The former chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola Company, Muhtar Kent, has donated $6 million to the School of International and Public Affairs to establish a new conflict-resolution program.
The centerpiece of the Kent Global Leadership Program on Conflict Resolution will be an intensive weeklong training course for professionals from governments and intergovernmental institutions to be held annually in New York City beginning next summer. The Kent Global Leadership Program will also fund research at SIPA, an annual visiting professorship, fellowships for outstanding graduate students, and campus events.
Edward C. Luck ’72SIPA, ’01GSAS, the Arnold A. Saltzman Professor of Professional Practice in International and Public Affairs, will serve as the program’s inaugural director. Luck also directs SIPA’s international conflict-resolution program.
Kent, who stepped down as Coca-Cola’s chairman this past April after four decades with the company, received SIPA’s Global Leadership Award in 2019 in recognition of his contributions to the public good.