Hayward R. Alker, 69; USC scholar taught international relations
Hayward R. Alker, 69, an international relations scholar who held the John A. McCone Chair in International Relations at USC, died Aug. 24 at a hospital in Providence, R.I., after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage at his summer home on Block Island, the university announced.
Alker, whose Quaker faith informed his nonviolent worldview, studied world order and international conflict resolution. A math major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he used an interdisciplinary approach to the social sciences by bringing both statistical and humanistic techniques to his research.
He was president of the International Studies Assn. in 1992-93, and the professional organization said it would give him its Susan Strange Award for challenging conventional wisdom in the international studies community.
Alker was born Oct. 3, 1937, in New York City and raised in Greenwich, Conn. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from MIT in 1959, he earned a master’s and doctorate in political science at Yale.
He taught at Yale and MIT before coming to USC in 1995. His wife, J. Ann Tickner, is a professor of international relations at USC.
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