Religion and Peacemaking

Specialists

David Smock, Vice President - David R. Smock is the vice president of USIP's Center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution and associate vice president of the Religion and Peacemaking program. Previously he served as director of USIP’s Grant program and coordinator of Africa activities. He has worked on African issues for over 30 years and lived in Africa for 11 years. As a staff member of the Ford Foundation from 1964 to 1980, he served in Ghana, Kenya, Lebanon, Nigeria, and New York. From 1980 to 1986, Smock served concurrently as director of the South African Education Program, a scholarship program that brings black South African students to U.S. universities, and vice president for program development and research for the Institute of International Education.

After serving as executive associate to the president of the United Church of Christ from 1986 to 1989, Smock became executive director of International Voluntary Services, supervising development projects in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. He received a Ph.D. in anthropology from Cornell University and an M.Div. from New York Theological Seminary.

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Qamar-ul Huda, Senior Progam Officer - Qamar-ul Huda joined USIP as a program officer in the Religion and Peacemaking program in June 2005. Current a senior program officer, his research focuses on Islamic thought and Islamic philosophy on violence, non-violence and conflict resolution. Prior to joining USIP, Huda was a professor of Islamic Studies and comparative religion at Boston College's Theology department (1997-2005), and a visiting professor of Islamic studies at the College of Holy Cross and Brandeis University. He serves as advisor to the Archdiocese of Boston on Interfaith Relations and has written on the subject of dialogue and interfaith studies as a critical way to foster peace. Previously, Huda focused on political, theological, and social history of Islamic mysticism and treatises dealing with Qur'anic hermeneutics. He holds a Ph.D. in Islamic intellectual history from the history department at the University of California-Los Angeles and a B.A. from Colgate University.

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Susan Hayward, Progam Officer - Susan Hayward joined USIP in August 2007 as a program officer in the Religion and Peacemaking program. She specializes in psycho-social religious dynamics in conflict, the role of religious leaders and communities in motivating violence and peace processes, and the development of conflict prevention, resolution, and reconciliation programs specifically targeting the religious sector. Prior to joining USIP, Susan worked as a short-term religious peacemaking program development consultant for the Academy of Educational Development in Colombo, Sri Lanka, as a fellow of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. She has experience consulting on religious peacemaking in the Conflict Resolution Program at The Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Susan has also conducted political asylum, refugee policy, and human rights work in Minneapolis and Washington, D.C.

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Renata Stuebner, Administrator - Renata Stuebner joined the U.S. Institute of Peace in 1997 as a contractor before joining the Religion and Peacemaking Program at the Institute. She also assists other Institute programs dealing with the Balkans. Renata speaks regional languages of the Balkan area fluently. Prior to joining the Institute, Renata worked for the World Bank Group, Soros Open Society, the White House, and other organizations as an interpretor for visitors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia and Montenegro. Also before joining the Institute, Renata worked as a Democratization Officer for the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo on religion and reconciliation issues, and as a Special Assistant and Interpreter to the Head of Mission. In addition, she spent nine years as an English teacher for the Foreign Languages Institute in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She can be reached at rstuebner@usip.org or at 202-429-3864.