Mission & History

Fostering peace, cultivating justice, and creating a safer world.

Through education, research, and peacemaking activities, the Institute offers programs that advance scholarship and practice in conflict resolution and human rights. The Institute for Peace & Justice at the University of San Diego draws upon Catholic social teaching that sees peace as inseparable from justice and acts to prevent and resolve conflicts that threaten local, national and international peace.

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Our History

The Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice (IPJ) was founded with a generous gift from San Diego philanthropist Joan B. Kroc, who asked that the Institute be a place that not only "talked about peace, but made peace." The 90,000 square foot building was completed December 2001. It houses an auditorium for 280, conference space, boardroom, classrooms, break-out rooms, a production studio, faculty offices, and state-of-the-art technology. The "Casa de la Paz," a residence with four apartments that is located next to the Institute, houses visiting scholars and dignitaries.

Joan B. Kroc at Ground Breaking Ceremony, October 6, 1999