We’re thrilled to celebrate the 2025 Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) awardees—especially Swarthmore’s own Mina Bakhshi ‘26, recipient of the Next Generation Peacemaker Award.
2025 Awardees
Read more on the PJSA Website: https://www.peacejusticestudies.org/conference/2025-conference-award-winners/
The Howard Zinn Lifetime Achievement Award
Patrick Coy
Peace Educator-Scholar Award
Mohammed Abu-Nimer
Social Courage Award
Marlene Pray
Next Generation Peacemaker Award
Mina Bakhshi
Best Dissertation or Graduate Thesis of the Year Award
Camille Tinnin
Best Undergraduate Paper Award
Sophia Siong
About Mina Bakhshi
Mina Bakhshi is originally from Bamyan, Afghanistan, and grew up in Kabul. A women’s rights activist and one of Afghanistan’s first female rock climbers, she previously worked with the Afghan Red Crescent Society youth team on women’s empowerment. Following the Taliban takeover in 2021, she was evacuated and resettled in the United States.
Mina is a junior at Swarthmore majoring in Peace and Conflict Studies and Economics, focusing on the economics of displacement, refugee integration, and women’s economic empowerment. In 2023, she interned with the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, and in 2024 she partnered with Ascend in Islamabad to design and implement a mental health project for young women. In 2025, Mina was awarded a Kathryn Davis Projects for Peace grant.
Read an NPR Profile of Mina here: https://www.npr.org/2023/08/23/1195479128/biden-immigration-taliban-humanitarian-parole