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Most people associate peacebuilding with political treaties and global summits. But if you ask Benjamin Lutz ’17, he will tell you it is something we all can engage in every day. At ���ϲ�����, he found peacebuilding in unexpected places — like the weekly College Coffee tradition.

“College Coffee allows space for learning, connection, conversation and building community,” Lutz says. “Dialogue is not just a thing to do in a seminar or classroom. It’s a way you can connect with those in your community.”

As the manager of communications and operations for Mediators Beyond Borders International (MBBI), Lutz understands the power of connection. The global peacebuilding nonprofit organization empowers communities to lead their own peacebuilding projects by providing the necessary tools and resources.

“Peace is finding ways to continue society so there is no backsliding, violently or otherwise, and instead, there is an emphasis on tolerance as the bare minimum,” Lutz says. “It’s adhering to ‘this is how our community will function and grow together.’”

The organization’s flagship program, the International Peace Training Institute, equips people with the knowledge and skills to actively address conflict transformation in all contexts.

“We are a membership network of individual mediators, peacebuilders, academics and supporters of peace and we also organize projects where we train and support leaders across the globe,” Lutz says, adding that MBBI focuses on including the local community in all aspects of programming to ensure effectiveness in the long term.

Lutz’s role with MBBI includes maintaining the organization’s mediator network, managing the website and social media, and coordinating programs, webinars and events. He also works with the TRUST Network, an early warning, early response initiative MBBI cocreated and co-convened in 2020 to mitigate and monitor election violence in the U.S.

“It was important, timely and necessary to have this consortium of dialogue-based, peacebuilding organizations, many of whom have global focuses but are headquartered in the United States and focus locally where they are on building more peaceful elections and connections across different communities,” he says of the TRUST Network.

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Lutz’s passion for peacebuilding, international relations and diplomacy started in high school through Model United Nations. When choosing a college, he wanted a university with strong international opportunities. ���ϲ����� was the best option. He immersed himself immediately upon arriving on campus as an ���ϲ����� College Fellow, taking every language offered by the university within his first week to decide what region of the world he’d like to focus on. Lecturer Shereen Elgamal’s teaching of Arabic studies cemented his interest in Arabic and the Middle East.

“As a proud Jewish man with deep interest in Middle East affairs, Benjamin’s strong ambition and thoughtful read on the big picture channeled his research interests toward interfaith diplomacy,” Elgamal says. “His focus on interreligious coexistence presents a promising platform for reconciliation and peace to opposing sides of the (Israeli-Palestinian) conflict.”

In 2014 and 2015, Lutz applied for the Critical Language Scholarship, a federal scholarship designed to further study foreign languages critical to U.S. diplomacy and outreach. After two failed attempts, Lutz’s determination led to earning the scholarship in 2016 and again in 2017, allowing him to study in Morocco and Jordan, respectively.

The fact that I was able to study abroad so frequently and was encouraged and supported by ���ϲ����� provided me with a much deeper insight to the region than any textbook would have covered.

“I have been using Benjamin’s experience with the Critical Language Scholarship as an example of how determination and persistence pay off,” Elgamal says. “Two failed attempts would discourage most students from applying again, but his genuine interest in the region and his strong motivation carried him through.”

The scholarship “supercharged” Lutz’s language abilities in Arabic, so much so that he studied multiple times in the Middle East and North Africa region: twice in Morocco, twice in Jordan and once in Israel and Palestine. He supercharged his studies, too, double majoring in international and global studies and political science with a triple minor in Middle East studies, peace and conflict studies, and interreligious studies.

“My first summer abroad, which was the summer after my first year, confirmed my interest in the Middle East region,” Lutz says. “The fact that I was able to study abroad so frequently and was encouraged and supported by ���ϲ����� provided me with a much deeper insight into the region than any textbook would have covered. There are immense and immeasurable throughlines from my four years Under the Oaks to my career now, and a significant one is my many times abroad.”

The coursework at ���ϲ����� also had a strong influence on Lutz’s career. He cites Religion Goes Global: Fanatics, Frauds and Peacemakers, a course taught by Professor of Religious Studies Brian Pennington, as one of the most influential academic experiences during this time.

“There are people involved in the peacebuilding space who are not there for the best pretenses. They’re there to convert communities or derail conversations because they don’t want coexistence dialogue to happen,” Lutz says. “This happens very frequently and so learning how to navigate this reality as a junior at ���ϲ����� was one of several examples of my courses being directly relevant outside the classroom.”

After graduating in 2017, Lutz earned a master’s degree in Middle East security politics and peace studies from the University of Bradford in England. He is now completing his doctorate at the University of Winchester in England. His thesis focuses on interfaith dialogue efforts at two peacebuilding centers in Oman and Lebanon, training them in Reflective Structured Dialogue. Lutz visited both countries during his undergraduate career, with Oman being the focus of his master’s thesis as well.

A recipient of one of ���ϲ�����’s 2022 Top 10 Under 10 Alumni Awards, Lutz also co-founded Al Fusaic, an educational and cultural organization with more than 800 articles and 140 writers. In 2024 he was named a Freedom of Religion and Belief Fellow from the First Freedom Foundation and a 40 under 40 awardee by the Middle East Policy Council.

Looking to the future, Lutz encourages everyone to seek peacebuilding opportunities to bridge divides in their communities. “Dialogue shouldn’t necessarily be a formal sit-down process,” he says. “It can be something as simple as a group of people chatting about something they care about.”

Lecturer in Arabic Shereen Elgamal was one of many mentors at ���ϲ����� who solidified Ben Lutz’s academic interest in the Middle East.