Ted Herman (1913-2010)



Ted Herman was a pioneer in the peace studies community. He was one of many

Quaker scholar/midwives who helped nurture the field of peace studies in the

1960s.	He founded a peace studies program at Colgate University at the height

of the Vietnam war. This program now has both a minor and a major in peace and

conflict studies.



Ted Herman grew up in West Philadelphia and was a soccer star in his youth.  He

did his undergraduate work at Swarthmore (graduating in 1935) and completed a

Ph.D. in geography at the University of Washington.  In the interim he taught

in China.  He joined the faculty at Colgate University as a professor of

geography in 1955 and founded there in 1971 one of the earliest peace studies

programs in the United States. He inspired many students to take seriously the

study of nonviolence and to pursue careers devoted to peace. Largely because of

Ted the Colgate program has a unique emphasis upon geography and trouble spots

in the world--like the Middle East, Central America, Africa, or Central

Asia--integrating trans-disciplinary academic approaches to war and peace with

the study of particular regional conflicts.



Ted Herman was a fantastic mentor.  He mentored me and many other young

professors in the nineteen eighties who were attracted to the field of peace

studies in response to the growing nuclear threat. I remember well meeting with

him at COPRED (Consortium on Peace Research, Education, and Development) and

International Peace Research Association (IPRA) conferences. His calm

determination and self confidence convinced many of us that we could leave the

shelter of our traditional disciplines and walk down the path of peace. Ted

Herman understood well how the study of peace could enhance the academy and

made it his life?s mission to promote it.



Ted Herman devoted considerable time to bringing together enemies on multiple

sides of the Balkan conflict.  In his retirement he often visited the Balkans

trying to get Serbs to talk to people from Bosnia-Herzegovina.	He helped

establish a peace studies program in Macedonia. I remember him coming to

Milwaukee in 1995 and meeting with an important Serbian bishop in the orthodox

church and leaders from the Bosnian community.



Towards the end of his life Ted Herman became convinced that the best way to

promote peace studies was through peace research. He threw his considerable

talents behind the International Peace Research Association Foundation (IPRAF)

a non-profit, tax-exempt organization founded in 1990 to further the purposes

of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) and enhance the

processes of peace. With his support IPRAF has carried out peace research

projects in the Balkans and the Middle East.  It offers women from developing

countries scholarships to study peace at the graduate level and provides small

peace research grants to further the field of peace research. (For more

information see http://www.iprafoundation.org/) Ted Herman reveled in the rich

exchanges that took place at IPRA conferences where scholars from around the

world shared their insights into ways to generate peace.



Ted Hermann is held in the hearts of hundreds of peace educators and social

activists, like myself, who have been inspired by his quiet determination to

promote nonviolence. His memorial service will take place Jan 22, 2011 at 1

p.m. at Lancaster Friends Meeting in Lancaster, PA. I would like encourage

those of you who live in the area to consider attending this service to honor

an important pioneer in the field of peace and conflict studies.



Ian Harris