SHARE

New Canaan Country School Honors Alum Katherine Ward

NEW CANAAN, Conn. -- Katherine Ward will be presented with the New Canaan Country School Alumni Award on the school’s campus Friday, Jan. 10.

New Canaan Country School will honor alum Katherine Ward on Friday, Jan. 10.

New Canaan Country School will honor alum Katherine Ward on Friday, Jan. 10.

Photo Credit: New Canaan Country School

Ward is a member of the Class of 1979.

The New Canaan Country School Alumni Award is presented each year to honor a graduate who best embodies the statement from the school’s mission, “New Canaan Country School inspires students to be lifelong learners with the courage and confidence to make a positive contribution to the world.”

“Kathy’s work as a war crimes lawyer and international conflict policy-maker certainly exemplify this aspect of our school’s mission,” said Head of School Timothy R. Bazemore. “We congratulate Kathy on her many contributions and look forward to having her back to campus to speak with our students.”

Ward holds a master’s degree from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; a juris doctor from University of Chicago Law School; and a bachelor of arts degree in East Asian Studies and Soviet Studies from Yale University. She has also studied internationally at the University of Cambridge, St. John's College, Leningrad State University and the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute.

She has an impressive professional history that has taken her around the world working on major international conflict policy issues. While working as deputy director for International Crisis Group, her areas of focus included conflicts in Asia, Africa, Iraq, the Balkans, as well as HIV/AIDS crises.

Previously, she was selected as one of 15 members of the 36th class of White House Fellows by the bipartisan Commission on White House Fellowships in 2000 and was assigned to the United States Mission to the United Nations.

Before that, she was a senior fellow and counsel with the Coalition of International Justice in Washington, D.C., where she served as liaison to the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and helped to initiate the Kosovo War Crimes Documentation Project. She also worked with the Rwandan government in Africa that resulted in groundbreaking intervention to ensure the trial of an alleged hate-radio leader.

Earlier in her career she was an associate at White & Case, where she worked in New York and then in Uzbekistan as its liaison for an advisory project to the Uzbek government. She conducted human rights investigations in Cambodian refugee camps in Thailand.

Currently she is a freelance editor of publications related to field of human rights, war crimes law and international crisis response for organizations including InterAction and the Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery. She also writes briefing points, rapid response memos and position papers for similar organizations.

Ward currently lives in Stuttgart, Germany, with her husband, a rear admiral in the U.S. Navy, and their two children.

to follow Daily Voice New Canaan and receive free news updates.

SCROLL TO NEXT ARTICLE