One of Wittenberg’s most highly respected and prolific scholars during his nearly 40 years in the classroom, E. Charles Chatfield, professor emeritus of history and the first H. Orth Hirt Chair in History, contributed significantly to advancing the field of peace studies throughout his career. In October, the Peace History Society recognized his efforts, awarding him its first Lifetime Achievement Award.

In receiving the award, Chatfield said that “the field of peace studies gave meaning to his professional life.” He also noted that the society’s establishment allowed peace history to make “a brash claim on historians to engage as historians with public issues like wars, and it was novel in attending to the relationship of peace and justice, of protest and change.”

Founded in 1964, the Peace History Society “encourages, supports, and coordinates scholarly research on peace, nonviolence, and social justice; it also communicates the findings of this scholarly work to the general public.” Its members live around the world, and all “seek to broaden the understanding and possibilities of world peace,” and make peace research “relevant to scholarly disciplines, policy-makers and their own societies.”

A frequent presenter at international conferences, Chatfield, has written or edited numerous articles and books, including the 1991 Kuehl Prize-winner, An American Ordeal: The Antiwar Movement of the Vietnam Era, with the late Charles
DeBenedetti. He was also one of the first scholars to draw a connection between peace and justice movements.