2023 Smaby Peace Scholars Announced

Both students will spend time in Oslo, Norway, this summer.

President William Craft announced that Anna Kronbeck and Kailey Thomas will represent Concordia College for the 2023 Smaby Peace Scholars Program. Kronbeck is a sophomore majoring in political science and global studies, and Thomas is a sophomore majoring in healthcare leadership.

Thanks to generous support from the Philip C. Smaby Family Foundation, Concordia’s Peace Scholars will join counterparts from Augsburg University, Augustana University (Sioux Falls, S.D.), Luther College, Pacific Lutheran University, and St. Olaf College for a seven-week seminar in Oslo, Norway, designed to deepen participant understanding of injustice, conflict, and violence and to form leaders for peace. 

Kronbeck and Thomas will initially participate in peacemaking dialogue with other selected scholars as well as graduate students from the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Policy followed by an intensive seminar and additional coursework at the Oslo International Summer School.

Craft said the scholars “will cultivate personal gifts and commitments and dedicate their leadership skills to working with Concordia students, faculty, and staff to advance a culture of peacemaking on campus through a community project they design and enact. I look forward to their contribution to campus peace education next year.”

Craft also thanked the other students who competed for the honor and acknowledged their significant achievements and contributions to peace inquiry and practice at Concordia. 

Thomas said she is humbled to have been selected as a 2023 Smaby Peace Scholar alongside Anna Kronbeck.

“This opportunity to learn and practice peace and dialogue on the global scale is truly unbelievable,” she added. “I look forward to my experiences in Norway, and to applying the lessons surrounding peace, conflict, and dialogue both during my time at Concordia and in my future healthcare leadership career.”