For more than thirty years, Dr. Laurie Mulvey has been creating classroom spaces that revolve around learning rather than lesson plans, and where nuance, uncertainty and a multiplicity of perspectives are crucial to that goal. What she now understands is that this kind of environment does not just serve education, but every endeavor where humans collaborate and conflict.

As the co-founder and director of World in Conversation, Dr. Mulvey’s work has infused every aspect of the Center. Under her leadership, it has become the largest university-based dialogue center in the United States. This has attracted the interest of colleagues and partners in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Peru, China, Denmark, Bulgaria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Germany and Thailand (nearly 30 countries so far).

Dr. Mulvey has a passion for science that is dynamic and responsive to living systems, and her research is anchored in the tradition of Grounded Theory–a method that is qualitative, inductive, emergent and participant observation-oriented.

Dr. Mulvey earned a Master’s degree in Social Work from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies from Penn State—which means she is devoted to how people navigate, struggle and develop throughout their lifespan, and how all of this is profoundly shaped by small groups, cultures and societies.