Dr. Frederic S. Pearson, Ph.D.
Frederic S. Pearson, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at Wayne State University. Dr. Pearson also directs the Detroit Council for World Affairs and is on the boards of the Detroit Rotary Club and the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights.
He received his Ph.D. in 1971 from the University of Michigan and has become a recognized authority in the fields of international military intervention, arms transfer effects on civil and international wars, and ethnic conflict analysis. He has twice been senior Fulbright research professor (Netherlands and U.K.), having written on arms trade and crisis behavior in both countries. Dr. Pearson’s complete vitae are available on the WSU Community of Science web site.
Among his six books are Arms and Warfare: Escalation, De-escalation, Negotiation (1994 with Michael Brzoska), The Global Spread of Arms: Political Economy of International Security (1994), and Arms and Ethnic Conflict (with John Sislin, 2001). He was editor for the special issue of the Journal of Peace Research on “Identity-based Disputes and Conflict Management,” no. 3, 2001.
His recent research has concerned the settlement of civil wars through mediation and arms control. He teaches courses and frequently speaks in the community on international conflict, conflict resolution, and global problems. In 2000 Dr. Pearson was designated a conflict resolution consultant to the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century in Washington.
In 2004 he was honored with both the WSU Graduate Mentor of the Year award and Charles H. Gershenson Distinguished Faculty Fellowship Award for research. His hobbies include sports, photography, travel, and films. His wife is Melvadean Pearson, who works for the Girl Scouts of Metropolitan Detroit, and they have three children.
