Alker, Hayward R., Jr. 1937–2007

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Alker, Hayward R., Jr. 1937–2007

(Hayward R. Alker, Hayward Rose Alker, Hayward Rose Alker, Jr.)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born October 3, 1937, in New York, NY; died after a cerebral hemorrhage, August 24, 2007, in Providence, RI. Political scientist, educator, and author. Alker was a scholar of international relations whose perspective was based on his pacifist background at a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers). His methodology combined his undergraduate training in mathematics with his graduate study in the social sciences. After a brief stint at Yale University, Alker spent the bulk of his career at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he became a professor of political science in 1968. He moved to the University of Southern California in 1995, where he was named the John A. McCone Professor of International Relations. Alker's interdisciplinary approach to international studies is reflected in his books, including Mathematics and Politics (1965) and Rediscoveries and Reformulations: Humanistic Methodologies for International Studies (1996). Alker also coedited Mathematical Approaches to Politics (1973), Challenging Boundaries: Global Flows, Territorial Identities (1996), and Journeys through Conflict: Narratives and Lessons (2001).

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PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, August 31, 2007, p. B7.