Hayward Alker

Alker was a leading scholar on world order and international conflict resolution, interests grounded in his Quaker faith and belief in the possibility of achieving peace. A member of the College faculty for more than a decade, he brought a mathematics background to the social sciences, and was renowned for his interdisciplinary approach, incorporating both statistical and humanistic techniques in his research. He previously had been a professor at MIT and Yale. Alker was born in New York City in 1937 and raised in Greenwich, Conn. He attended Brunswick School, where he was the first student in the school’s history to earn straight A’s. He received his bachelor’s degree in mathematics from MIT in 1959, earning a 1960 master’s and 1963 doctorate in political science from Yale University, his father’s alma mater. He stayed at Yale to teach, becoming a full professor at 29. In 1968, Alker returned to MIT as a political science professor, where he remained until joining USC College in 1995. Alker is survived by his wife J. Ann Tickner, professor of international relations at USC College, ; his brother, Henry; his sister, Charity; three daughters, Joan, Heather and Gwendolyn; and six grandchildren.