Are you taking college classes, but you are not sure what field you would like to major in? Or maybe you are thinking about graduate school in the Portland area? Here is a suggestion from someone who went through graduate school at PSU: try PSU’s Conflict Resolution program.

The Conflict Resolution program at PSU was founded in 1993, and currently has 90 students working towards their degrees. The program offers a variety of courses by professors of very diverse backgrounds, who are well educated in their fields, and most importantly, very helpful to work with. This program is broadly interdisciplinary, and currently offers the following areas of concentration: Peace and Justice; Theory and Practice; and International and Intercultural Conflict Resolution.

I have been in the program for the last two years — currently working on my thesis — and I have absolutely come to love it. Considering that I was raised in a region of constant conflict, I have always been interested in studying the causes and possible means of preventing conflict, but never knew how or where I was going to study that. Luckily, through a friend, I found at PSU exactly what I had been looking for.

Usually when anyone asks about my major, I tell them, “even if you do not want to major in Conflict Resolution, I strongly encourage you to take at least a class or two because that might turn out to be a turning point in your life, as it has been for me.” If you wish to look further into the program, or would like to apply, this is the department page http://www.conflictresolution.pdx.edu/ and the application deadline for the following fall term is February 15^th.