Kate Hewitt ’17
Global Studies alumna Kate Hewitt (MA ’17) was awarded a Scoville Peace Fellowship for the 2017-2018 academic year after completing the Global Studies MA program. Through the fellowship, Kate worked at the Brookings Institution 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/pursue nuclear weapons.
Following this role, she held the positions of Deputy Director for Nuclear Forensics in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Matter and detailed to the Office of Secretary of Defense for Policy as the Multilateral Arms Control and Nonproliferation Advisor. Now, Kate is the Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense.
Kate received dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and Philosophy from Gonzaga University in 2013 and completed her Global Studies MA from UNC in May 2017 with a concentration in Global Politics. Her MA capstone, “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 begins to explore more nuanced takes on ways to deter these pursuits.
During her time at UNC, Kate was a recipient of the U.S. Department of Education’s Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship for Farsi and served as a teaching assistant for GLBL 210: Global Issues and Globalization. Of her time and experience in the Global Studies MA program, Hewitt offered the following reflection:
“The Global Studies Master’s program at UNC instilled two important things in me. The first being perspective on a global level – a more thoughtful understanding of the complexities of the world we live in. The second being perspective on a personal level – a deeper understanding of myself and the role I play in that globe. The problems facing our current and future world are multifaceted and our solutions should be approached in a similar fashion. By examining an array of interdisciplinary tactics that take us outside of the box for solutions, Global Studies was able to prepare me with tools for the Scoville Fellowship.”