W&J to Host former United Nations Official and Advisor at Carter Institute for Walter K. Levy Lecture

WASHINGTON, PA (April 1, 2022) – Washington & Jefferson College is excited to host Matthew Hodes, a former United Nations Official and Advisor at Carter Institute, for the 2022 Walter K. Levy Lecture as part of our International Week programming.

His lecture, entitled “Trends in International Conflict Resolution,” is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 12, in the Olin Theatre. This lecture is free and open to the public.

Due to the ever-changing conflict in Ukraine, Hodes will adapt his speech to include his vision that one cannot truly understand conflict and the steps to resolution unless one escapes the specialist perception of leadership only to understand politics, economics, or geographical borders.

Matthew Hodes is a Circuit Mediator with the United States Court of Appeals (11th Circuit) and is a Florida Supreme Court certified mediator. He also is an Adjunct Professor and Senior Fellow at the Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs at Florida International University. Hodes served in a variety of positions at the United Nations, most recently as Director of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, a special initiative of the Secretary-General. His public service career has focused on mediation, negotiation, facilitation and third-party interlocutor efforts to advance peace negotiation and mediation processes in conflict and political crisis environments around the world.

Prior to re-joining the United Nations in 2013, he served the international community in multiple capacities, including service at United Nations Headquarters, between 1992 and 2001. He served briefly in Mogadishu with United Nations Operation in Somalia (UNOSOM II) in 1993 and then with United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) during the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. This included direct involvement in ceasefire and cessation of hostility agreement negotiations. In 1995 he opened the first office in Sarajevo for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He returned to Sarajevo at the request of the State Department to rebuild the Bosnian judicial system for the Office of the High Representative of Bosnia. From 2001-2007 Hodes worked at The Carter Center. He served as the senior advisor to former President Carter on all matters related to global conflict and was Director of its Conflict Resolution Program working on unofficial diplomacy projects in Venezuela, Nepal and the Middle East that featured mediation and negotiation facilitation efforts. Between 2007 and 2013 he served clients in a consulting capacity covering a wide range of issues in the international relations field. His academic background includes service as an Adjunct Professor at Emory University Law School and George Washington University, where he taught classes in international organizations and international negotiations theory and practice.

Matt Hodes is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He holds a law degree from the University of Miami and a Master of Laws in Public International Law from University College, University of London.

The College’s Walter K. Levy Lecture Series is dedicated to the memory and spirit of Walter K. Levy, 1952 graduate and former trustee of Washington & Jefferson College.

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