Johanna A. Solomon

Welcome! I am an interdisciplinary scholar and conflict resolution practitioner interested in core questions of identity in peace and reconciliation. I am particularly interested in dialogue and community building processes and outcomes. 

My academic work and practice examines race and religious relations within the United States. I specialize in research and community building around issues of identity in conflict and peace-building. Much of my work focuses on inter-group relations and inter-group contact related to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. This includes political, racial, and religious tensions in the United States. I have worked with the Olive Tree Initiative, NewGround: Muslim Jewish Partnership for Change, The Department of Justice Community Relations Service, and the National Conflict Resolution Center. I have also conducted international field work in the Middle East; I was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Tel Aviv and Inter-Disciplinary Center in Herzliya as a Rotary Global Grant Scholar during the 2013-2014 academic year. 

Local peacebuilding through dialogue and connection is my passion. I am a certified mediator with hundreds of hours of mediation experience from small claims court to community work. Specifically, I practice large group facilitation and mediation. While at Kent State, I have worked on community projects in North Hill Akron, on community relations during refugee resettlement, I have developed targeted strategic planning and community building interventions for several departments and Universities in North East Ohio, and I continue to develop innovative strategies for dialogue in partnership with undergraduate and graduate students. I am passionate about working locally to end cycles of violence, including community engagement with incarcerated individuals through the Alternatives to Violence Project and foster care with programs including First Star Academy. 

My prior position was as the Mellon Post-Doctoral Scholar in Peace and Conflict Studies at Grinnell College located in beautiful Grinnell, Iowa. In the past I have taught at UC Irvine, San Diego State University and Chapman University on topics including alternative dispute resolution, conflict resolution, gender, public policy, the Middle East, and research methods.  I hold a PhD from the Department of Political Science at the University of California Irvine. In addition I hold a BA from the University of Chicago in Comparative Human Development, a MA in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University, and a MA in Political Psychology from UC Irvine.
 

Courses

• Introduction to Conflict Management
• Honors Introduction to Conflict Management
• Cross-Cultural Conflict Management 
• Identity Driven Conflicts 
• CAM ProSeminar 
• Negotiation
• Alternatives to Violence Project 

Recent Publications

2021 Editor. Four Dead in Ohio: The Global Legacy of Youth Activism and State Repression. Research in Social Movements, Conflicts and Change. Emerald Publishing. ISBN-13: 978-1800718081 ISBN-10: 180071808X https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/detail/Four-Dead-in-Ohio/?k=9781800718081

2020 Meanings of Peace (Hancock and Solomon) in Hampson, Ozerdem, F. A. and Kent J. (eds.)(2020) The Routledge Handbook of Peace, Security and Development.

2019 (Solomon, J., Kaplan, D., & Hancock, L.) . Ethno-Nationalist Views Amongst Blue Lives Matters Supporters. Geopolitics. https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2019.1642876

(Solomon, J., & Martin, A) Competitive Victimhood as a Lens to Reconciliation: An Analysis of the Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter Movements. Conflict Resolution Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21262

2017 (Ron, Y., Solomon, J., Halperin, E., & Saguy, T. ). Willingness to engage in intergroup contact: A multilevel approach. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 23(3), 210-218. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pac0000204

2015 (Brunstetter, Solomon & Wehrenfennig) Multiplying Educational Perspectives: An Evaluation of The Olive Tree Initiative as an Experiential Education and Reconciliation Program in Del Felice, C. and A. Wisler (eds.) (2015) Peace education evaluation: Learning from experience and exploring prospects. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Press.