Ingram Honors College students Daria Shlapak and Jozy Kairu were selected to join a prestigious honors cohort, Partners in Peace. The program, a collaboration between the National Collegiate Honors Council and the Nobel Peace Center, chose 25 students across the nation to participate in a virtual course offered through Oslo New University College in fall 2026.
Shlapak and Kairu were selected for their dedication to personal leadership development and passion for civic engagement. They are the first GCU Ingram Honors College students to receive this opportunity.
"We are beyond excited for Daria and Jozy to receive such well-deserved recognition, affirming their impressive Christian character, integrity, dedication and commitment to leadership and civic engagement on a global scale,” Ingram Honors College Director Dr. Marette Hahn said.
“We are incredibly proud of them, though not surprised, that they would be selected for such a prestigious program and are eager to see how well they represent GCU and the Ingram Honors College on an international platform."
The cohort will be led by Dr. Henrik Syse, former vice chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and professor at Oslo New University College. Through weekly virtual sessions, students will learn about leadership by studying the work of Nobel Peace laureates and will receive the opportunity to attend the 2026 NCHC Conference in New Orleans in November.
The program will conclude with a trip to Oslo, Norway, in December, during the awarding of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize.
Shlapak is a junior studying business management with a minor in communications and is the director of events for GCU’s Multicultural Office.
In the Ingram Honors College, she has completed the PAC Professional Development Program and has served as a PAC ambassador, mentoring students through the program. She is a recipient of the Global Engagement Award by Ingram Honors. Shlapak is spending her summer interning in Malaysia.
Kairu is a senior studying political science and government and is spending her summer as a communications intern for U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego in Washington, D.C. In the Ingram Honors College, Kairu has completed the Leadership in Action Institute fellowship, Canyon Civic Institute fellowship and has participated in the Canyon Emerging Scholars Economic Mobility and Opportunity Research Lab. She was the Director of Speaker Acquisition and Talk Development for TEDxGCU. Kairu is the recipient of 2024-25 Dean’s Award and the 2025-26 Distinguished Achievement Award by Ingram Honors.
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