Globally Renowned Peacebuilder and Conflict-Resolution Expert Alice Nderitu Appointed Civic Friendship Fellow at Assumption University
Assumption University today announced that Alice Nderitu, former United Nations Under Secretary General and Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide and a globally renowned expert in peace building and conflict transformation, has been appointed the inaugural Fellow at its Center for Civic Friendship.
Nderitu has dedicated her life to building peace in some of the world’s most divided regions, including the Balkans, Nigeria, Myanmar, Kenya, and South Africa. As the inaugural Civic Friendship Fellow, she brings unparalleled global experience to Assumption’s mission of forming students who seek truth in the company of friends.
She will work closely with Assumption students, including ambassadors of the Center and with the Civic Friendship Scholars, a cohort of ten outstanding students from across the nation and around the globe, including Uganda, the Dominican Republic, and the Czech Republic. The scholars each receive a $10,000 annual scholarship to support their participation in the Center’s work, as they live in shared housing and model engaged citizenship on campus through dialogue, service, and scholarship. Nderitu, who partnered with Eradicate Hate to launch the UN’s Game Plan initiative countering hate through sport, will also work with the Center to help student athletes meet a new NCAA requirement for civic engagement.
“We aspire for the Center for Civic Friendship to be a national model in cultivating friendship of citizens with the power to bridge divides in our mutual pursuit of the common good,” said Assumption University President Greg Weiner. “Ms. Nderitu has embodied that mission throughout her world-spanning career. We are honored to welcome her to Assumption, where her commitment to ethical leadership, civic courage, and productive conversation and disagreement will offer a powerful example to our students, faculty, and staff—and a timely contribution to our national and global discourse.”
As one of the world’s most respected mediators of armed conflict, Nderitu served as a senior adviser in reconciliation processes in Kenya as Commissioner of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission, as well as founding member and co-Chair of the Uwiano Platform for Peace, Kenya’s first early warning and response prevention agency.
Nderitu has served as a member of the African Union’s Network of African Women in Conflict Prevention and Mediation (Fem-Wise), the Women Waging Peace Network, and is the founder of Community Voices for Peace and Pluralism, a network of African women professionals preventing, transforming and solving violent, ethnic, racial and religious conflicts worldwide.
“I was raised in an oral tradition where problems were resolved through human connection, and where elders passed down knowledge through generations,” Nderitu observed. “Today, young people live in an internet age with access to vast amounts of information. They have ways of navigating the world that elder people do not always have. While at Assumption University, I look forward to engaging with young people, sharing knowledge and learning from each other, together. In this way, above all, I hope the Center for Civic Friendship helps us strengthen human connections.”
Nderitu holds a Master of Armed Conflict and Peace Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in literature and philosophy from the University of Nairobi. She is a Transitional Justice Fellow at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in South Africa and has lectured at the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, School for International Training Graduate Institute, and Pretoria University’s Centre for Human Rights.
She received the Woman Peace-Maker of the Year award from the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego in 2012, the inaugural Global Pluralism Award from the Aga Khan and the Government of Canada in 2017, the Jack P. Blaney Award for using dialogue to support conflict resolution in 2018 from the Simon Fraser University, an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Keene State College in 2022, and the Ruth Bader Ginsburg award from Moment Magazine in 2025 in recognition of her innovative approach to conflict resolution and her commitment to advancing peace across the globe.
About Assumption University
Assumption University, founded in 1904 by the Augustinians of the Assumption, is a premier New England university for high-quality education, integrating career preparation and education of the whole person, drawing upon the best in the rich and centuries-long tradition of Catholic higher education. Assumption’s graduates are known for their intellectual seriousness, thoughtful citizenship, and devotion to the common good. The University offers 37 majors and 49 minors in the liberal arts, sciences, business, nursing, professional studies, and other areas, as well as graduate degrees and professional credentials. For more information about Assumption University, please visit assumption.edu or follow us @AssumptionUMA.