Dr. Nawal Rajeh

Dr. Nawal Rajeh is a grassroots peacebuilder, popular educator, and community organizer. She brings to Berea almost two decades of experience working with communities to create social change. Her professional organizing career began after graduation in Baltimore, Maryland, where she worked primarily with youth. It was there that she co-founded By Peaceful Means, an organization that works to interrupt structural violence through a youth employment program and long-standing summer peace camp. In 2016, Rajeh began organizing in Washington, DC, with ONE DC around issues of racial equity, housing displacement, and workers’ rights. She continued working in DC as a facilitator and social justice consultant. In her most recent role, Rajeh worked alongside community organizers and movement lawyers in DC to build an eviction defense model rooted in community organizing.

Rajeh received her Ph.D. from the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. Her research explores the intersections of peace education, racial justice, and youth criminalization, with particular attention to how community-based educational spaces cultivate youth agency, critical consciousness, and lasting social change. Her work also explores the possibilities of participatory action research (PAR) as a tool for peacebuilding and social transformation.

Rajeh has been recognized for her contributions to peacebuilding and social justice. At George Mason University, she was an inaugural recipient of the Excellence in Anti-Racism Award and was recently named the Carter School’s 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient for her work in Baltimore helping to bring together peace organizations from around the city. She is also a recipient of the 2018 Baltimore Peacemaker of the Year Award. Rajeh is a first-generation college student, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants, and was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio.

Beyond her academic and organizing work, Nawal has spent considerable time as a Theatre of the Oppressed “joker” and an Arabic folk dancer.