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The amount of each award will range from $250 to $1000, depending on the number of applicants and the resources which the Peace Studies Program has available. In all cases, the awards are designed to defray expenses that the student will incur beyond the costs of pursuing on-campus study at �鶹��Ƶ.

One award, The Ruth Youngdahl Nelson Scholarship, has been earmarked to honor the memory of Ruth Youngdahl Nelson, distinguished �鶹��Ƶ alumna and peace activist. This award is intended for a student who proposes to become actively involved in peace-making in some experiential way.

Other awards will be awarded to students who pursue independent projects which focus on peace and justice issues, or who enroll off-campus in formal courses of study concerned integrally with issues of peace and justice.

The proposal should describe how the proposed program or project relates to issues of peace and justice. The Peace Studies Committee defines peace and justice issues broadly, but not all international issues' projects automatically qualify as peace studies projects. Peace is not only the absence of war, but the presence of economic and social justice. Students of peace and justice focus their attention on the conditions which promote or inhibit the nonviolent resolution of conflict. Peace Studies is not a value free enterprise, because students of peace advocate equality, tolerance and dignity for all people. Examples of appropriate topic areas include: the causes and conditions of peace and war, conflict resolution at local and international levels, global issues such as poverty, human rights, economic development, ecological justice and other issues that contribute to or inhibit the nurturing of peace.

Award recipients will be expected to either file a brief report or to share publicly about their use of the award funds upon the completion of their project.

The Peace Studies committee will prioritize applications by the following considerations:

1. The project is related to Peace Studies
2. The project incurs costs beyond studying on campus at �鶹��Ƶ
3. Some priority will also be given for independent projects developed by students (could be something done while on campus, while studying abroad, or while working for a peace-related organization)

Idealist.org is a place for non-profit organizations, jobs, volunteers, and activists to connect.

Common Cause is dedicated to the proposition that a healthy democracy depends on active, engaged citizens. 

Domestic Graduate Programs

International Graduate Programs

A lecture in honor of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was first held in 1986. Speakers are champions of civil rights and non-violence; their work, and the work of their organizations, reflects the same principles advocated by Dr. King. Over the years, a number of the lecturers have worked directly with Dr. King.

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture was instituted by the Peace Studies program at �鶹��Ƶ to honor the legacy of Dr. King. Initially housed solely in Peace Studies, the lecture typically did not occur on the national holiday honoring Dr. King.

Since 2010 the lecture has been a cooperative campus effort and held on the annual day of remembrance.

2025-Day of Service-Action for Change

2024-Karith Foster founder of - Cultivating a Culture of Inclusivity

2023-Retired Minnesota Supreme Court Justice, Alan Page

2022-Dr. Carolyn Roberts, professor at Yale University, presented "Historical Roots of Racism in Science and Medicine"

2020-Donzaleigh Abernathy, youngest daughter of the American civil rights movement co-founder Rev. Dr. Ralph David and Mrs. Juanita Jones Abernathy, "Growing up with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."

2019-Rev. Dr. Powery, Dean of Duke University Chapel and Associate Professor of Homiletics at Duke Divinity School, "Diversity in Adversity: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Promise of the World House"

2018-Dr. Joyce Ladner, civil rights activist and sociologist

2017-Jonathan L. Walton, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard University and Pusey Minister in Harvard’s Memorial Church, "It Was All A Dream..."

2016-Dr. Rashad Shabazz, associate professor in the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University, "Why Geography Matters in the Struggle for Racial Justice"

2015-Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington, President and Co-founder of the Washington Consulting Group and the Social Justice Training Institute 

2014-Diane Nash, Key figure of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, “Reflections on the Civil Rights Movement”

2013-Dr. Cathy J. Cohen, Professor of Political Science, U. of Chicago. “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the Age of Obama: Building a New Movement for the 21st Century”

2012-Taylor Branch, Pulitzer Prize winning author, arguably the preeminent biographer of King, “Myths and Miracles for the King Years”

2011-Dr. Bernard LaFayette Jr., Co-founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating committee in 1960

2010-Rev. C.T. Vivian, Close Friend and Lieutenant of Dr. King during the civil rights movement

2009-Dr. Henry Williams, Laird Bell Professor of History at Carleton College

2008-Mixed Blood Theatre performance and homily by Dr. Bill Green - Nonviolence for an Age of Terrorism Dr. David Cortright, Fourth Freedom Forum

2007-Stories of Loss, Hope, and the Power of Nonviolent Activism, September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows

2006-Sal y Luz: Peace churches in Colombia Representatives from the churches

2005-Major Brent Beardsley, Eyewitness to the Rwandan Genocide and former Canadian peacekeeper

2004-William Greaves African American filmmaker on the life of Ralph Bunche

2003-Living With the Other Dr. Miroslav Volf, Croatian theologian, Yale

2002-Dr. Philip Bryant, Associate Professor of English, �鶹��Ƶ

2001-Dr. John Wright, Professor of English and African American Studies, University of Minnesota

2000-Martin Luther King III, son of Martin Luther King Jr.

