Elizabeth Cousens '87

Chief of Staff, United Nations Mission in Nepal

Not many people know in elementary school what they want to do with their lives, but Elizabeth Cousens ’87 had an inkling. In her fourth grade class’s mock election, she ran a successful presidential campaign for George McGovern. While McGovern may not have won the White House that year, Elizabeth got a taste of her own interest in politics and political action.

A native of Tacoma, Elizabeth graduated from Curtis High School and began her undergraduate education at Princeton University before transferring to Puget Sound. She credits her longstanding interest in peace issues and foreign policy to coming of age during the Reagan administration, when questions about how U.S. power could be used to effect just change in the world were at the top of the agenda. As an undergraduate splitting her time between politics and history, Elizabeth was actively involved with community groups and local organizations, especially dealing with arms control and disarmament issues. She applied for the Rhodes Scholarship her senior year and was awarded the opportunity to pursue doctoral studies in international relations at University of Oxford.

Until recently Elizabeth served as the vice president of the International Peace Academy, working closely with the United Nations and other diplomatic agencies to defuse conflict and build peace in regions throughout the world. She now acts as chief of staff for the UN Mission in Nepal, based in Kathmandu. She has led start-up initiatives in conflict prevention, serves on the boards of the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum and the Peace Dividend Trust, and has lectured and written widely on questions of peace and international diplomacy, civil wars, and the just and durable resolution of violent conflict, particularly in the Balkans and the Middle East.

“For me," Elizabeth says, "scholarship comes alive, and takes on real meaning, when it is connected to practical commitments to improving people's lives. In a world in which so many face challenges unimaginable to most of us, the greatest reward is to turn knowledge and learning into practical action and political change."

Major: History
Graduate School: M.Phil, D.Phil in International Relations, University of Oxford
Resided In: Gaza, Jerusalem, and the United Kingdom, with frequent stays in Bosnia and Haiti while based in New York City.
Family Ties: Elizabeth’s father, Frank Cousens, was an English professor at Puget Sound for more than 25 years.

Photo by Casey Kelbaugh