King, Mary Elizabeth, 1940-

Mary Elizabeth King is a professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at the United Nations affiliated University for Peace, a political scientist, and author of several publications. She is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and has a doctorate in international politics from Aberystwyth University. She is also a Fellow of the Rothermere American Institute and a distinguished Scholar at the American University Center for Global Peace in Washington D.C.[1]

She received the Jamnalal Bajaj International Award in 2003.[2] In 2009 she was awarded the El-Hibri Peace Education Prize.[3] In May 2011, her alma mater Ohio Wesleyan University awarded her a doctor of laws (honorary) degree.[1] After graduating college, King became a staff member for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). King's participation in the Civil Rights Movement prompted her to co-write essays on women's issues with fellow activist Casey Hayden, Between 1968 and 1972 King worked for the federal government during the Johnson and Nixon administrations under the U.S. office of economic opportunity helping to set up neighborhood health services for America's rural and urban poor. And in 1974 King, with five other women, established the National Association of Women Business Owners. She was president of the Organization in 1976.[5]

King was appointed deputy director of the independent subcabinet federal agency that housed the Peace Corps, VISTA, and various programs of the ACTION agency under president Jimmy Carter.[6]