1999-Dr. Bill Green ’72, Professor of History, Augsburg College, MN. Former Chair of Minneapolis School Board

1998-Charles Rankin, Professor of Education, Kansas State U.

1996-Dr. Michael Harper, Professor of English, Brown University. Poet Laureate of Rhode Island

1995-Arun Gandhi, Institute for the Study of Nonviolence, TN. Grandson of Mohandas Gandhi

1994-Cornell West, Professor, Princeton University; Prominent Public intellectual

1993-Bernice Reagon, “Sweet Honey in the Rock” Gospel Group

1991-Dorothy Cotton, Founding Member of Southern Christian Leadership Conference

1990-Dr. Bernard Powers, Professor of History N.E. Illinois, University of Chicago

1989-Dr. Bernard LaFayette, Jr. Close Associate of MLK Jr., Director of Peace Education at �鶹��Ƶ from 1974-1977.

1987-Dr. Richard Green, Superintendent of Minneapolis Schools

1986-Vivian Jenkins Nelson, Hubert Humphrey Institute, Director of Administration

In 1982, �鶹��Ƶ awarded Raoul Wallenberg an honorary degree in absentia which was accepted on his behalf by his sister Nina. In 1983, �鶹��Ƶ established an annual lecture to commemorate the heroic service of Raoul Wallenberg in his fearless support of persecuted Jews during the Second World War. 

• 2023-Dr. Brenda J. Child-Boarding Schools and American Indian Dispossession
• 2017-Dr. Marica Cristina Garcia-Climate Refugees: An Unrecognized Challenge at Home and Abroad
• 2014-Dr. Stephen Zune-The United States and the Middle East: Intervention, Reaction, and Hope for Change
• 2012-Ingemar Eliasson-“Wallenberg” - Eliasson is a former Swedish politician, economist, and governor 
• 2011-Dr. Jennifer McBride-“Bonhoeffer and Repentance: A Constructive Proposal for Christian Public Witness” - McBride is a professor of religion at Wartburg College
• 2010-Dr. Jo Ellen Fair-“Not a Simple Story: Mass Media and Mass Violence, The African Case” - Fair is a professor of journalism at the University of Wisconsin, Madison
• 2009-Dr. Steven Miles-“Oath Betrayed: America’s Torture Doctors” - Miles is a professor at University of Minnesota Medical School
• 2008-Mark Hanis-"Never Again is Again in Darfur: Taking a Stand Against Genocide” - Hanis is founder of the Genocide Intervention Network
• 2007-Ben Olander-Swedish Folksinger performing songs inspired by Raoul Wallenberg
• 2006-Dr. Hugh Parmer-“Humanitarian Crisis in Darfur: Perspectives from the Field” - Parmer is president of the American Refugee Committee
• 2005-Dr. Peter Wallensteen-“Dag Hammarskjöld: Diplomat, Peacemaker, and International Civil Servant” - Wallensteen is a Swedish peace researcher
• 2004-Diane Orentlicher-“Saddam on Trial” - Orentlicher is a professor law at American University
• 2003-Douglas Johnson-“Human Rights Denied: Human Dignity Ignored” - Johnson is director of the Center for Victims of Torture
• 2002-Lucille Eichengreen-Holocaust survivor
• 2001-Dr. Robert Jan Van Pelt-"The Holocaust on Trial?: An Analysis of the Irving-Lipstadt Trial in London" - VanPelt is a professor of architecture at University of Waterloo
• 2000-Dr. Paul Levine-Wallenberg biographer from the Uppsala Program for Holocaust Studies
• 1999-Dr. Harvey Rosenfeld-Wallenberg biographer and professor of history at Pace University
• 1998-Fred Baron-Holocaust survivor of Bergen-Belsen Camp
• 1997-Ninotchka Rosca-Novelist and human rights activist from the Philippines
• 1996-Dr. Robert Fisch-Hungarian concentration camp survivor
• 1995-Harold Stassen-Former Governor of Minnesota
• 1994-Marjorie Agosin-Chilean poet and human rights activist
• 1993-Dr. Steven Koblik-President of Reed College and Scandinavia historian
• 1992-Sir Brian Urquhart-Former Undersecretary at the United Nations
• 1991-Gen. Indar Rikhye-Former Head of Peacekeeping at the United Nations
• 1990-Herb Frey-Minister at Alliance of the Street
• 1989-Fr. Medardo Gomez-Lutheran Bishop of San Salvador
• 1988-Agnes Adachi-Volunteer associate of Raoul Wallenberg
• 1987-Per Anger-Swedish Diplomat and Raoul Wallenberg’s supervisor in Budapest
• 1986-Dennis Brutus-South African poet
• 1985-Jeri Laber-Executive director of the United States Helsinki Watch
• 1984-Theo Kotze-South African church leader and critic of Apartheid
• 1983-Mulford Q. Sibley-Professor of Political Science at University of Minnesota
• 1982-Stephen Spender-Essayist and poet

