Posted by Mike Weaver, District 5240 Peace Chair

 

Each year, Rotary selects up to 100 professionals from around the world to receive fellowships to study at one of our peace centers. Through academic training, practice, and global networking opportunities, the Rotary Peace Fellowship program develops leaders who become catalysts for peace and conflict prevention and resolution. These fellowships cover tuition and fees, room and board, round-trip transportation, and all internship and field-study expenses.

The Rotary Peace Fellowship is the premier academic scholarship of The Rotary Foundation, supporting Rotary’s mission to empower, educate, and increase the capacity of peacebuilders through rigorous academic training, practice, and global networking opportunities. Through this experience, Rotary Peace Fellows build the skills needed to become leaders and catalysts for peace and conflict resolution both in their communities and around the globe. 

The fellowship is intended for individuals who have chosen a career related to international relations, peace, and conflict resolution; who have work experience in these areas; and who have a commitment to community or international humanitarian service and to working for peace.

Each year, The Rotary Foundation awards up to 50 fellowships for master’s degrees and 50 for certificate studies at premier universities around the world. 

Last year, David Stovall of the Rotary Club of Thousand Oaks submitted the name of Terrance Stevenson for consideration as a Rotary Peace Fellow. Terrence works at the US Peace Corps offices in Washington, D.C. He serves as financial liaison and point of contact between Peace Corps’ Office of Chief Financial Officer and outside agencies on issues related to interagency financial agreement transactions and private sector donations. He manages revenue databases of over $7.8 million in contributions from donations, collections and claims in the agency’s financial systems. In order to gain some field experience, Terrance spent a summer in Armenia teaching English and chaired a country wide HIV and AIDS awareness campaign.

This spring Terrance will complete his Master Degree in International Service at American University. He has previously worked with other nonprofit organizations as the William J. Clinton Foundation in Little Rock, Arkansas and The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. 

As District Peace Chair, I reviewed Terrance’s academic credentials, work experiences and reasons he believed that being a Rotary Peace Fellow was the right fit for him personally in order to achieve his career goals. A committee of District 5240 current, past and future District Governors conducted a personal interview with Terrence and he received the district’s endorsement for his application to be submitted for further consideration by Rotary International.  The selection process by The Rotary Foundation is highly competitive. Only a fraction of the applications that are submitted annually are finally chosen to receive a scholarship to one of the six Peace Center universities around the world.

 

We are delighted that Terrance Stevenson was selected a 2018 Rotary Peace Fellow and will pursue a Master’s Degree Program in Peace and Conflict Resolution at the University of Bradford in Bradford, England. https://youtu.be/etnu3mj5IzA.

 

After graduation, Terrance plans to further the promotion of peace through training others in financial management and investments. He eventually would like to start his own nonprofit to advance economic development in the developing world.

 

We hope that you will have an opportunity to meet Terrance at the District Assembly in March of this year.

 

In just over a decade, the Rotary Peace Centers have trained more than 1,000 fellows for careers in peacebuilding. Many of them are serving as leaders at the UN or international organizations around the world.

 

The District is looking for candidates for consideration for 2019 Rotary Peace Fellow scholarship. Send names of anyone you think might be interested and has the required credentials to Mike Weaver, D5240 Peace Chair, amweaver@pacbell.net.