Paa-Kwesi Heto GS '16

Paa-Kwesi Heto GS '16, PhD

Faculty - Graduate
Headshot of Paa-Kwesi Heto
Visiting Assistant Professor of Education and Societal Change
Email
pheto@soka.edu
Phone
949-269-5579

Dr. Paa-Kwesi Heto is a distinguished educator, political economist, and international security expert. He is a visiting professor at the Soka University of America Graduate School. He also serves as a project policy analyst for The Institute of Meaningful Engagement (TIME) - a National Science Foundation-funded initiative (Grant # 2122942) - at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and as the President/CEO of INDIE Education Initiative. He is a recipient of the Fulbright scholarship, the International Studies Association (ISA) dissertation completion grant, the 2020 Etel Solingen Outstanding Paper in International Relations Award, and Global Connect’s 2018 Global Citizens Award (this award recognized his research and non-profit work in rural and low-income communities). He has five master’s degrees in educational leadership and societal change, behavioral mathematics, demography and social analysis, global studies and international affairs, and political science. His Ph.D. in Political Science is from UCI.

  • The University of California Irvine
    • Ph.D. in Political Science
    • Master of Arts in Social Science (Mathematics and Behavioral Science)
    • Master of Arts in Political Science
    • Master of Arts in Social Science (Demographic and Social Analysis)
  • The Soka University of America, Aliso Viejo, California
    • Master of Arts in Educational Leadership and Societal Change
  • Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
    • Master of Science in Global Studies and International Affairs
  • University of Ghana, Accra
    • Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with Study of Religions 

Selected Additional Training 

  • Columbia University, Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies
    • Summer Workshop on the Analysis of Military Operations & Strategy
  • University of California, Irvine
    • Certificate in Digital Learning and Teaching
    • Certificate in Teaching Excellence
    • Certificate in Course Design
    • Certificate in Improv for Teaching
  • Claremont Graduate University, Evaluation Center
    • Certificate in Evaluation and Applied Research Methods
  • United Nations Office at Geneva, Switzerland
    • 51st Graduate Study Program
  • Soka University, Tokyo, Japan
    • Certificate in Japan Asia Studies (Development Economics)
    • Certificate in Japanese
  • Program Development, Management, and Evaluation
  • Societal, Organizational, & Institutional Change
  • Democratic Theory & Organizational Change
  • Distinguished Practitioners Series
  • Ed Leadership & Societal Change: A Comparative Perspective
  • History & Philosophy of Education & Leadership
  • History & Philosophy of Education
  • MA Thesis
  • Education
  • Societal, Institutional, & Organizational Change
  • Political Economy
  • International Trade
  • Sustainable Development
  • International Security

Book & Book Chapters

Heto, Paa-Kwesi. 2025. "Re-examining commerce’s impact on peace." In Political process: New perspectives on the Virginia and Bloomington Schools, edited by Donald Boudreaux, Christopher J. Coyne and Brian Kogelmann, 205 - 233. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Heto, Paa-Kwesi. 2024. "Africa’s geoeconomics and economic statecraft." In The Oxford handbook on geoeconomics and economic statecraft, edited by Vinod K. Aggarwal and Tai Ming Cheung. Oxford University Press.

Heto, Paa-Kwesi. 2022. Student engagement: A vehicle for preventing high school dropout in the coastal urban regions of Guyana. In Brooks, J., Normore, A. H., Brooks, M.C., & Sum, N. Globalization and education: Teaching, learning, and leading in the world schoolhouse. Information Age Publishing.

Heto, Paa-Kwesi. 2021. Global supply chains and great power competition in Africa. In Solingen, E. (eds). Geopolitics, supply chains, and the international relations of East Asia. Cambridge University Press.

Heto, Paa-Kwesi, Masumi Hashimoto Odari, and Wyse Sunu. 2020. "Different schools, different cultures." In Handbook on promoting social justice in education, edited by Rosemary Papa. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.

Heto, Paa-Kwesi and Henry Indangasi (ed.) (2020). Soka approaches in education. Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education 9 (SI).

Heto, Paa-Kwesi. 2018. What does it mean to be a value-creating (Soka) leader? In Indangasi, H., Mwangi, A. P., & Odari, M. (Ed.) Value creating education in Kenya: Building a humane society. Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau.

Journal Publications

Heto, Paa-Kwesi. 2025. "Conceptualizing rationality. Review of John J. Mearsheimer and Sebastian Rosato's How states think: The rationality of foreign policy, Yale University Press. 2024. 280 pp." Political Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.70001.

Heto, Paa-Kwesi. 2024. "(Mis)perception, institutions, humanism. Review of Blair Sackett and Annette Lareau's We thought it would be heaven: Refugees in an unequal America (Oakland: University of California Press, 2023)." Political Psychology. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12957.

Heto, Paa-Kwesi, and Takako Mino. 2022. "(Dis)continuity of African indigenous knowledge." AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples 19 (1): 71 - 79. https://doi.org/10.1177/11771801221138304.

Heto, Paa-Kwesi, and Henry Indangasi. 2020. "Mindset, Heartset, and Skillset." Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education 9 (SI): 1 – 13.

