Professor Mohammed Abu-Nimer specializes in Peace and Conflict Resolution. He has conducted research on conflict resolution and dialogue for peace among Palestinians and Jews in Israel; Israeli-Palestinian conflict; application of conflict resolution models in non-western context; conflict resolution training models; and evaluation of conflict resolution programs. As a practitioner, he has been intervening and conducting conflict resolution training workshops in Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Turkey,  Ireland, Switzerland, Sierra Leone, and the U.S. Some of the themes that Professor Abu-Nimer covers in his practice of conflict resolution are: facilitation of dialogue in intergroup conflicts, assistance in identifying peacebuilding capacities in areas of conflict, and specific skills of facilitation, mediation, negotiation, and analysis.  He has published articles on these subjects in the Journal of Peace  and Changes, the American Journal of Economics and Sociology, and  in various edited books. His first book on conflict resolution and political change was published in 1999.

Professor Abdul Karim Bangura received his BA and MA in International Affairs from American University, an MS in Linguistics from Georgetown University, and three Ph.D.’s to date - in Political Science from Howard University, in Policy Science from the University of Maryland-Baltimore, and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Georgetown University. He currently teaches as Bowie State University and has been awarded their Outstanding Faculty Merit Award, and has taught at Georgetown University, Howard University, and Sojourner-Douglass College. He has served as Director of The African Institute in Washington, DC, Director of the OPTIONS Program at Howard University, and chaired the Research Methods and African Studies section of the African Studies Association. His publications include The Presuppositions and Implications of the Founding Fathers, Black Political Thought, Multilingualism and Diglossia in Sierra Leone, and "Metaphors for Global Ethics: An African Spiritual and Religious Perspective."

Professor Thomas Boudreau joins the School of International Service faculty with a focus in international peace and conflict resolution. Prior to coming to SIS, Professor Boudreau was Scholar in Residence at Salisbury University's Center for Conflict Resolution. From 1996- 2001, he held an appointment as an assistant professor in the Department of Dispute Resolution at Nova Southern University. Professor Boudreau received his PhD from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

Dr. Ronald Fisher is Professor of International Relations in the Division of International Peace and Conflict Resolution in the School of International Service  at American University. He was the Founding Coordinator of the Applied  Social Psychology Graduate Program at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and has taught at a number of universities in Canada, the United States, and Europe in peace studies and conflict resolution. Dr. Fisher's primary interest focuses on interactive conflict resolution, which involves informal, third party interventions in protracted and violent ethno-political conflict. He has worked on the longstanding dispute in Cyprus and similar conflicts in other parts of the world.

Professor Mitchell Hammer specializes in intercultural communication and conflict negotiation. He is a member of both the Peace and Conflict Resolution and the International Communication programs in the School of International Service. He has been a visiting professor in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, conducting research on intercultural communication and inter-ethnic interactions. His research interests are in the areas of intercultural communication effectiveness, cultural processes influencing organizations, conflict negotiation and crisis communication and cross-cultural adaptation. He has over 50 published articles in various anthologies and journals including The Handbook of Intercultural and Development Communication ,Cross-cultural Adaptation, The International Journal of Intercultural Relations ,Communication Quarterly, and Journal of Black Studies . He has recently co-edited (with Dr. Randall Rogan and Mr. Clinton Van Zandt) the book, Dynamic                Processes of Crisis Negotiation: Theory, Research and Practice (Praeger Press, 1997). In 1992, he was awarded the "Senior Interculturalist Award of Achievement" by the International Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research (SIETAR).

Professor Julie Mertus's teaching and research interests are in the areas of ethnic conflict, human rights, refugee and humanitarian law and policy, gender and conflict, transnational civil society and post-conflict transition.  She is author or editor of over two dozen academic articles and six books including, most recently: Kosovo: How Myths and Truths Started a War (U. Cal. Press, 1999) and War's  Offensive Against Women: The Humanitarian Challenge in Bosnia, Kosovo and Afghanistan (Kumarian, 2000). She was formerly a fellow in human rights at Harvard Law School, a MacArthur Foundation Fellow, a Fulbright Fellow (Romania), and Counsel to Human Rights Watch. During the 2000-2001 year, she is also a Senior Fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Dr. Margaret Smith earned her Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy from Tufts University. Her Doctoral research focused on the teaching of history in Northern Ireland and the question of how reformed history teaching can provide a mechanism for post-conflict peacebuilding. Her research interests include nationalism and ethnicity, European history, conflict resolution, and uses of memory. Before completing her Ph.D., Dr. Smith worked overseas with conflict resolution programs in Europe, Australia, and Papua New Guinea, as well as in the U.S. In Papua New Guinea, she worked mostly with women, assisting them in confronting the uncertainties faced with the coming of independence.Dr. Smith has traveled a number of times to the region formerly known as Yugoslavia and to Northern Ireland, and has participated in conflict resolution work in Cyprus, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Eastern and Central Europe, and the Middle East.