Executive Director, Center for Peacemaking Practice

About the Department:

The Center for Peacemaking Practice (CPP) brings together practitioners and scholars to make a practical difference in peace and justice through engaged scholarship of many forms. The Center brings conflict resolution practice into the university, and extends conflict resolution scholarship outside the university. We foster connections between peacemaking practitioners and learning communities, enriching both the theory and practice of peacemaking, all with the goal of minimizing suffering due to violent conflict. The Center brings together multiple programs and projects that share a connection to practice. The Center’s work includes reflective practice, action research, and other forms of engaged scholarship.

About the Position:

The Executive Director oversees CPP active grants administration and plays a key role in shaping future funded initiatives. This includes maintaining strong relationships with sponsors to ensure ongoing engagement and program sustainability.

This position is open to current employees only. External applicants will not be considered.

Responsibilities:

• Collaborates with the CPP Director to manage CPP initiatives. Plans peacemaking training programs, including identifying and securing funding, preparing content, curricula, training team, recruitment of participants, implementation of training program, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting. Plans peacemaking dialogues, including identifying and securing funding, preparing agendas, recruiting and inviting participants, planning travel and logistics, facilitating dialogues, evaluating dialogues, and preparing reports on dialogues;
• Ensures proper stewardship of grants and philanthropic support. Prepares monthly reports to CPP Director, updating on all financial support of CPP and CPP programs. Track expenditures from all CPP accounts. Works with Office of Sponsored Programs to prepare financial reports on all CPP sponsored programs;
• Develops future CPP programs. Develops research and practice initiatives that leverage CPP’s unique strengths to meet needs in the conflict resolution field. Identifies Calls for Proposals and related support opportunities, drafts grant proposals to support research and practice aligned with CPP’s mission of research of peacemaking practice, and serves as PI or co-PI on awarded research and practice grants;
• Continues a vibrant research agenda, both independently and in collaboration with colleagues. Conducts research and publishes research reports as peer-reviewed journal articles and academic press books and chapters in academic press books, as well as publishing public scholarship such as occasional papers, blog posts, or op-eds; and
• Supervises CPP interns, staff, visiting scholars, and affiliates. Recruits and selects CPP interns. Orients new interns. Orients new visiting scholars. Orients new affiliates of CPP. Recruits and selects CPP staff reporting to Executive Director. Provides supervision for interns and staff reporting to Executive Director. Prepares intern and employee evaluations for all people supervised. Facilitates monthly CPP check-ins with CPP interns, staff, visiting scholars, and affiliates.

Required Qualifications:

• Terminal degree in a related field;
• PhD in Conflict Analysis and Resolution or closely related field;
• Generally, 5 or more years experience managing $1 million+ grants and conflict resolution programs;
• Generally, 5 or more years experience participating in conflict resolution practical initiatives;
• Professional fluency in Russian language (reading, writing, and speaking);
• Professional fluency (reading, writing, and speaking) in at least one additional language used widely in the South Caucasus region (Georgian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Abkhaz, Ossetian, etc.);
• Knowledge of conflict resolution and peacemaking practice, Track Two and Track 1.5 process design and facilitation;
• Knowledge of conflict resolution and peacemaking practice program design, implementation, management, funding, monitoring, and evaluation;
• Knowledge of South Caucasus conflicts and conflict resolution processes;
• Proven skills coordinating with multiple stakeholders in peace processes;
• Proven skills in mentoring students and interns at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the conflict resolution field;
• Demonstrated ability to align conflict resolution program implementation with university, commonwealth, federal, and sponsor policies and procedures;
• Demonstrated ability to write winning funding proposals for conflict resolution practice initiatives to multiple donors;
• Proven ability to engage multiple stakeholders in participatory research approaches and experiential learning including practice-based research and learning, experiential learning courses and short courses, and publication of research results; and
• Proven ability to build strong teams across diverse organizational and national entities to support contributions towards peace processes and knowledge of peacebuilding and peacemaking.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Three or more years working experience at George Mason University;
• Experience serving as a PI for grants at George Mason University; and
• Experience authoring peer-reviewed published scholarly works on conflict resolution and peacemaking.

Instructions to Applicants: 

For full consideration, applicants must apply for the Executive Director, Center for Peacemaking Practice at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide and provide a cover letter and CV.

Posting Open Date:  April 22, 2026

For Full Consideration, Apply by:  April 29, 2026

Open Until Filled:  Yes