Mino, Takako, and Paa-Kwesi Heto. 2020. "Educating humans." Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education 9 (SI): 33 - 55.

Heto, Paa-Kwesi, Masumi Hashimoto Odari, and Wyse Sunu. 2020. "Kenya’s 2017 basic education curriculum framework: A comprehensive review." Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education 9 (SI): 192-210. https://doi.org/10.32674/jise.v9iSI.1853.

Blogs & News Articles

Heto, Paa-Kwesi. (2024, November 13) "Why the ‘Nostradamus’ of U.S. Presidential Elections Got His 2024 Call Wrong." The Habari Network. https://www.thehabarinetwork.com/why-the-nostradamus-of-u-s-presidential-elections-got-his-2024-call-wrong.

Heto, Paa-Kwesi. & Ngugi wa Thiong’O. (2023, August 11). Ghana’s international airport name: A normalized abnormality. The Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism in Africa. Retrieved from https://www.cihablog.com/ghanas-international-airport-name-a-normalized-abnormality/

Heto, Paa-Kwesi. (2022, May 16). "Ukraine series: How the war in Ukraine is affecting African economies," in Talking Policy episode, 29:23, https://ucigcc.org/podcast/how-the-war-in-ukraine-is-affecting-african-economies/.

Heto, Paa-Kwesi. (2022). A new United States policy for Africa. The Habari Journal (Canada/US-based Pan-African journal), 5(1): 74 – 76.

Heto, Paa-Kwesi. 2022. Maximizing the benefits of trade for Africa. The University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, Policy Brief.

Heto, Paa-Kwesi. (2015, January). An AGOA with even more teeth. The Habari Network Magazine, Special Edition. Accessed February 10, 2015, from http://www.thehabarinetwork.com/author/pheto

Academic

  • The Institute for Peace & Security Studies, Addis Ababa Univ., Ethiopia
    • Facilitator (equivalent to Course Instructor in USA), Fall 2024
  • University of California, Irvine (UCI), Ethics Center, Irvine, CA, USA
    • Tobis Fellow, 2023 – Present
    • Instructor, 2018 – Present
  • Soka University of America (SUA), Graduate School, Aliso Viejo, CA, USA
    • Visiting Professor, 2022 – Present
  • UCI, CA, USA
    • Teaching Associate, 2022
    • Teaching Assistant 2017, – 2023
  • Methodist University College of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
    • Instructor, 2010 – 2011
  • Saddleback Community College
    • Tutor, English Grammar & Writing, 2016 – 2017
    • Embedded Tutor, Intermediate English as a Second Language Grammar, 2016 – 2017
  • Soka University, World Language Centre, Japan
    • Facilitator, English Forum, 2008 – 2009

Policy & Administration

  • The Institute for Meaningful Engagement, Univ. of California, Irvine, CA, USA
    • Project Policy Analyst 3, 2024 – Present
  • INDIE Education Initiative
    • President/CEO, 2017 – Present
  • Morgenthau Stirling LLC, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
    • Vice President, 2013 – 2024
  • Manchester Trade Ltd. Inc., Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
    • Director, 2013 – 2015
  • U.S.A. Presidential Inauguration Committee
    • Media Relations Volunteer, Jan 2013
  • BOLDIN International, Washington, D.C., USA
    • Global Strategy Consultant, Jan – Sept 2013
  • Government of Ghana, Ministry of Information, Accra, Ghana
    • Research Analyst, 2010 – 2011
  • MDG Team Leader, Young People We Care, Accra, Ghana 2007 - 2008
  • Fulbright Fellowship, 2021 – 2022
  • Dissertation Completion Grant, International Studies Association (ISA), 2022
  • Honorable Mention, Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, 2022
  • Book Conference Grant, Institute for Humane Studies, 2024
  • Easton Family Mentors of Distinction, Ethics Center, 2023
  • Chief Graber Scholar, journal of Political Psychology, 2023 – 2024
  • Searle Fellow, The Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason Univ., 2022
  • Adam Smith Fellow, Mercatus Center at George Mason Univ., 2018 – 2023
  • UCI Inclusive Excellence Ambassador, 2020 & 2021
  • Kugelman Research Fellow, The Center for Citizen Peacebuilding, 2019 – 2022
  • Joseph L. White Award, the African American Alumni Council, 2021
  • The Etel Solingen Award for Outstanding Paper in Int. Relations, 2020
  • Certificate of Assistance, XVII World Congress of Comparative Education Society, 2019
  • Certificate of Commendation, UCI Police Department, 2019
  • Research Fellow, Center for Asian Studies, 2019
  • The Global Citizens Award, Global Connect Program, 2018
  • Graber Scholar, journal of Political Psychology, 2018 – 2020
  • Academic Excellence Award, Northeastern Univ., 2013
  • Certificate of Honor, Methodist University College of Ghana, 2011
  • Makiguchi Scholarship, Makiguchi Scholarship Foundation, Japan, 2008 – 2009
  • Member of Parliament Brilliant Student Award, North Dayi Constituency, Ghana, 2007
  • Certificate of Honor, Red Cross Society of Ghana, 2004
  • Certificate of Honor, Bishop Herman College, Ghana, 2004