W&M professor wins peacekeeper training award
Professor Harvey Langholtz, of William & Mary’s Department of Psychology, has been awarded the 2009 Peacekeeping Education and Training Award.
The award was announced November 26 at the annual meeting of the International Association of Peacekeeping Training Centres. Held in Sydney Australia, the annual meeting includes United Nations Peacekeepers and people world-wide involved in the training, screening, and selection of UN Peacekeepers. The award was presented to Professor Langholtz in Sydney by Rear Admiral Gboribiogha Johah, director of the Nigerian War College, and president of the International Association of Peacekeeping Training Centres.
According to International Association for Peacekeeping Training Centres’ own guidelines for the award “The purpose of the award is to acknowledge excellence in the field of peacekeeping education and training. The individual or group must have demonstrated a unique and extremely valuable contribution to peacekeeping education and training and to the preparation of individuals or groups to participate in future or current peace operations.”
Professor Langholtz founded a not-for-profit which employs current William & Mary students, recent graduates, and others from the Peninsula, and provides on-line peacekeeping training world-wide over the internet. During each of the past three years the program has exceeded 100,000 enrolments globally and offers 22 courses in English, 19 in French, two in Portuguese, 19 in Spanish, and recently the first in Arabic. The program is open to anyone world-wide and is partially funded through grants or agreements from the governments of Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bangladesh, Chile, Canada, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, and also directly through private donations which are tax-deductible for US citizens.
The text of the award states “In recognition to your achievements in developing key strategic partnerships; development of doctrine, training programs and in providing strong leadership in peacekeeper education.” Professor Langholtz has personally visited many of the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East. He is widely published in the field, including two books “The Psychology of Peacekeeping” and “The Psychology of Diplomacy.”
