’s Office.

Davis Projects for Peace is the vision of Kathryn Wasserman Davis, a lifelong internationalist and philanthropist. Upon turning 100, Davis created and provided funding for the program “to help young people launch some immediate initiatives that could bring new thinking to the prospects for peace in the world.” By intentionally offering no clear definition of “projects for peace,” the program aims to encourage creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship as students come up with their own definitions.

In all, 100 projects will be funded at $10,000 each, with a goal of funding at least one project at each of the more than 90 eligible schools. Projects may be implemented anywhere in the world, and the process is open to individuals as well as groups of students from the same campus.

Last year’s winners were Ian Darrow ’10 and Kara Lemarie ’11. Their project was called “Ten Years of Recovery: Healing Processes in Post-Conflict Ireland.” For eight weeks this past summer, Darrow and Lemarie were “student journalists” in Northern Ireland. They conducted 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.

To be considered, a student or group of students, must prepare a written statement which describes the project (who, what, where, how) including expected outcomes and prospects for future impact, not to exceed two pages, as well as a separate page for the budget. The draft proposal should be submitted electronically to Meredith no later that Nov. 17, 2008. Students with queries may direct them to their campus-designated official as communication between students writing proposals and the Davis UWC Scholars office is prohibited.

All final proposals submitted to Meredith by Jan. 21, 2009 will be reviewed by a college committee; then Denison President Dale Knobel and other senior administrators will select one to three proposals for submission to the Davis United World College Scholars program, which will make the final selections of projects to be funded.

For more information, visit Denison’s Davis Projects for Peace Web site.

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