Raoul Wallenberg is one of the least known and the greatest of heroes of our century. In the dark days of World War II, when so many people worldwide were silent, willfully opaque or simply afraid to act, Wallenberg energetically took up the cause of thousands of Hungarian Jews in imminent danger of mass extermination. He used a combination of moral outrage, bribery, and bluff to stand down Adolf Eichmann and his underling Nazi murderers. Their goal was the systematic extermination of Hungary’s Jews as part of the larger Nazi “final solution” of the so-called “Jewish Problem.”

Raoul Wallenberg saved thousands of Jewish lives by issuing hastily prepared “protecting passports,” which instantly made the bearers Swedish citizens. He provided them accommodation, board, and medical care in houses the Swedish Embassy bought up as safe houses. On the ensuing death marches, which he had fought fiercely to prevent, he dispensed food and blankets wherever he could and shamed the guards into more humane behavior. His most dramatic intervention came at the point when plans were imminent to exterminate the entire remaining Jewish population of Hungary in the Budapest ghetto. Acting only on his own moral authority, Wallenberg sent a note to the German commander, promising to make sure he would be hanged as a war criminal if he went ahead with the destruction of the ghetto. The commander blinked and the lives of around 70,000 Jews were saved right there, since they were soon thereafter liberated by the advancing allied forces.

Without Raoul Wallenberg’s conspicuous heroism, his civil courage in speaking out and acting on his convictions, it is certain that a great many lives would have been lost. In January 1945, Wallenberg was arrested by the Soviet authorities and vanished in the Gulag. He is now presumed dead.

The annual MAYDAY! Peace Conference was established at �鶹��Ƶ in 1981. It was founded and is sustained by the generosity of the late Florence and Raymond Sponberg of North Mankato, MN.

The Conference occurs on the last Wednesday in April or the first Wednesday in May each year. The MAYDAY! Peace Conference is open to the public, and no fees or reservations are required to attend.

Past conference themes include

• Labor: The History of Unrest and the Struggle for Justice (2025)
• Navigating Conflict (2024)
• The Future of U.S. Education: Who decides what gets taught? (2023)
• Growing Peace Builders (2022)
• Voices of Change: Our Generation of Student Activism (2021)
• War on the Press: At Home and Abroad (2019)
• Mighty Be Our Powers: Gender, Justice, and Peacebuilding (2018)
• What Would You Do? Mass Surveillance and the Citizen (2017)
• Divestment and Reinvestment: Making Money Count (2016)
• The War Within: Can the Soldier Be at Peace? (2015)
• Tibet: Finding Hope in Exile (2014)
• Decision: Roe v Wade (2013)
• Multi Cultural Sweden (2012)
• Executing Justice—Debating Capital Punishment (2011)
• Imagining Peace (2010)
• Tiananmen +20 Years (2009)
• Troubled Water (2008)
• Community Food Security (2007)
• AIDS + AFRICA: The Unfolding Crisis (2006)
• Energy for Peace (2005)
• The United Nations at the Crossroads (2004)
• World Religions: Waging War or Promoting Peace (2003)
• Sanctions and Beyond: What is the Human Price? (2002)
• Revisiting the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux after 150 Years (2001)
• Vietnam: 25 Years On (2000)
• Toward a World Ban on Landmines (1999)
• Immigration and Social Justice (1998)
• The Family and Public Policy (1997)
• Land Rights, Land Use, and Social Justice (1996)
• The Challenge of Building a Non-Violent Global Community (1995)
• Building Community from the Inside Out (1994)
• Overcoming Violence in Our Lives (1993)
• Food for a Peaceable World (1992)
• U.S. Policy in the Middle East: What Roads to Peace? (1991)
• Making Peace with the Earth (1990)
• Other Voices„Global Perspectives on the Arms Race (1989)
• Building on Hope: Working for Peace (1988)
• Wages of War, Profits of Peace (1987)
• Schooling for Peace (1986)
• To Negotiate a Peace (1985)
• Making Peace in a War-Keeping World (1984)
• Seeing through and beyond the Mushroom Cloud (1983)
• The Response of Faith to the Nuclear Dilemma (1982)
• Arms Control-MAYDAY! MAYDAY! (1981)