Kate Hewitt '17 MA Awarded Scoville Fellowship
August 5, 2017
Kathryn Hewitt ’17 M.A. has been awarded a 2017 Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship. Hewitt graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a master’s in global studies with a concentration in global politics.
The Scoville Fellowship, established in 1987, is a highly competitive national fellowship program that provides recent college and graduate school alumni with the funding and opportunity to work with senior-level policy experts at one of more than two dozen leading think tanks and advocacy groups in Washington, D.C. for six to nine months.
Hewitt will work with Robert Einhorn and Steven Pifer in the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative on issues related to the Iran nuclear deal, North Korea’s nuclear program, and strategies for reducing incentives for countries to obtain and pursue nuclear weapons.
Her master’s thesis, “Profits and Proliferation: The Role of Economic Elites in Starting and Stopping Nuclear Weapons Programs,” introduced a new theory for understanding why countries pursue nuclear weapons and explores more nuanced takes on ways to deter these pursuits.
Hewitt is also a recipient of the U.S. Department of Education’s Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship for Farsi and the Gesa Continuing Education Scholarship. Before entering graduate school, she served as a community and organizational development adviser with the Peace Corps in the Republic of Moldova from 2013-2015, where she worked on human rights advocacy for persons with disability while learning Romanian and Russian.
Hewitt received a bachelors in political science and philosophy from Gonzaga University in 2013. As an undergraduate, she interned at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s policy office in D.C., participated in American University’s International Law and Organization program, interned with President Obama’s reelection campaign, was a member of STOP Human Trafficking and Social Justice clubs, and co-founded The Golden Bow project.
She was a Gonzaga Achievement Scholar and was honored at Gonzaga’s Social Justice Missioning Ceremony for her demonstrated commitment to the university’s mission. Much of her passion for nuclear weapons policy is rooted in her relationship to her hometown of Richland, Washington, home of the Hanford Site of the Manhattan Project. In high school, she interned at a nuclear energy facility, Energy Northwest. She speaks Farsi, Romanian and some Russian.
The Scoville Fellowship is named for Herbert (Pete) Scoville, Jr. (1915-1985), a doctorate in physical chemistry, former deputy director for research at the CIA, assistant director for science and technology at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, president of the Arms Control Association, and mentor for numerous young people in arms control, national security and peace issues.
For additional information about the Scoville Fellowship, including a list of participating organizations, links to publications by current and former fellows and videos, visit www.scoville.org.