Joseph G. Bock

Joe Bock is a rare breed in academia: part practitioner, part scholar. Presently, Bock is Director of Graduate Studies at the Eck Institute for Global Health, University of Notre Dame. His inquiry into conflict and violence stem from his work with the U.S.-based non-governmental organizations Catholic Relief Services (www.crs.org), the American Refugee Committee (www.archq.org), and the Asia Foundation (www.asiafoundation.org). During his years with CRS, Joe worked with relief and development projects and conflict mitigation programs throughout Pakistan and in Jerusalem, West Bank and Gaza. His work at the American Refugee Committee introduced him to conflict in Eastern Europe, particularly following ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia. Consulting work with the Asia Foundation brought him into contact with brave and passionate staff members working on a conflict early warning system in Sri Lanka. A three-year fellowship with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation allowed Bock to explore inter-religious conflict and the breadth of approaches to violence mitigation, mainly in India.

Dr. Bock has been a featured speaker at the World Bank, the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC; the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium, and a UN Assembly in Cairo, Egypt. In addition to University of Notre Dame, he has taught or lectured at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Hebrew University, University of Malta, University of Portland, Eastern Mennonite University, William Jewell College, Saint Mary's College, Macalister College, St. Olaf College, and an ecumenical retreat center, Holden Village.

Joe was raised in Kansas City (Missouri, not Kansas!). He earned his BSW and MSW degrees from the University of Missouri-Columbia and his PhD in International Relations from the School of International Service of American University in Washington, D.C. He served for six years in the Missouri General Assembly where he held leadership positions as Chair of the House Energy and Environment Committee and Vice-Chair of the Commerce Committee. He and his family currently live on the St. Joseph River in South Bend, Indiana, where he loves to kayak!

Joe is inspired by the books of Huston Smith, especially his Forgotten Truth: The Common Vision of the World's Religions. He has written articles on crowdsourcing, the earthquake in Haiti, riots in Kosovo, counter-terrorism, and humanitarian aid. His most burning question is: How is it possible to level the playing field in instances when the power of evil in the direction of violence seems fully capable of overtaking the power of goodness in the direction of peace?