Seamus Tuohy

Outgoing President, Graduate Students in Conflict Studies (GSCS): GSCS is the representative body, to the administration and faculty, for all Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) graduate students. GSCS addresses issues of student concern and its officers, elected by the student body, have an active role on various departmental committees including the Advisory Board, Faculty, and Curriculum committees. The co-presidents of GSCS work together to oversee GSCS activities and committees. Being co-president of GSCS changed Seamus Tuohy's second year at ICAR in fundamental ways.

The experience with GSCS was positive for Seamus. The opportunity to work closely with a group of passionate students and faculty who hold the student voice in high esteem was well worth the extra work that came with his position. Seamus describes ICAR as the sort of school where you get out what you put in. The more involved you are as a student, the more you get in return. He felt included in the ICAR community, in part, because he spent so much time here. Between various student positions on the Arlington Campus, GSCS, and membership in multiple working groups, he was able to gain access to a level of community at ICAR others don't often reach.

Seamus is most excited to bring with him the dedication of the group of students who have gotten involved with GSCS's various programs and the faculty who put energy, thought and care into the events and decisions put forward by GSCS.

With thoughts toward future involvement in research or academia, Seamus chose to work on a thesis as his integration option. Using the Los Angeles Police Department (Rampart Division) scandal as a case study, Seamus explored how structural composition impacts cultural and individual understandings of acceptable behavior, and the way that groups within structures enact conflicts. When asked to describe his time at ICAR in one sentence, Seamus said, "The drive and passion of those I have met here has incited me to challenge myself in my understanding of both the complexity of conflict and the creativity necessary for resolution.