Several undergraduate students are tackling an undertaking usually relegated as a graduate school endeavor: organizing an academic conference.

Scheduled for the week of March 23, the Loyola-hosted Student Peace Summit will consist of several different elements concerning the intentionally broad theme of “peace.”

“It is an invaluable opportunity for students to not only examine the multifaceted meanings of peace from a variety of perspectives, but to also help foster peace and understanding in our community and beyond,” Jihan Shami, biological sciences freshman and chairwoman of the research committee, said.

For the research element of the conference, the student-run coordinating committee is calling for proposals on projects from Loyola and Tulane students by Friday, Nov. 21. The committee is taking proposals for research papers between 10 and 12 pages, along with proposals for visual and performance-oriented projects.

Through a Blackboard course with the same name as the conference, the committee has asked students to submit proposals in the form of 250-word abstracts relating to the subject of peace. Students can submit abstracts for projects through the Blackboard course, which has been added to each student’s account.

Shami said she hopes the broad topic of peace will attract a number of different topic suggestions from all of the colleges. A goal of the conference is to offer solutions for peace on different levels and from different perspectives she said. “The potential college students have to unite and make an impact on the world that surrounds them is inexhaustible,” Shami said “By merely facilitating the discussion of peace on campus, we can move towards identifying the sources of conflict in the world today, and think of ways to promote a level of understanding between different cultures and amongst each other.”

The student committee will review proposals and get back with students. Before the due date for finished papers and projects the committee plans to host writing and research seminars with faculty members for consultation.

The conference aims to be completely student-run; however, in the immediate stages of planning and preparation several faculty have stepped in as advisory roles – political science professor Roger White and history professors Judith Hunt and Behrooz Moazami.

“Hopefully, this would be less and less in coming weeks, ” Moazami said. “Our future scholars are learning the rules of the game fast, and I see great potential in them and in their work. After all, they are the generation of change.”

Steve Heath can be reached at [email protected].