She is an activist in the truest and most admirable sense-a life devoted to emphasizing vigorous and conscionable action in support of peace. As a member of the Religious Society of Friends, Annanelle Hardt, a 1948 graduate, champions the Quaker tradition of peacemaking.

Southwestern University honored Hardt recently as its 1998 Distinguished Alumna. While on campus to receive her award, she capitalized on the opportunity to offer a workshop on nonviolent conflict resolution to students and faculty. It's the kind of work Hardt has done all over the world. She has promoted peace and education for social change in such volatile places as Russia, Lithuania, Uzbekistan, Costa Rica, India and Yugoslavia. And it came naturally to her.

Hardt was born in Poland, where her parents served as missionaries with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Her parents met while students at Southwestern, so it was a matter of course for Hardt to complete her undergraduate study at SU. After earning her B.A. in English with a minor in psychology, she began teaching elementary school.

Later, Hardt attended Cornell University where, in 1951, she earned an M.A. in child development with a minor in student personnel administration. She taught elementary school for a few more years and in 1958 took part in the first United States-Soviet Union student exchange.

She began graduate study at UT-Austin, then left and spent one year as a lecturer at Queens College, which is part of the City University of New York. Next stop was Earlham College in Richmond, Indiana, where Hardt was director of elementary education.

She left Earlham and returned to UT-Austin, completing a Ph.D. that focused on the social and philosophical foundations of education. Then, in 1968, she joined the education faculty at Arizona State University. In 1972, Hardt served as a consultant, lecturer and curriculum writer on Islam and Christianity for kindergarten through twelfth grade students at the Friends Schools in Ramallah, West Bank.

She has been an active community member in Tempe, Ariz., where she has served as a mediator for the Arizona Attorney General's Office, has led the Arizona Dispute Resolution Conference, has served different Arizona regions of the United Way, and serves as a member of the Mayor's Advisory Committee on Gangs, Alcohol and Drugs in Tempe.

Additionally, Hardt serves as a Quaker representative on both the Arizona Ecumenical Council and the Tempe Emergency Assistance Ministries. With those groups and the Tempe Police Department, she helped organize a gun buyback program in 1996 that resulted in the collection of 44 guns and distribution of 33 trigger locks. She counts the program among her most important work in her community. Currently, she is helping to organize the 1998 gun buyback program.

Hardt's passion for peace spilled over into her work at ASU, where she was a faculty member for 22 years in the College of Education. She spent most of her tenure at ASU teaching multicultural education. At different times, she served as coordinator of school district outreach and of elementary education student teaching.

Busy as she was, Hardt still immersed herself in the life of the campus. As one colleague put it, "You can't be on the [ASU] campus with Ann and not get to know her. That's not to say she's intrusive. She's just active."

At ASU, Hardt served on the Campus Interfaith Council representing Quakers; she presented conferences and workshops on peace and conflict resolution; and she taught courses on peace and conflict studies in education, cooperative learning, and school and society. In every case, her goal was to demonstrate to her students the connection between educated citizens and peaceful societies.

This goal was in keeping with her active work on behalf of the Religious Society of Friends and of Church Women United of Arizona. She was appointed by the Friends World Committee on Consultation to serve on the New Call to Peacemaking Steering Committee. She organized and facilitated workshops on conflict resolution for the New Call to Peacemaking in both Tempe and Phoenix. In 1989, Church Women United of Arizona honored her with the Valiant Woman Award.

Additionally, Hardt has participated in church-related workcamps and programs throughout the United States, and England, Mexico, Holland, Belgium and the Philippines.

Hardt also serves on the Lisle Fellowship national board of directors. Having received a Lisle Fellowship and support from the Gandhi Peace Foundation in 1979 to study in Bangalore, India, she has encouraged friends to apply and take part in the program. One friend who took her advice says the experience changed his life and that both he and his spouse have been active on the Lisle Fellowship's board of directors.

Years ago, her parents established an endowment through the Southwest Texas Conference for world peace efforts. Although they are both gone now, she has kept their vision alive by building up the endowment.

Though retired, Hardt continues to live in Tempe, where she is immediate past president of the ASU Emeriti Faculty. Not surprisingly, she devotes the majority of her time to promoting peace and nonviolent conflict resolution.