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Longtime University of Akron benefactor Paul E. Martin has established The Paul E. Martin Scholarships for Conflict Management in order to help stress the obligation for universities to provide essential programs that support peace and harmony in all spheres of human activity.
The $250,000 grant will enhance the offerings of the Center for Conflict Management, now jointly managed by the departments of political science and sociology. The scholarships range from $500 to $3,000.
"These scholarships will attract students to the study of conflict management," says William Lyons Jr., director of the center and an assistant professor of political science. "And in doing so, these students will prepare themselves to become leaders in our communities by acquiring cooperative skills that can be used in everyday living - making us all safer. Further, these same students also will be prepared to pursue the study of conflict management at the doctoral level at other nationally recognized university programs."
Martin, a 1935 UA graduate, was named vice president and general manager of City Chevrolet Co. in Akron in 1949. By 1958 he opened his own Chevrolet dealership in Warren - Martin Chevrolet Inc., which has become the largest automobile dealer in eastern Ohio.
The Bath resident’s honors include the Alumni Honor Award, and an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. He was president of The University of Akron Foundation Board of Trustees from 1991-99. He has donated more than $5 million to the University, and recently made a gift of property valued at $1.7 million.
Martin says he became interested in conflict management and peace studies through a friend - former U.S. Rep. John F. Seiberling.
"It became obvious to me that conflict management is the heartbeat of civilization when you look at family life, politics or what is happening internationally," Martin says. "It is the resolution of these conflicts that is going to make a decent life for our children and grandchildren."
Lyons says Martin’s generosity has been critical to the success of the conflict management program.
"We now have a new minor and two new graduate certificate programs likely to be ready for students in the fall. None of this would have been possible without Dr. Martin's support."
Students will be trained to mediate, participate in a mediation internship and examine the vigorous scholarly debates surrounding how to best prevent violence and manage interest-based or identity-based conflicts. The center also has outreach programs planned as well. In addition to hosting an annual conference, mediation workshops and a summer domestic violence workshop, staff and students will work with criminal justice agencies, schools and community groups.
There will be at least 30 full-time faculty in political science and sociology available to work with the program. These include professors who specialize in defense policy analysis, terrorism, global environmental problems, urban politics, neighborhood policing and social control, criminal justice, the sociology of law, criminal deviance, family violence, social inequality, gender, race, ethnicity and social psychology.
Lyons, whose interests include informal justice, law and society, policing and social control, and urban politics, earned a master’s degree from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a doctorate from the University of Washington. A Fulbright scholar in Beijing from August 2000 through July 2001, Lyons also is the author of "The Politics of Community Policing: Rearranging the Power to Punish," published In 1999 by the University of Michigan Press.
"In the shadow of Sept. 11, it is all the more important to remember that our collective and individual capacities to prevent or resolve conflicts serves as one critical measure of the level of our civilization and one important source of the wealth of nations," notes Lyons. "Dr. Martin embodies a long-standing commitment to peace and strongly believes in the role conflict management can play in strengthening families and communities, and safeguarding America's prosperity."
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