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US Peace Memorial Foundation |
Michael D. Knox, Ph.D.
Chair and Founder
US Peace Memorial
Foundation, Inc.
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; Affiliate Distinguished Professor, Department of
Internal Medicine; and Affiliate Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Global
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, Distinguished
Professor of Medicine, and Distinguished Professor of Global Health, with joint
appointments in Psychology and Aging Studies. Spanning over 45
years, his academic career has focused on issues of peace, ethics, disease
prevention, death, and mental health. He has been elected to a
variety of leadership positions nationwide and authored over 125 scholarly
presentations and publications, book chapters, and books including HIV
and Community Mental Healthcare, The Johns Hopkins University
Press. Knox has been responsible for more than
$50 million in grants to USF. He has served as President of the USF
Faculty Senate and Chair of the Florida Advisory Council of Faculty
Senates. He is founder of the Florida/Caribbean AIDS Education and Training Center (1991) and
the USF Center for HIV Education and Research (1988). He
was Director of both centers until his retirement in 2011. Prior to
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 in order to volunteer
his full time to the US
Peace Memorial Foundation.
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 August of 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 disclosing secret
details and provided evidence that university researchers were “perfecting
weapon systems used by the military to kill and incapacitate other human beings.” Since then, he has continued to engage in
speeches, debates, interviews and other actions regarding peace. He is an
invited speaker nationwide on the topics of “building a culture of peace” and
“honoring peace leadership.”
In
2005, Dr. Knox founded the US Peace Memorial Foundation. He
directs its nationwide effort to recognize antiwar/peace
leadership by writing and editing the US
Peace Registry, awarding the annual US
Peace Prize, providing educational programs, and eventually building a
national monument - the US Peace Memorial - in
Washington, DC. Dr. Knox believes that “these projects help move us
toward a culture of peace as we honor the millions of 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
in hopes of inspiring other Americans to speak out against war and to work for
peace.”
His
biography is included in Who's Who in the World and Who's
Who in America. Professor Knox is a Fellow of the American
Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological
Science. Fellow status in both organizations is granted “in
recognition of outstanding and distinguished contributions to the science and
profession of psychology.” In 2005, he was inducted into Sigma Xi,
the international honor society of research scientists and engineers. In
1999, he served as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford in England,
and in 2003 he represented USF at the dedication of a new university in Pune,
India.
Dr.
Knox was awarded the 2007 Marsella Prize for the
Psychology of Peace and Social Justice at the 115th Annual Meeting of the
American Psychological Association. The award is presented annually
by Psychologists for Social Responsibility and recognized him “for more than
four decades of outstanding contributions to peace and humanitarian assistance.” His
work promotes cultural change, raising our awareness of efforts towards peace
and increasing future opportunities to challenge the promotion of war. He has officiated at the awarding of the US Peace Prize every year since 2009.
He is the
author of 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;
and “US Peace
Registry: From psychologists to comedians,” The Peace Psychologist, Summer 2019. Knox is writing Ending U.S. War by Honoring Americans Who Work for Peace, a book
which will be published in 2020 (the “Preface”
is at www.uspeacememorial.org/the_idea.htm). You can read more about the antiwar/peace
activities of Michael Knox in our publication, the US Peace Registry.
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 US Peace Memorial
Foundation is not affiliated with any university or government entity. The
ideas expressed on this website are the views of the Foundation or Michael
Knox, and do not represent the views of any university or government entity.
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.
Copyright 2005-2019, US Peace Memorial
Foundation, Inc.