Maia Carter Hallward, '98
Award recipient credits Jepson for her knowledge of cooperation, conflict and crossing of borders
November 4, 2009
When Maia Carter Hallward, '98, was honored at Reunion Weekend 2008 as a distinguished alumna, she thanked the Jepson School for three gifts: cooperation, conflict and crossing of borders.
It seemed odd that anyone would see conflict as a gift, but conflict and leadership go hand in hand, she said. The numerous group projects developed by the professors at the Jepson School provided Hallward with the practice necessary to hone her conflict-resolution and leadership skills. She is a university professor who specializes in peace studies and the Middle East.
These skills were further developed through the use of the third gift, which she called “border-crossing.” In her remarks, Hallward described the many different kinds of borders that Jepson allowed her to cross in order to develop her skills and talents. She explained how Jepson students were asked to cross the border between theory and application. Many of the courses Hallward and other Jepson students took had real-world components that connected students to the community and allowed them to apply the theories and skills they learned in the classroom.
Because of the collection of students and professors involved in the program, members of the Jepson School also crossed disciplinary borders. Students and professors had a wide array of academic interests and experiences to share with each other. Because the Jepson professors were trained under various disciplines and most students had an additional major, minor or concentration along with leadership studies, each member of the Jepson community was able to bring a different perspective to every situation. The crossing of disciplinary borders, Hallward said, “help[ed] us think more critically and creatively about the issues before us, but it taught us that there is no one right way to go about addressing any leadership challenge.” Hallward crossed many other borders after her time at the Jepson School, and she put the three gifts she described to good use as a scholar and peace activist.
Hallward graduated from the University of Richmond in 1998 with Bachelor of Arts degrees in leadership studies and international relations, along with minors in women’s studies, biology and history. After graduation, Hallward crossed literal borders when she headed to the Middle East to teach history at the Ramallah Friends School in Ramallah, Palestine, for two years. She moved there during a tumultuous time for Israeli/Palestinian relations, but she enjoyed her time there and said she faced little negativity despite her obvious Western appearance.
When Hallward left her teaching position at the Ramallah Friends School, she moved to Amman, Jordan, to do research in conflict resolution at the United Nations University Leadership Academy. After three years in the Middle East, Hallward returned to the United States for several years. She worked for the Academy for Educational Development and American University in Washington, D.C., before returning to the Middle East in 2004.
Hallward spent a year in Jerusalem as an independent researcher and consultant. She collected data on local Israeli and Palestinian peace-building groups by conducting more than 90 in-depth interviews, as well as monitoring and evaluating various activities, meetings, conferences and panels.
She returned to the United States in 2005 and received her doctorate in international relations from American University in 2006 – the same year she gave birth to her son, Graham Deichler Hallward, with husband Christopher Hallward. She took a tenure-track position as a professor at Kennesaw State University in Georgia where she has been working since 2006. She works in the department of political science and international affairs. She uses her first-hand experience and leadership skills to teach courses such as Politics of the Middle East, Politics of Developing Areas and Contemporary International Politics.
At Kennesaw, Hallward is responsible for teaching classes of up to 70 or 80 students, much larger than the classes she had been a part of while attending the University of Richmond. She has still incorporated teaching techniques – such as group projects and activities – that she found so valuable during her undergraduate education at Richmond. Hallward has said of her experience at Jepson that one of the aspects of the school that she appreciated the most was that the “professors at Jepson treated us as a member of the community. They really appreciated our contributions and made us responsible for our education.” Hallward appreciated that sense of community and responsibility and now she strives to bring that same atmosphere to her students at Kennesaw State.
About the Jepson Alumni Achievement Award
Maia Carter Hallward’s Remarks
Article ID: 406
