For Immediate Release, September 3, 2013
Contact: Allison Sturma, 202-429-4725

George A. Lopez, long-time professor at the University of Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and a sought-after expert on international economic sanctions, has been named vice president of the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding, the Institute announced today.

“George Lopez has been a leader in developing the peace studies field for more than 30 years,” said USIP President Jim Marshall in announcing the appointment.  “George is a first-class academician and a respected writer and lecturer.  Congressional committees, the State Department, the UN Security Council, and foreign governments from Canada to Japan have all sought his counsel.  We are extremely pleased George will be joining the U.S. Institute of Peace, and are confident that his vision for the Academy will make it the premiere facility for conflict management training in the world.”

Currently the Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh Chair in Peace Studies, Lopez has held various positions with the Kroc Institute, including as acting director, and with Notre Dame’s political science department since 1986.  Prior to Notre Dame, Lopez held several academic posts at Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana.  His research interests focus on economic sanctions, gross violations of human rights, and ethics and the use of force. His work has been published in a wide range of social science and policy journals.  Since 1992 he has written or co-written more than 35 articles and book chapters, as well as seven books, on economic sanctions.

“I am honored to be joining talented colleagues at USIP in expanding the important work of the Academy,” Lopez said. “Twenty-seven years with the Kroc Institute’s premier education and training program has fully prepared me for this new challenge. And I am humbled to move from the Hesburgh Chair in Peace Studies at Notre Dame to USIP where Father Ted served on the Board and co-chaired the funding drive that created the new headquarters.”

Lopez has served in an advisory capacity to a number of foundations and organizations, including on the United Nations Panel of Experts for monitoring and implementing U.N. Sanctions on North Korea from October 2010 until July 2011.  He was a Senior Jennings Randolph Fellow at USIP in 2009-10.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from St. John Fisher College, Rochester, New York, and holds a master’s degree and a doctorate from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of International Relations.

Lopez succeeds Pamela Aall, who led USIP’s training programs for more than 20 years, and who is USIP’s  senior advisor for conflict prevention and management.  He begins September 17.

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The United States Institute of Peace is an independent, nonpartisan conflict management center created by Congress to prevent and mitigate international conflict through nonviolent means. USIP saves lives, increases the government’s ability to deal with conflicts before they escalate, reduces government costs, and enhances national security. USIP is headquartered in Washington, DC. To learn more, visit www.usip.org.

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