April 2012

Dear S-CAR Community,

I am writing to tell you about an exciting project underway, and to invite your input and participation.  S-CAR’s Advisory Board is sponsoring a project to write S-CAR’s history since its inception (as CCAR) in 1981-2.  I have the privilege of conducting the research and authoring the book, which the Advisory Board will then publish. 

As anyone connected with S-CAR knows, the School contributed significantly to the field of Conflict Analysis and Resolution as a whole.  The purpose of this project and the resulting publication is to document S-CAR institutional history in a comprehensive manner, while highlighting the profound effect S-CAR has had on the field of conflict analysis and resolution and beyond.  The intended audiences for this publication are academics in the field, policy makers, donors (past, present, and future), and prospective students.  The book will provide a chronology of S-CAR’s creation and evolution, highlighting major milestones along the way; the philosophy behind the creation of CCAR, and behind various curricular and programmatic developments; and the outreach and impact that S-CAR (CCAR, ICAR) has had on the field of conflict resolution, on other academic disciplines, on policy-making and politics, and on other relevant professional fields.

I am writing to tell you about this project, but more importantly to invite you to actively participate in it.  Every one of us has had a different relationship with S-CAR, and has had different experiences related to it.  While I will be contacting some of you directly and individually, I will not be able to find each and every one of you or talk to each of you in person.  Thus, I invite you all to be proactive: if you have an experience, and anecdote, or anything “material” you believe is an important piece of S-CAR’s history that needs to be told, please write and tell me about it.  In the very least, I invite you each to write me a few paragraphs, tell me what your relationship to S-CAR is (faculty, alumni, affiliate, etc), how your connection with S-CAR has impacted your life, what you are currently doing (especially if it relates to conflict/CR), what you have published on the matter, what organizations you have founded or with which you are affiliated, where you teach, or any other relevant information.  Since much of the publication’s purpose is to show the impact S-CAR has had on the broader community worldwide, all of these pieces of information are useful and relevant.  To make the task easier, I am attaching a few “survey questions”.  Please send those back to me at your earliest convenience, to scarhistoryproject@gmail.com (or afriedm1@gmu.edu)

I look forward to hearing from you and together documenting the story of S-CAR, which is in fact all of our interwoven stories.

Sincerely,

Adina Friedman (ICAR PhD, 2006)

QUESTIONNAIRE

(Please use as much space as you need to answer the following questions)

Biographical & contact information:

Name:                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Contact information:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Affiliation with/relationship to S-CAR (ICAR, CCAR):                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

During what years did you study, teach, or otherwise work at S-CAR?                                                                

Additional information:

1. Where do you currently work?               
2. In what ways is your work connected to the field of conflict analysis & resolution?
3. In what ways has ICAR/S-CAR affected your career and otherwise impacted your life?
4. In what way has ICAR/S-CAR, through your professional and personal endeavors, had a broader impact?  (In other words: in what ways, and to whom, have ICAR/S-CAR related experiences and knowledge been disseminated)?
5. If you have published anything in the field (or related fields), please list your publications.
6. Have won any awards or received formal recognition for your work?
7. If you are working in academia or policy making (related to conflict analysis & resolution), what academic or professional conferences do you usually attend?
8. What do you believe a book on the history of S-CAR should include?
9. If you have any other relevant information you wish to share, please do so.

*A digital version of the template will be available soon through the S-CAR Knowledge Management System (KMS) at http://scar.gmu.edu/