IPED CFR Series: Religious Literacy in International Affairs

Susan Hayward is the associate director for the Religious Literacy and the Professions Initiative (RLPI), which advances an ambitious agenda of curricular and programmatic activity to advance religious literacy across a wide range of professional fields of public engagement. Working across Harvard graduate schools and in partnership with Harvard Divinity School (HDS) and other Harvard faculty, as well as a network of professional fellows and professional organizations, Hayward is responsible for setting and executing strategy for the RLPI through a program of coursework, a practitioner fellows program, student experiential learning opportunities, annual symposia, public events, and online training opportunities.

Most recently, Hayward served as a senior advisor for religion and inclusive societies at the U.S. Institute of Peace and as a 2020–2021 fellow in religion and public life. At the U.S. Institute of Peace, which she joined in 2007, Hayward led efforts to understand religious dimensions of conflict and advanced efforts engaging religious actors and organizations in peacebuilding. Her fieldwork focused on Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Colombia, and Iraq.