Zachary Toal is currently the Assistant for Faculty Affairs at the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. At the Elliott School, Zachary manages full-time faculty searches in compliance with University and Federal Government regulations and assists in the hire process and orientation of recently appointed Elliott School faculty. Mr. Toal serves as the primary point of contact for all Elliott School faculty, while also solving problems which range from visa and labor certification applications, to sabbatical and promotion processes. Moreover, Zachary coordinates and manages projects with colleagues, both inside and outside the Dean’s Suite, to serve faculty, staff, students, and visitors.
Prior to working at the Elliott School, Zachary Toal was an intern with Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) North America in Washington, D.C. His responsibilities included research, outreach, social media, analyzing trends in research, and organizing events. One of his research interests materialized into a short essay, Smart Defense: NATO’s Reach Should Not Exceed Its Grasp, which was published by The Atlantic Community. He was involved as an organizer for the 2012 Missing Peace Symposium, which was a global symposium on sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings.
Mr. Toal received his Bachelor’s Degree at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he double-majored in Peace, War and Defense and Contemporary European Studies. Zachary was actively engaged as a leader for various organizations on campus and in the community, such as Carolina Fever, UNC Dance Marathon, The Daily Tar Heel Newspaper, and his fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi.
While in Chapel Hill, Zachary conducted an internship for nine months with the Institute for Defense and Business (IDB), during which he helped develop and organize three Seminars on Logistics Cooperation for Stabilization and Reconstruction (LCSR) in Chapel Hill.
In Fall 2010, he spent the semester in Freiburg, Germany studying the European Union. He traveled all over Central and Western Europe, learning about and analyzing European politics, economics, and culture. The semester culminated with a two-day simulation of the European Council, of which Zachary served as the president.
Zachary expresses his passion for writing by maintaining a blog on various current events and topics of interest. His foci of study include military investment and trade, international political dynamics, transnational security, multinational organizations and global affairs, society and technology, and strategic leadership. He has an advanced knowledge of German. He is also a passionate soccer fan and a Tar Heel faithful.
