ICAR's Drucie French Cumbie Fellows Ph.D. Students Working Together "To Get There"

The Drucie French Cumbie Chair was awarded to Dr. Andrea Bartoli in 2007, when he transitioned to ICAR from Columbia University where he was Founding Director of the Center for International Conflict Resolution (CICR). In his inaugural Cumbie Lecture at ICAR, Dr. Bartoli made his vision explicit: The Drucie French Cumbie Chair is the perfect environment for the growth of integration of theory and practice that will develop the field of conflict resolution further. Located at ICAR, the preeminent center of research in the field, the Chair has been served by a wonderful colleague, Chris Mitchell. I am honored to be working in this capacity and contributing to the study and practice of peacemaking. How can we get there? I have been privileged to work with Dr Bartoli as his graduate research assistant since he arrived at ICAR. He asks this question all the time. Not necessarily to me, but mostly to himself. In fact, he repeats it so often, with his wonderful Italian accent, that many readers may have heard him ask it. Dr. Bartoli recognizes that the conversation to position (or reposition) ICAR as a leading force in the field of Conflict Resolution must be expansive, rigorous, and inclusive.

To that end, we often speak about the need to integrate research, theory, teaching, and practice. Dr. Bartoli understands that in order to get there, ICAR needs to foster a fertile environment for new and talented researchers to grow in the field. He sees that the source of ICARs development in the present actually lies in cultivating the future. This understanding led to the formation of the inaugural group of Drucie French Cumbie Fellows, including Ph.D. students: Clement Aapengnuo, Maneshka Eliatamby, Vandy Kanyako, Martha Mutisi, Tetsushi Ogata, and Molly Tepper.

The creation of a group of Ph.D. students who not only think critically based on the foundational values that ICAR espouses, but also act as ICAR or act in concert with one another as they represent ICAR at conferences and meetings networking with scholars and professionals and bringing the fruits of that experience back to the Institute for further consideration, advances the goal of getting there. Through the collaborative work of the Cumbie Fellows, not just individual ICAR students, but ICAR as an institution can be present in the room, and it can be there with institutional intentionality.

The Cumbie Fellows are currently working with ICARs faculty to compile a list of their scholarly accomplishments in 2008. The list will appear in GMU Celebration of Achievement, an annual publication cataloging each departments academic accomplishments. Through this project, students are partnering with the faculty, working as one institution. Whether this is Italian style or ICAR style, the underlying idea warrants serious attention. The work of the Cumbie Fellows is stimulating an environment that fosters a broad, rigorous, and inclusive culture of conversation, collaboration, and exchange at ICAR. Possibilities abound as to what Cumbie Fellows can and will do in the future.

Although the initial group of Cumbie Fellows was formed spontaneously in order to jump-start the project, Drucie French Cumbie Fellowships are open to all currently enrolled Ph.D. students. The term of the Fellowship is variable, and applications may be submitted to the Chair throughout the year. It is Dr. Bartolis hope that the Cumbie Fellows will continue to serve as a conduit of communication and facilitation at ICAR, blazing pathways for getting there to ICAR's new era.