Executive Committee
Ex-Officio – Executive Director: Michael Loadenthal, Ph.D.
Michael Loadenthal, Ph.D., is the Executive Director of the Peace and Justice Studies Association, and also serves as an Assistant Professor of Research in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Cincinnati, and the Executive Director of the Prosecution Project. He completed his PhD in 2015 at George Mason University, and previously completed an MLitt at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St Andrews in 2010. Dr. Loadenthal has taught courses on political violence, terrorism and sociology at Georgetown University, George Mason University, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Malta, Miami University, Jessup Correctional Institution and the DC Jail. Michael has served as the Dean’s Fellow for the George Mason’s School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, a Practitioner-In-Residence for Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice, a Research Fellow at Hebrew Union College’s Center for the Study of Ethics and Contemporary Moral Problems, and a Senior Research Associate with the Better Evidence Project. His work has been published in a variety of venues including Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Critical Studies on Terrorism, Journal for the Study of Radicalism, Perspectives on Terrorism, Journal of Applied Security Research, Journal of Feminist Scholarship, Journal of Radical Criminology, Anarchist Developments in Cultural Studies and other social movement and political theory journals and books.
Contact: Michael@peacejusticestudies.org
Co-Chair: Geoffrey Bateman, Ph.D. (22-24)
Geoffrey Bateman (he/him/his) has been involved in PJSA for almost ten years. He is Associate Professor in the Department of Peace and Justice Studies at Regis University, and teaches courses on homelessness, LGBTQ+ activism, nonviolence, and research and writing in the community. Over the past few decades his community-based work has included HIV prevention, fighting the gay ban in the military, and working for marriage equality. From 2012 to 2020, he served on the board of The Gathering Place, Denver’s only daytime, drop-in shelter for women, children, and transgender individuals experiencing poverty and homelessness. For the past five years, he served as Associate Dean for Student Support and Experiential Learning in Regis College. His current scholarship examines queer nonviolence through the work of LGBTQ+ writers, activists, and movements. His recent publications focus on the intersection of vocation, queerness, and social justice, including essays “Queer Callings: LGBTQ Literature and Vocation,” and “Queer Vocation and the Uncommon Good.”
Co-Chair: Margarita Tadevosyan, Ph.D. (22-24)
Margarita Tadevosyan is a Research Assistant Professor and post-Doctoral research fellow at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. She is a scholar-practitioner of conflict resolution with over a decade of experience of convening and facilitating Track II dialogue projects in the South Caucasus. Her primary area of research interest is locally-led peacemaking and peacebuilding work, with a particular emphasis on relationships developed between local actors and international organizations. Dr. Tadevosyan has worked in the post-Soviet space, in particular in the South Caucasus, engaging with Armenian-Azerbaijani, Armenian-Turkish, and Georgian-South Ossetian conflict contexts. She received her PhD from George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution in 2019. She also holds Masters Degrees in Peace Operations Policy and Conflict Resolution, as well as a Certificate in Peace Research from University of Oslo.
Secretary: Robin Cooper, Ph.D. (23-25)
Dr. Robin Cooper is Assistant Dean and Professor of Conflict Resolution and Ethnic Studies at Nova Southeastern University’s Halmos College of Arts and Sciences. Her research interests focus on identity-based conflict, cross-cultural conflict resolution, and collaborative practices in organizational and community contexts. In addition to serving as Secretary for PJSA, she is Associate Editor of Forum: Qualitative Social Research, and an Associate of the Taos Institute, a community of scholars whose practice reflects the principles of social constructionism.
Treasurer: Wim Laven, Ph.D. (23-25)
Dr. Wim Laven teaches Conflict Resolution and Peace Studies at Cuyahoga Community College in Ohio. He recently completed his PhD in International Conflict Management at Kennesaw State University with the dissertation, “Where do we go from here?” The influence of personality and social motivators on attitudes toward structural violence and interpersonal forgiveness. He has also taught conflict resolution, peace studies, and political science and international affairs at a range of institutions including Kennesaw State University, Lee Arrendale State Prison (a maximum-security facility in Georgia), Life University, and Portland State University. Over the last two decades he has been involved in projects related to conflict, humanitarian assistance, peacebuilding, and reconciliation on four continents. He has attended the annual PJSA conference for the last eight years as well as the last two IPRA conferences, where he is in his second term as a North American representative on the governing council. He recently joined the editorial team for the revamped magazine The Peace Chronicle (formerly PJSA’s newsletter) and he frequently contributes op-eds for syndication by PeaceVoice.