Laurie Stevahn, PhD, is professor in the College of Education at Seattle University and director of the Educational Leadership doctoral program where she teaches graduate courses in educational research, organizational leadership, effective instruction, and social justice. She earned her doctorate in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota, her master’s in curriculum and instruction from Seattle Pacific University, and her bachelor’s in political science from Pacific Lutheran University. Prior to joining the academy, she taught high school social studies and mathematics in Washington state and founded Professional Development Associates, her consulting company specializing in human resource and organization development, cooperation and conflict resolution, program design and implementation, and participatory evaluation for capacity building. Laurie conducts research on conflict resolution training and essential competencies for program evaluators and has published on these topics in a variety of journals including the American Educational Research Journal, American Journal of Evaluation, Child Development, and others.

She also is co-author of four books for professionals: Cooperative Learning: Where Heart Meets Mind, The Portfolio Organizer: Succeeding with Portfolios in Your Classroom, Needs Assessment Phase III: Taking Action for Change, and Interactive Evaluation Practice: Mastering the Interpersonal Dynamics of Program Evaluation. Honors include the National Staff Development Council’s Best Non-Dissertation Research Award for examining the effectiveness of the Louisiana Center for Law and Civic Education’s teen leadership program on conflict resolution and violence prevention. She is past chair of two American Educational Research Association Special Interest Groups (Cooperative Learning: Theory, Research, and Practice; Conflict Resolution and Violence Prevention) and served on the executive board of directors of the International Association for the Study of Cooperation in Education. In addition to her work with organizations across the United States, Laurie’s international work includes invited presentations in Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, and the Netherlands.