“Peace Education and the U.S. Public School:
Embracing Global Citizenship Prior to World War I”
Winnie Veenstra Peace Lecture
Tuesday, February 10
7 p.m. 2028 Brown Hall
Hope Elizabeth May, Central Michigan University
Although the terms "global citizenship" and "global education" are most commonly associated
with programs and initiatives connected with the United Nations and the post-World War II era,
the period prior to World War I saw the “first wave” of these notions in the United States. This
talk focuses on these earlier understandings and on their connections to both the first
International Peace Conferences that occurred in The Hague, The Netherlands (in 1899 and
1907), and to the public schools in Michigan and throughout the United States. The argument
will be made that this earlier material and original approach – to which peace, international law
and international arbitration is central – should be used and included in our modern programs
and initiatives aimed at global citizenship, cosmopolitanism and international peace and justice.
Hope Elizabeth May is a philosopher and lawyer who is currently a Professor of Philosophy at
Central Michigan University, where she directs its Center for Professional and Personal Ethics.
After receiving her Ph.D. in philosophy (writing on Aristotle’s ethics), she earned her Juris
Doctorate degree, magna cum laude, from Michigan State University College of Law. Her work
focuses on the importance of public education to the "Peace through Law" movement, and she
has designed numerous educational activities that educate international public audiences about
this lost history and its connection to international criminal law. She has spoken at a number of
international organizations, including the Nobel Institute (Oslo, Norway), The Extraordinary
Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (Phnom Penh, Cambodia), The International Criminal
Court (The Hague, The Netherlands), and Peace Museum Vienna (Austria). She has addressed
numerous groups of international students. She has been a Visiting Professional in the Office of
the Prosecutor of the ICC and holds a number of other positions related to her work on peace.
She recently taught “Human Rights and Dignity” at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in
Seoul, South Korea.
Co-Sponsor: Department of Teaching, Learning, and Educational Studies; Kalamazoo Non-Violent
Opponents of War (KNOW)