KINGSTON, R.I. – July 1, 2026 – The University of Rhode Island will welcome prospective peacemakers from around the world in an effort to cease violence in their home communities through nonviolent conflict resolution.
The 27th annual International Nonviolence Summer Institute will be held Monday, July 13, through Friday, July 24, at URI’s Multicultural Student Services Center, 74 Lower College Road, on the Kingston Campus. Attendees are offered two levels of certification, and rooming options either on or off campus.
The institute, led by URI’s Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, certifies participants on resolving conflicts and social justice issues through nonviolent means. The institute is also one of the leading Kingian nonviolence training institutes in the United States. Academic credits are available and attendees can register for the institute through the URI CNPS’ website.
“We will have a wonderful and enlightened group of people come to URI to learn and apply skills on how to create a world free from hatred and injustice, and have peace become a permanent reality,” said Thupten Tendhar, specialist for CNPS and the institute’s director.
Participants at this year’s institute will explore background information and key concepts to become a nonviolence trainer, including reducing misinformation and disinformation, community self-sufficiency and data collection, tactical nonviolent responses to conflicts, engaging with policymakers and the media, and critical essays and principles written by Martin Luther King Jr. to become a nonviolence trainer. There will also be seminars, small group discussions, individual study and team activities for attendees to take part in, as well as leadership training for those looking to establish their own nonviolence centers.
Keeping the peace
The institute has certified more than 1,000 people in Kingian nonviolence since its founding in 1999. More than 30 participants from eight U.S. states and across the world, including Cuba, India, Ghana, Nigeria and Liberia, are expected to attend this summer’s training, Tendhar said.
Past institute attendees have become nonviolence leaders, advocates, teachers and peace warriors in their respective communities after receiving training at URI. Thupten said members of Ghana’s police force learned various tactics to minimize violent conflicts in the African nation, and some officers will return to URI for additional training this summer. Members from Liberia’s foreign affairs ministry also gained knowledge through the institute on maintaining peace, Tendhar said.
Additionally, several guest speakers are scheduled to address attendees during the two-week-long institute to further help enhance peace and prosperity in their home states and nations. Among them are Roya Izadi, URI assistant political science professor and CNPS’ associate director; Michael Collins, the Institute for Economics and Peace’s executive director for The Americas; Victoria Christgau, executive director for the Connecticut Center for Nonviolence; Robin Wildman, executive director for Nonviolent Schools Rhode Island; and Charles Alphin Sr., senior instructor for The King Center and longtime colleague of Bernard Lafayette Jr.—the late civil rights trailblazer and CNPS’ inaugural director.
Thupten said the institute’s work in helping create a nonviolent society is more critical as more lethal means are being developed, whether it’s through physical contact or digital platforms.
“It is vital that we need more people to understand what the nonviolent principles and tactics are and apply them to at least minimize conflict and create a better world for all to exist in,” Tendhar said.
More information and a full schedule of this year’s International Nonviolence Summer Institute can be found on the URI Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies’ website.