During summer 2024, the Office of the Provost approved a new professional certificate program in peace studies. The first of its kind at the college, the Ithaca College Peace Studies (ICPS) program will be the first formal affiliation between the college and Ithaca’s Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies, which serves as the Dalai Lama’s official monastery of North America.

In the Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies, approximately a mile from Ithaca College, Tibetan chanting echoes in a warmly lit chamber. A brass statue of the Buddha sits atop the main shrine...