On Thursday, September 28, in front of an audience of 150 university leaders, members of the Board of Trustees, colleagues, students, family, and friends, Professor Mohammed Abu-Nimer was installed as the inaugural Abdul Aziz Said Chair in International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University.

This momentous occasion was a true celebration of community. The chair, one of eight established during the Change Can’t Wait campaign to date, is named in honor of the late Abdul Aziz Said, SIS/BS ’54, MA ’55, PhD ’57, a peacebuilding pioneer who deeply impacted countless lives throughout his distinguished career of almost sixty years at AU.

The chair is made possible through the generosity of Said’s wife, Elena Turner Said, SIS/BA ’82, generations of colleagues, family, friends, and alumni. Among this group were several brothers of Phi Epsilon Pi, the Jewish fraternity Said championed to establish in the 1950s and which he advised for decades. Contributions from nearly 100 donors, combined with a matched gift from the university, will forever advance Said’s legacy and the work of future generations of peace-waging scholars.

“That full circle—that commitment to core values of inclusivity and community—epitomizes the changemaking that is at the core of AU’s mission,” stated President Sylvia Burwell. “Professor Abdul Aziz Said was a pillar of our community. He helped to define the SIS signature charge of waging peace, challenging traditional paradigms, and ensuring that the values that defined him were values that became a part of who we are today,” she added.

A cherished university fixture and three-time AU alum, Said joined the School of International Service (SIS) when it first opened in 1957 and founded the SIS International Peace and Conflict Resolution program—now one of the largest of its kind and respected throughout the world.

“[Said’s] innovative thinking and inclusion of disparate perspectives in his scholarship forever shaped the field of international affairs,” noted SIS dean Shannon Hader.

As one of the greatest honors bestowed upon professors, endowed positions recognize individuals who excel in their fields at the highest level. Chaired positions are vital to the university’s future, as they help AU attract and retain prominent faculty and drive changemaking work in perpetuity.

Elena Turner Said spoke during the program, acknowledging there is no better-suited scholar than Professor Abu-Nimer to serve as the inaugural chairholder. Abu-Nimer is a leading peacebuilding and conflict resolution scholar with a distinguished career spanning over three decades, including 22 years alongside Professor Said. He received his PhD in conflict analysis and resolution from George Mason University and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Abu-Nimer’s work encompasses extensive research and practice in peacebuilding in divided societies; nonviolence, dialogue, and religion; applying conflict resolution models in Muslim communities; Palestinian-Jewish relations in Israel; and impact evaluation of peacebuilding interventions, with recent research focused on faith-based peacebuilding and policymaking.

He is the author of several influential publications and has received numerous honors throughout his accomplished career, including the PEACE Distinguished Scholar Award from the International Studies Association and the International Fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust, both earlier this year. Abu-Nimer is president and founder of the Salam Institute for Peace and Justice, served several years as a senior advisor of the KAICIID Dialogue Centre, and was director of AU’s Peacebuilding and Development Institute for 13 years.

“We are proud that AU is home to such a respected and distinguished researcher and field leader,” noted Acting Provost and Chief Academic Officer Vicky Wilkins.

(From left to right) SIS Dean Shannon Hader, Acting Provost and Chief Academic Officer Vicky Wilkins, Professor Mohammed Abu-Nimer, AU President Sylvia M. Burwell

Following customary tradition, Professor Abu-Nimer led his first lecture as chairholder after the official installation. “Peace be upon you,” he acknowledged to the audience, along with, “Yes, yes,” a nod to his late colleague that resonated around the room.

Abu-Nimer thanked attendees for celebrating Professor Said’s legacy, adding, “It is an honor to be part of a community of peacemakers.”

During his talk, Abu-Nimer shared his five principles to promote peace through action: recognizing and celebrating the beauty of human diversity; bringing heart into peacebuilding and resolving conflict; standing for marginalized groups; promoting the art of imagining peace; and making space for spirituality and faith. “[The heart] creates a deeper understanding and empathy . . . [and is] the path for humanizing the ‘other,’” he said, also explaining that many of us are taught to be afraid of the unknown.

Storytelling, he added, provides tremendous value for supporting and nurturing positive change. Abu-Nimer cited the end of apartheid in South Africa and the slavery system in the United States, as well as post-colonial and dictatorship eras in areas of the Middle East as movement.

“If we stop—if I stop—we have no future, and we did not do our duties in this life as leaders or as people,” he said.