Release date: Oct. 11, 2002
Contact: Deb Hammacher, Associate Director, University Media Relations,
at 404-727-0644 or dhammac@emory.edu

Emory Celebrates Carter Nobel Peace Prize, University’s Relationship With Carter Center

Newly named Nobel Peace Prize winner President Jimmy Carter has devoted his life to humanitarian work—a mission Emory University has helped support for 20 years in its affiliation with The Carter Center.

Much of Carter’s work is done through the center, which is independently governed by a board of trustees that includes Emory President William M. Chace, who has twice joined Carter on voter-inspection teams to Israel and Peru.

"On behalf of everyone at Emory University, where President Carter has served for many years as a member of the faculty, we are immensely proud that the Nobel Peace Prize has gone to this messenger and apostle of peace and understanding," said Chace. "We have watched for years as this native son of Georgia has, since his presidency, advanced, in many different ways, a vision of healthy understanding among the nations and the people of the world.

"When he goes forth from The Carter Center and from this campus to wage peace, he does so because his experiences have taught him that war is not necessarily the best answer to conflict, but rational discussion and respect for others can be. He served his country well as president, but he is now being recognized for all that he has so superbly done since that presidency."

Carter’s tenacious work on conflicts around the world was noted by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which cited Carter’s "vital contribution" to the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978, and his efforts in conflict resolution and the promotion of human rights around the world.

Many Emory faculty members have served as Carter Center Fellows, helping to guide, shape and direct the center’s programs. The Carter Center internship program has provided a practical and educational experience to hundreds of Emory students since it began. Carter himself also continues to teach and lecture at Emory as a university faculty member.

Carter Center Fellow and Emory history professor Kenneth Stein took the opportunity Friday morning in his class on the Arab-Israeli conflict to give his personal perspective on Carter.

Stein, who has worked closely with Carter since 1982 on Middle East affairs, said Carter should have won the Nobel in 1978 for the Camp David accords, although he has used his status as a former president to great effect in dealing with foreign conflicts for more than 20 years. Carter has been nominated several times for the award, which carries with it a $1 million prize. The 2002 field included a record 156 candidates, including 117 individuals and 39 groups.

"The sheer dent of his determination made the Camp David Peace Accords happen. I know that he believes to this day that the Israelis and the Arabs can resolve their problems and achieve a comprehensive peace," Stein said, telling the class that Carter’s unwavering persistence has been a key to much of his success in conflict resolution.

"If you want him to do something, tell him he can’t," said Stein, the William E. Schatten Professor of Contemporary Middle Eastern History and Israeli Studies.

Moral strength, determination to see things through to their conclusion and a passion to make a difference have shaped Carter’s actions since leaving the White House, Stein says. Carter also has a trait unlike many politicians: no fear of failure.

"He goes in to a situation expecting—and determined—to find a solution," Stein says. "Carter is never afraid to venture into areas that others find too risky. He’s willing to harness the resource of moral persuasion to make a difference."

When Carter left the White House, he had "an unfinished foreign policy agenda," Stein said, adding that he hasn’t always made sitting presidents happy, but when he sees a problem he goes after it.

Carter’s aptitude and intelligence give him the ability to move forward on numerous initiatives, while his attention to detail demonstrates to people, especially in foreign countries, that he cares about their issues, Stein said.

"He confers an importance upon those who don’t always have a voice that their issues are relevant and important to the world," Stein said.

The Carter Center, in affiliation with Emory University, is guided by a fundamental commitment to human rights and the alleviation of human suffering; it seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, enhance freedom and democracy, and improve health. The not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization was founded in 1982 in Atlanta by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, in partnership with Emory University. Ties with The Carter Center have remained strong throughout Emory’s 20-year affiliation with the organization. Here are some of them:

• The Carter Center is a separately chartered part of Emory, independently governed by a board of trustees that includes Emory President William M. Chace, who has twice joined Carter on voter-inspection teams to Israel and Peru.

• President Jimmy Carter is an Emory University Distinguished Professor, and lectures to classes regularly every year.

• Carter Center Fellows: The Carter Center programs are directed by resident experts or fellows, many of whom are Emory faculty members. The fellows design and implement activities in cooperation with President and Mrs. Carter, networks of world leaders, other nongovernmental organizations, and partners in the United States and abroad.

• Carter Center Internship Program: More than 120 undergraduate and graduate students, a majority of them Emory students, work as interns each year with the center’s world-wide health and peace programs for academic credit or practical experience.

• Carter Center Faculty Liaison Program: Emory faculty serve as liaisons to each of the center’s core programs. At the beginning of fall semester, liaisons meet with the director of the program with which they will be working to be briefed on the program’s status. The two parties discuss how the liaison’s expertise might lend itself to furthering program efforts.

• Past affiliations also have included jointly taught undergraduate and graduate courses on world affairs by The Carter Center staff and Emory faculty.

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