AU’s Washington College of Law has awarded Haley Hawkins, SPA/BA ’16, a Public Interest-Public Service (PIPS) scholarship: full tuition for the three years of law school, plus mentoring by the faculty and opportunities to forge relationships with other PIPS recipients.

Hawkins is one of only seven PIPS scholars this year, and the only AU graduate to receive the award.

“The PIPS program exceeds my wildest dreams of what I would be able to do in law school," said Hawkins. “I am definitely very excited.”

Hawkins graduated on May 8th with a degree in justice and law and a minor in public health. She has a long-standing interest in women’s studies and reproductive rights. She says she attended school at AU because of the university’s “activist-minded community,” and the District’s reputation as “an epicenter for a lot of different advocacy movements.”

Claire L. Griggs, an SPA professorial lecture, serves as faculty adviser to Hawkins and the SPA Leadership Program. Hawkins worked on an independent study with Griggs that resulted in a paper on the issues faced by single mothers in DC who have suffered from domestic violence. The paper was accepted for publication in the Women’s Rights Law Reporter of Rutgers University School of Law.

“From a young age, I’ve been very conscious of inequalities and that has translated into my academics,” said Hawkins.

Hawkins envisions working as a litigator for an organization, such as Legal Aid, that serves marginalized women.