Rate My Professor Kevin Avruch

Kevin Avruch, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at George Mason University and Henry Hart Rice Professor of Conflict Resolution Emeritus, holds an A.B. from the University of Chicago and M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California, San Diego. He joined George Mason University in 1980 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, advancing to Associate Professor in 1984 and Professor in 1993. He served as Coordinator of the Anthropology Program from 1990 to 1996, Associate Director of the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) from 2005 to 2008, was appointed Henry Hart Rice Professor of Conflict Resolution in 2009, and acted as Dean of the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (S-CAR) from 2013 to 2019. Prior to GMU, he taught at UCSD and the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has held visiting positions including Joan B. Kroc Peace Scholar at the University of San Diego in 2009 and Fulbright Specialist at Banaras Hindu University in 2011.

Avruch's scholarly output includes more than 75 articles and essays, and authorship or editorship of seven books, such as Critical Essays on Israeli Society, Religion, and Government (1997), Culture and Conflict Resolution (1998), Information Campaigns for Peace Operations (2000), Context and Pretext in Conflict Resolution: Essays on Culture, Identity, Power and Practice (2013), and Conflict Resolution and Human Needs: Linking Theory and Practice (with Christopher Mitchell, 2013). Context and Pretext was named Book of the Year by the Conflict Research Society in 2014. His research focuses on culture theory and conflict analysis and resolution, third-party processes, cross-cultural negotiation, nationalist and ethno-religious social movements, human rights, and politics and society in contemporary Israel. He has lectured widely in the United States and abroad. His contributions have been honored with the Distinguished Scholar Award in Peace Studies from the International Studies Association (2018), Senior Fellowship in the Jennings Randolph Program for International Peace at the United States Institute of Peace (1996-1997), and service as book review editor for Anthropological Quarterly and on editorial boards of the Journal of Political and Military Sociology, Social Justice, and the University of Pennsylvania Press series The Ethnography of Political Violence. As Dean, he oversaw the construction of the Point of View conference and retreat facility, integration of the Mary Hoch Center for Reconciliation, and the campaign leading to the school's renaming in honor of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.