Maman elected faculty director of Duke-UNC Rotary Peace Center

May 13, 2019

Dr. Suzanne Maman

Suzanne Maman, PhD, professor in the health behavior department at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and co-leader of the Master of Public Health global health concentration, has been named the new UNC faculty director at the Duke-UNC Rotary Peace Center.

Maman will assume the position from another Gillings School leader – Margaret (Peggy) Bentley, PhD, Carla Smith Chamblee Distinguished Professor in the Department of Nutrition and associate dean for global health. Bentley has been the UNC faculty director of the Center since July 2015.

The Center, which is one of six Rotary Peace Centers worldwide, trains students to become leaders in the fields of peace building and conflict resolution. Each year, a cohort of Rotary Peace Fellows are selected based on their ability to have a significant, positive impact on world peace during their future careers.

Fellows pursue master’s degrees at either Carolina or Duke University, taking advantage of both universities’ strengths in global studies and international development policy.

Maman first became familiar with the Center while mentoring two fellows who were pursuing Master of Public Health degrees in health behavior.

“I have been immensely impressed with the quality of the students I have mentored through the program,” she said. “UNC has been fortunate to have had many great Rotary Peace Fellows in different programs across the University. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to have more international students in our graduate programs.”

Three Gillings School students are current peace fellows: Narayan Chetry, Emilya Huseynova and Venera Urbaeva. Chetry and Urbaeva are students in the maternal and child health department; Huseynova is a student in the epidemiology department.

As UNC faculty director, Maman will nurture the experience of fellows by working closely with managing director Susan Carroll, with her faculty director counterpart at Duke and with Rotary board members. She was elected to the role by the Rotary Center’s board of directors, in consultation with senior Duke, UNC and Rotary officials.

Bentley, who will support Maman during the leadership transition, looks back on her tenure as faculty director with pride and gratitude.

“I’ve often said that this program is one of the ‘jewels in the crown’ of UNC,” she commented. “It has been a pleasure to serve as the UNC faculty director over the past four years. The fellows, both at UNC and at Duke, bring a diversity and depth of global experience to our campus and our School. We thank Rotary International for their generous and sustained support.”

Contact the Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@listserv.unc.edu.