Second-year Master of Global Policy Studies student Maggie Hewitt (MGPS ’27) is spending her summer in Honolulu as a Regional Security Studies Intern at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS).
During the first six weeks of her internship, Hewitt helped facilitate the Comprehensive Security Course, which brought together fellows from more than 25 countries to discuss security challenges across the Indo-Pacific region.
Now that the course has wrapped up, Hewitt is spending more of her time focused on research projects related to Oceania and the Pacific Islands. Her work includes supporting faculty research, contributing to projects focused on regional security challenges, and conducting independent research.
Hewitt says many of the skills she uses every day in Honolulu come directly from her coursework at the LBJ School.
"Almost every day of my internship I come across something I'm able to do because of my time at LBJ."
Concepts from her Global Environmental Governance course regularly come up in discussions at APCSS, while policy memo and briefing skills from Ambassador Larry André's class have helped her work with policymakers and senior leaders. She has also drawn on research methods learned from Dr. Fabregas while developing her own research projects.
Working alongside fellows and practitioners from more than 25 countries has also given Hewitt a chance to learn from a wide range of perspectives.
"This cross-cultural immersion will help my policy analysis remain grounded in reality, not just theory."
Outside of her internship, Hewitt enjoys spending time at the beach, snorkeling around Oahu, and exploring different parts of the island. With APCSS located so close to Waikiki Beach, she often heads straight to the water after work with fellow interns. She has also visited Bellows Air Force Base through a Center program and plans to explore the North Shore later this summer.
After graduation, Hewitt hopes to continue researching non-traditional security challenges facing the Pacific Islands region. Whether through a Ph.D. program, fellowships, think tank work, or another research-focused path, she hopes to continue producing research that helps inform policy and supports communities across the Pacific.
Her interest in the region stems from her time in the Peace Corps, where she lived in Samoa for more than two years after completing her undergraduate degree. Once she arrived at LBJ, she found herself returning to the Pacific Islands region again and again through class projects, research papers, and discussions, ultimately shaping the policy focus she hopes to pursue long-term.
"I really narrowed my policy focus since being at LBJ. This internship has been a great steppingstone onto what I hope will be a long career studying the region."
Through her internship, Hewitt is applying her LBJ training to real-world policy work while gaining experience that will support her future career in international affairs. LBJ continues to prepare students for policy careers around the world, and we wish her a great rest of her summer in Hawaiʻi.
See a day in the life with Maggie on Instagram and learn more about the Master of Global Policy Studies program at LBJ.
