Peace Scholar Named

Posted by Jill Brickman

on Jan 13, 2013

District 6440 is proud to announce that our candidate for a Rotary Peace Fellowship has been selected by the trustees of The Rotary Foundation to earn a professional development certificate at Chulangakorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. This prestigious award will enable Gururaj Kumar, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Evanston Lighthouse, to pursue peace studies for three months during 2013.

Gururaj is a native of Michigan who lives with his wife on the north side of Chicago. His leadership potential was first recognized by Rotary when his hometown Rotary club selected him to participate in Rotary Youth Leadership Awards. His academic background includes a master’s degree in international peace and conflict resolution, and his career has reflected his deep commitment to mediation and coalition building. He is currently a conflict management consultation and an educator at American University’s School of International service. His ability to apply his academic work to practical situations is impressive and demonstrated extensively by his professional pursuits. In addition, his good humor and personable approach will enable him to take the tools from Chulangakorn and use them effectively in the future.

Rotary’s Peace Fellows program also includes master’s degree programs at Rotary Centers throughout the world. Rotary clubs are encouraged to identify potential candidates. Once endorsed by a sponsoring club, the candidates are screened by a district committee. Selected candidates are forwarded to The Rotary Foundation, where selections are made through a world-competitive process. There is no direct cost to club or district for sponsoring Peace Fellows. Clubs should watch for applicants. Former youth exchange students, group study exchange team members and Ambassadorial Scholars are all eligible to apply as long as they’re not immediate relatives of Rotarians. The more applicants we identify, the more likely we are to sponsor successful candidates.

Our district’s previous successful candidate, Matthew Bright, was sponsored by the Rotary Club of Northbrook and studied at the Rotary Center at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia from 2002 – 2004.

For more information, visit www.rotary.org or contact Jill Brickman (312-805-1980).