Applied Conflict Management - B.A. Download to print

The Bachelor of Arts in Applied Conflict Management prepares students for careers or graduate study in the field of conflict management and dispute resolution. Kent State has one of the oldest, largest and most highly regarded undergraduate programs in peace and conflict studies in the country. Areas of focus include mediation, negotiation, environmental conflict resolution, international conflict resolution, workplace conflict management, nonviolent action and community organizing. Students learn applied skills and build professional networks through a required internship in the profession.

Community mediation centers and programs, labor organizations, law offices, non-profit organizations, insurance carriers, and other private companies and organizations that specialize in providing mediation and other dispute resolution services. Grievance and ombuds officers in educational systems and in companies and corporations. Human resource and personnel management offices. Human service agencies. Community organizing. (Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics)

General Admissions for Freshman Students: Students most likely to be admitted and succeed at the Kent Campus are those who have graduated with at least 16 units of the recommended college preparatory curriculum in high school, who have achieved a cumulative high school grade point average of 2.5 or higher (on a 4.0 scale), and whose composite ACT score is 21 or better (980 combined critical reading and math SAT score). For more information on admissions, visit the admissions website for new freshmen.

General Admissions for Transfer Students: Generally, a transfer applicant who has taken 12 or more semester hours with a college cumulative GPA of at least 2.0 on a 4.0 scale may be admitted. An applicant who has taken fewer than 12 semester hours will be evaluated on both collegiate and high school records. For more information on admissions, visit the admissions website for transfer students.

Minimum 121 total credit hours and  42 upper-division hours for graduation. Minimum 2.000 GPA overall and 2.000 GPA in major required for graduation.

Graduates of this program will be able to:

1. Demonstrate the research and analytical skills that will be useful while working in the field of conflict management.

2. Demonstrate preparation for work in the applied field of conflict management by successfully completing a hands-on internship experience where their on-site performance, their internship journals and their final internship paper reveal their ability to: effectively use skills taught and learned in the classroom; apply theories to experiences; evaluate and critique host agency dynamics and conflict management systems and practices and devise real or hypothetical alternative approaches; critically and reflexively evaluate their own performance.

3. Analyze the dynamics of social conflicts and apply the principles of nonviolent theory and practice in order to wage conflict constructively to bring about social or political change.

4. Demonstrate their ability to use the skills of conflict management through in-class exercises, simulations and role plays.

5. Demonstrate an ability to identify and analyze the cultural dimensions of conflicts and conflict management.

6. Describe and interpret the roles that gendered power dynamics play in conflicts and conflict management.

7. Demonstrate a broad grounding in the field of conflict management by being able to explain the historical evolution of the field, by identifying and analyzing a full range of conflict dynamics, and by designing constructive and appropriate intervention tactics and strategies.

8. Students demonstrate will be able explain the main theories on causes, expression and consequences of international conflicts, and comparatively evaluate different mechanisms of prevention, management and resolution of international conflicts.

This is an “applied” degree, thus we require an internship in the field of between 3-12 credits. This can be done in a wide variety of contexts and places of the student’s choosing, with faculty approval.