Program Highlighted | Peace & Conflict Studies
Peace & Conflict Introduction | Tallie Rabin-Claassen
Interview with | Mike Lawrence

Interview | Mike Lawrence

Mike is a 4th year Peace & Conflict Studies specialist at the University of Toronto.

Innis: Would you introduce yourself, and your field of study?
Mike: My name is Mike Lawrence; I am a fourth year Peace & Conflict Specialist with a minor in Philosophy.

Innis: What attracted you to study Peace & Conflict Studies?
Mike:Probably a naïve pretension of saving the world and I just wanted to do something that captures more global and worldly issues, something to do with politics but also mixes history. What attracted to this program specifically is that you can have a lot of flexibility; you can develop your own program, and can pursue some of my own interests. It’s also very multidisciplinary. I don’t think sticking with one discipline is fun or necessarily adequate.

Innis: How is your program different from International Relations or Political Science?
Mike: One of the big differences from International Relations is that you don’t have to take second year economics. It really depends on what you want to do with it; you can focus it geographically or thematically. They encourage you to take not only political science courses.

Innis:Do you have a focus?
Mike:Latin America developed into one of my regional focuses, but it was intended that way.

Innis:Did you ever think of combining your specialist with other programs? If so, which & why?
Mike:I just have a strong interest in philosophy coming out of high school and I think it helps.

Innis: What aspects of the program do you find fascinating or inspiring (curriculum, professors, practical experience, field courses)?
Mike:You get to design your own program. If you are very independent and have a strong idea of what you want to do, then you can submit these ideas in your interview mapping out the next 3 years of your university career, which can still change of course. The idea is you develop your own academic curriculum. If you’re inclined to look at something in depth in the world, you can do that.

It’s a small and tight knit community, unlike political science where it’s a really big program and they can’t sustain a sense of community like smaller programs.  There are three mandatory core courses that every Peace and Conflict specialist/major has to take, which allows us to get to know each other pretty well.

Within the core peace and conflict classes and even within other classes, you learn a lot very quickly. The level of academic performance excepted from you is very high compared to typical political science and history classes just because it’s a very hard program to get into and they’re asking you to look at very complex things very quickly and thoroughly. So, the program is for people who are interested in a challenge, perhaps even a hint of elitism.

Innis:It seems to me that it’s a very exclusive program. What are the requirements?
Mike:It’s a type 3 program. Initially, they look at your marks, but there’s also an interview. They really try to get a variety of people in the program, so its not really just marks. They look for people with various international, volunteer, and travel experiences. They look for people who have a clear idea of what they want to do, not necessarily in life, but with their undergraduate career – people who are really enthusiastic. So preparation for applying for this program is really essential.

Innis: Peace & Conflict is associared with “The Trudeau Centre”. How would you rate its facilities and opportunities?
Mike:The program administration is housed there, along with offices of the professors and visiting scholars. It is not specific to Peace & Conflict students; it’s basically just a housing community for students and professors.

Innis: Of all the courses in this program you have taken so far, which one did you enjoy the most and why? How did the class size or frequency of the interaction with the professor affect how you rated the course?
Mike:JUP 460Y “Issues in Peace & Conflict Studies. It’s taught by Professor Walsh, who is a fantastic professor, who was nice enough to get us grants from UofT to go to Japan. In the first semester, we were taught about Security Ontology. The professor took a lot of time to develop a syllabus which looked into unconventional ideas and approaches that you wouldn’t find together in any Political Science or any other course.

Innis: What extracurricular activities have you been involved with on campus since coming to UofT?
Mike:Within the program, there is the Peace & Conflict Student Society. In third year, we decided to put on an international academic conference. Basically we get speakers and delegates form all over the world. The first year it was about peace building and last year was on conflict prevention, preventive diplomacy and crisis management all together. I was heavily involved in the planning in both conferences. We were students starting at zero, we managed to raise close to $80,000 to get speakers in from as far as Australia and delegates from Kosovo. That was an amazing experience.

Innis: Given your heavy course load and work that you are involved with, how did you manage to organize your time?
Mike:Very chaotically. If I really have to get work done, I’ll go to the library for a day or long periods of time and separate myself from everything, but everything overlaps and you end up doing three different things at once, which is part of the excitement. 

Innis:Of all your achievements here at UofT, which one are you most proud of?
Mike:The conferences were one thing. Also, I’ve been a floor don for the past three years, which has been amazing.

Innis: As a student in this field, you might have researched the job market. What kinds of employment opportunities are there?
Mike:I have researched the next step not necessarily the job market. Undergraduate degrees aren’t quite enough in most cases, so I’m preoccupied with doing my masters right now.

Innis:What types of career are you interested in developing in the future?
Mike:A lot of people have gone on to work for various NGOs, human rights, development, and global health. Others have worked for government, policy analysis, and law. Also, people could work for international organizations, like the United Nations. And quite a few go on to become scholars.

Innis:Are there any other things you would like to say to Innis students?
Mike:Just think about what you want to do; think about what you want to get out of your undergraduate career and how much work you are willing to put into it.

On behalf of Innis College, I would like to thank you for coming and giving us your time …

For furher information about the program in University of Toronto and beyond, click here.