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US Peace Memorial Foundation |
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Michael D. Knox, Ph.D.
Chair and Founder, US Peace Memorial Foundation
Author: ENDING U.S. WARS by Honoring Americans Who Work for Peace
Michael D. Knox grew up on Grosse Ile, Michigan, and earned his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Michigan in 1974. Dr. Knox is Emeritus Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy; Distinguished Professor, Department of Internal Medicine; and Affiliate Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Public Health at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida. He is currently Chair of the US Peace Memorial Foundation and Editor of the US Peace Registry.
Dr. Knox joined the USF
faculty in 1986 as Chair of the Department of Community Mental Health and has
held faculty appointments as Distinguished Professor of Mental Health Law and
Policy, Medicine, and Global Health, with joint appointments in Psychology and
Aging Studies. For 50 years, his academic career has focused on peace,
ethics, disease prevention, death, and mental health issues. He was
elected to various leadership positions nationwide and authored over 125 scholarly
publications, including HIV
and Community Mental Healthcare, The Johns Hopkins University Press. Knox is a Fellow of the
American Psychological Association “in recognition of outstanding and
distinguished contributions to the science and profession of psychology.” He
was inducted into Sigma Xi, the international honor society of research
scientists and engineers.
Knox was responsible for more than $50 million in grants to USF. He founded and directed the Florida/Caribbean AIDS Education and Training Center, was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford in England, and represented USF at the dedication of a new university in Pune, India. He also served as President of the USF Faculty Senate and Chair of the Florida Advisory Council of Faculty Senates. For decades his biography was included in Who’s Who in the World and Who’s Who in America. Before joining the USF faculty, he was Director of the Western Tidewater Mental Health Center and on the faculty of Eastern Virginia Medical School. In 2012, he retired his license as a clinical psychologist to volunteer his full time and focus to antiwar efforts.
His long-standing peace and antiwar activities began in 1965 in opposition to the war against Vietnam. As a delegate to the 20th National Student Congress, he introduced a successful resolution to hold an antiwar demonstration in 1967 in front of the White House. In 1970, Knox co-founded a draft counseling center, and in 1971 he blew the whistle on prohibited classified research at the University of Michigan. He provided evidence that university researchers were perfecting weapon systems used by the military to kill. Since then, he has continued to engage in speeches, writing, protests, interviews, and other actions advocating for peace. He is an invited speaker nationwide on the topics of “building a culture of peace” and “honoring peace leadership.”
In 2005, Knox founded the US Peace Memorial Foundation. He directs its nationwide effort to recognize hundreds of Americans’ antiwar/peace actions by publishing the US Peace Registry, awarding the annual US Peace Prize, and eventually building a national monument - the US Peace Memorial - in Washington, DC. Knox says, “these projects help move us toward a culture of peace as we honor thoughtful and courageous Americans who have taken a public stand against one or more U.S. wars or who have devoted their time, energy, and other resources to finding peaceful solutions to international conflicts. We celebrate these role models to inspire other Americans to speak out against war and work for peace.”
In 2022, Professor Knox was chosen to receive the Ralph K. White Lifetime Achievement Award of the Peace Psychology Division, American Psychological Association, for his “theoretical and applied research which has led to new directions and applications for the field of peace studies.” He was awarded the 2007 Anthony J. Marsella Prize for the Psychology of Peace and Social Justice “for more than four decades of outstanding contributions to peace and humanitarian assistance.”
He is the author of many peace-related articles including: “A Cultural Shift toward Peace: The Need for a National Symbol,” Peace and Conflict, 2009; “Honoring Peace and Antiwar Behavior: The US Peace Registry,” Peace Psychology, 2009; “World Peace: A First Step,” Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 2011; “US Peace Registry: From psychologists to comedians,” The Peace Psychologist, 2019; “It’s time to memorialize peace in our public spaces,” Beyond Nuclear International, 2019; “As Monuments to War Generals Come Down, Let’s Replace Them with Monuments to Peace,” CounterPunch, 2020; “Militarism and COVID-19,” CounterPunch, 2020; “After Nagasaki, The U.S. Did Not Choose Peace,” CounterPunch, 2020; “American Pop Culture Feeds the War on Peace,” Truthout, 2021; “Imagine a Culture of Peace,” CounterPunch, 2021; and “Let’s create a memorial to peace, not war,” OpEd, Tampa Bay Times, 2021.
Knox is the author of the book ENDING U.S. WARS by Honoring Americans Who Work for Peace, published in 2021. His work advocates cultural change, raising our awareness of efforts towards peace and increasing future opportunities to challenge the promotion of war.
You can read more about the antiwar/peace activities of Michael Knox in the US Peace Registry and on Wikipedia. Dr. Knox currently lives in the Tampa Bay area. John, his eldest son, is a computer and electrical engineer working in Minneapolis. His son James is a civil/structural engineer working in Orlando.
NOTE: The ideas expressed on this website are the views of the Foundation or Michael Knox and do not represent the views of any university.
US Peace Memorial Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) public charity.
Donations to the Foundation are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.
Florida registration #: CH20094. A COPY OF THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION AND FINANCIAL INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED FROM THE FLORIDA DIVISION OF CONSUMER SERVICES BY CALLING TOLL-FREE (800-435-7352) WITHIN THE STATE. REGISTRATION DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT, APPROVAL, OR RECOMMENDATION BY THE STATE.
Copyright 2005-2022, US Peace Memorial Foundation, Inc.