Creating Peace Beyond the Classroom

The current certificates offered through the Heravi Peace Institute are equipping students from across the university with skills that they can take with them to any career. See what a few of our wonderful alumni are saying about the experiences they had obtaining a certificate of proficiency from the HPI.

Global Peacebuilding

Peacebuilding skills are essential for our world and will be throughout the extent of the professional lives of students. The Global Peacebuilding certificate program seeks to build students’ understanding of historical and contemporary causes of conflict as they learn practical peacebuilding skills. By providing a multi-disciplinary approach to these topics, students learn to engage and collaborate with a range of communities and prepare for a wide variety of both international and local careers.

“[The Global Peacebuilding certificate] really changed the way I saw everything. It was a great opportunity to have discussions with people who were on the same page as me but also had very different opinions on a lot of things. It’s shaped the way I’ve thought about everything I’ve done since then, and it’s shaping the way I’m planning out my future now. It was just wonderful; it was so mind-opening.” – Global Peacebuilding Alumnus Nathanael Sederholm

Interfaith Leadership

As the world's relationship with religion grows increasingly complex, there is an urgent need for interfaith cooperation. The Interfaith Leadership certificate builds students' capacities for understanding and utilizing the role that religion plays in society and enhances their ability to bridge the diverse ways that religions see the world through interdisciplinary study, internships, and practicums.

“[This certificate] will open your mind to a beautiful way to engage in the world. I am so grateful to understand that my perspective is important. I also want to know and hear what other people think and feel, and what their lived experiences are because I have one life I’ve lived. These certificates really help individuals see the bigger picture and be more appreciative of the lived experience of another.” – Interfaith Leadership Alumna Marilee Van Stam

Conflict Management & Facilitation

Conflict management and facilitation skills are useful and in high demand for jobs in a wide range of careers. Employees in United States companies spend roughly 2.8 hours each week involved in interpersonal and group conflict. This amounts to approximately $359 billion in hours paid each year that are focused on conflict (CPP Inc., 2008, Pollack, 2021). The Conflict Management and Facilitation certificate provides the opportunity for students to develop the understanding and skills that will transform their capacity to manage conflict in healthy and productive ways within their personal and professional relationships.

“There are tactical skills in every job you’ll ever get. Those are important, but they’re going to change often, whereas the skills you learn through the HPI are applicable across the board. They truly help you become, then who you become is how you exist in all different contexts. I am genuinely a different person, I’m a more peaceful human with my own self, and I’m therefore a more useful human because of these experiences.” – Conflict Management Alumna McKinlay Otterson

Leadership & Diplomacy

The Leadership and Diplomacy certificate aims to increase student awareness, knowledge, and skills to make them more effective leaders, communicators, negotiators, and problem solvers in their respective careers and communities locally, nationally, and internationally. The certificate offers more than just classroom instruction – it gives students a variety of skill-building projects and experiences, building a foundation that will help students exert leadership in a variety of professions, including public administration, government relations, law, foreign service, nonprofits, journalism, business, and education.

“The program was awesome because it gave me some really cool opportunities to talk about government and politics, local politics, public policy, etc. The certificate really had me take a deeper dive into what ways as a student leader I could work with the state to improve student’s lives on campus. I think it speaks for itself that getting the certificate pushes you to have those experiences outside the classroom, and I think that’s just so valuable.” – Leadership & Diplomacy Alumnus Erik Fogth

Nonprofit Organizations & Social Entrepreneurship

This certificate provides students with the opportunity to explore nonprofit and philanthropic work in order to gain foundational understanding of those systems and processes. From foundational courses on social entrepreneurship to courses within social work, technical communication, and business, students from many different disciplines and with various career goals can become equipped with skills and knowledge that will set them apart in the nonprofit sector and in any future career path.

“The certificate is worth doing. It was nice to have something in college that I actually learned and have used that wasn’t all hypothetical. It was very hands-on, very immersive, very real, practice-based courses. It’s made me a more credible job applicant, it’s given me skills that I need, and it’s increased my understanding of the world and my specific interests—it’s worth it!” – Nonprofit Organizations & Social Entrepreneurship Alumna Sariah Wilkey

Interested in the HPI certificates? Learn more
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