The stories our institutions tell no longer match the lives we live inside them.
I’ve spent twenty-five years inside these institutions as an anthropologist, dean, provost, and president. I write about the gap between the stories institutions tell and the lives we actually live.
Today, I lead UC Berkeley’s Executive Leadership Academy, where I work with leaders navigating institutions in a rapidly changing world. I bring that perspective to my work as an author, speaker, and advisor, helping people see familiar challenges differently and imagine what might be possible next.
“…Mahdavi is an expert on human rights and education policy…”
Dr. Mahdavi has appeared in, among others, Time, Ms. Magazine, Huffington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post. Mahdavi is an expert on human rights and education policy. She built MyUni, a workforce credentialing platform, as well as Threshold Advisory, which offers strategic counsel on higher education. Mahdavi served as President at the University of La Verne, Provost and Executive Vice President at the University of Montana, as well as Dean at Arizona State University and the University of Denver after serving in multiple roles at Pomona College. She is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Young Presidents Organization and has been a fellow at the Social Sciences Research Council, the American Council on Learned Societies, Google Ideas, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Mahdavi is on the board of directors for the Lumina Foundation, the Human Trafficking Legal Center, and the Global Religion Advisory Board.
She currently lives in Arizona, where she is working on two new books, including a nonfiction book titled “The Ends,” about the end(s) of institutions and the beginnings of a new era, as well as a novel about geopolitics and the underground titled “Switch.” She loves yoga, horseback riding, and meditating in the Red Rocks. When not writing, coaching, or giving public lectures, you can find her exploring extreme sports, the farthest corners of the world, or a combination of the two.