2008 Alumni Achievement Award Recipient

Maia Carter Hallward is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and International Affairs at Kennesaw State University, northwest of Atlanta. Maia draws on her education and life experiences to teach about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and peace and conflict resolution in courses such as Politics of the Middle East; Politics of Developing Areas; Contemporary International Politics.

Hallward received the award during Reunion Weekend activities April 12, 2008 on campus. In her acceptance remarks, Hallward thanked the faculty of the Jepson School for giving her three gifts: the gifts of cooperation, conflict resolution, and border crossing. "The gift of cooperation and the gift of conflict, come from the extensive group work that is a hallmark of the Jepson experience. We learned how to deal with different communication styles and cultural approaches and how to engage with conflict constructively, creatively and with humor. We learned how to persevere in solving problems, since we had to work together." She went onto say that the "The third gift, the gift of border-crossing, comes from another hallmark of the Jepson curriculum, the intersection of theory and practice through practical application of course concepts in the real world." Her remarks.

Dean Sandra J. Peart presented the award, noting that in many ways Hallward is typical of Jepson graduates. "As I have gotten to know our alumni, I am struck by a commonality: They are risk takers," Peart said. "Maybe that risk-taking attitude first brought them to the Jepson School. They are intellectual entrepreneurs and they are unafraid to act boldly to help shape the future, where ever in the world their interests and passions lead them. Through study and reflection, scholarship and action, Maia Carter Hallward is working to shape the future, our future.  

"Maia Carter Hallward is our first award honoree who holds a doctorate. To my knowledge, she also is the first of our graduates to serve in a tenure-track university teaching post.  She has a global perspective and she has tied theory and study to practice and service."

Her academic career at Richmond was studded with honors: Phi Beta Kappa, Oldham Scholar, ODK, Golden Key, Burns Award, the highest honor the Jepson School gives a graduating senior.

Like many Jepson graduates, she has tied theory and study to practice and service. She spent four years in the Middle East in Jerusalem, Ramallah and Amman. She had first traveled to the turbulent Middle East as a child, when her family led a volunteer work trip in 1979. As an undergraduate at Richmond in 1997, she repeated that journey. She worked at the Ramallah Friends Schools, an elementary and secondary school founded in the 1880s by Quakers in what is now the West Bank.

After her graduation summa cum laude from Jepson, she returned to the school to teach geography, world history and U.S. history to middle school and high school students. She moved to Amman, Jordan, in 2000 and spent the next six months conducting research at the United Nations University International Leadership Academy. She later taught third grade at the American Community School, a private college prep school serving Jordanian nationals as well as American and expatriate students from the business and diplomatic communities.

Dr. Hallward returned to the United States in 2001 to study at American University’s School of International Service and received her Ph.D. in 2006 in international relations with concentrations in peace and conflict resolution and critical geopolitics. Most of her research focused on Israeli and Palestinian peace and justice groups and their activities after the Second Intifada, the wave of violence between Palestinians and Israelis that began in 2000. 

Hallward also spent a summer immersed in an Arabic language study program at Middlebury College, and conducted field research in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories while studying Hebrew at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she is the associate editor of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, a bi-annual, refereed journal that provides a forum for practitioners, activists, policymakers and academics to share critical thinking and constructive action on issues at the intersections of conflict, development and peace. A birthright Quaker, she also serves on the governing body of the Friends General Conference, a Quaker non-profit organization. She speaks German, Spanish, Arabic and Hebrew.  

Hallward, her husband, Christopher, and son, Graham, live in Acworth, Georgia.
 

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