Dyson College of Arts and Sciences

W W W . P A C E . E D U / D Y S O N 13 This experience was connected to an immersive internship in nuclear disarmament, advised by Welty, which featured direct engagement by the aforementioned students with multiple civil society organizations. These include the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Reaching Critical Will, Youth for the Treaty on the Prohibition on Nuclear Weapons, and the New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. The students called for greater pa icipation of youth in international disarmament forums, consideration of the gendered implications of disarmament, and reserving cyberspace for peaceful purposes rather than war. The effo s of Clay, Hipkins, and Cintrón Soto were immediately recognized by the UN on social media. The Pace International Disarmament Institute In 2017, Welty and Bolton were pa of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) team awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work "to draw a ention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons" and "ground-breaking effo s to achieve a treaty-based prohibition on such weapons." Since joining Pace in 2011, they have been working on advocacy effo s seeking to restrict and mitigate the damage caused by inhumane weapons, including land mines, cluster munitions, military robotics, and the arms trade. Welty was serving as vice moderator of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs and chairing its nuclear disarmament working group. In 2016, Bolton received a grant from the United Nations to assist and train East African government officials on implementation of the 2013 Arms Trade Treaty. With suppo from Dyson College, Welty and Bolton founded the International Disarmament Institute to give a framework for their work and, just as impo antly, to involve Pace students. Since its creation, it is fast becoming a space of world-class education and research, playing a key role in suppo of disarmament policymaking, including humanitarian, human rights, and environmental perspectives, with Pace's contributions to promoting youth involvement in disarmament forums even being featured in a repo by the UN Secretary-General. A Local Perspective The namesake Manha an Project, a research and development unde aking during the Second World War that produced the first nuclear weapons, was initially headqua ered in New York City. By the time of the Cold War, as many as 200 nuclear warheads were stationed in various sites in and around the five boroughs. In subsequent decades, New York City became a center of growing political and grassroots leadership on disarmament, as well as hosting some of the largest marches in US history calling for an end to the nuclear arms race. As a result, nuclear weapons have been removed from the city. However, there are former nuclear weapons development sites that are still undergoing remediation, posing a risk to the o en-marginalized communities living nearby. Since 2018, Welty and Bolton and several Pace students have been pa of the New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (NYCAN), which successfully persuaded the New York City Council to pass historic local nuclear disarmament legislation. The 2021 resolutions reaffirmed the city's status as a nuclear-weapons-free zone and called for both divestment of its pensions from companies involved in the production and maintenance of these weapons of mass destruction, and for the United States government to join the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. In September 2023, Bolton was appointed by New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to be a member of the city's Nuclear Weapons Free Zone and Nuclear Disarmament Advisory Commi ee, created by the new legislation. Oppo unities for Pace students to be change-makers and even peacemakers ("pace," translated from the Italian is, a er all, "peace") are seemingly endless. "I am so proud of our Pace students, who have a grasp of this issue that ce ainly exceeds what either Ma hew or I had at their age," said Welty. "It's also a testament to their goodwill, dedication, and curiosity that they have really showed a lot of enthusiasm." In Bolton's words, "We have the capacity to shake things up." "With nuclear weapons, we can stop treating them as normal. There is a human story at the center, and we must share the experiences and voices of those who have been most affected." —Matthew Bolton, PhD Associate Professor Emily Welty, PhD, with a Nobel Peace Prize.

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