Over the course of her formative years, Mary Elizabeth King, PhD became determined to bring about positive change in the world, stemming from her involvement in the civil rights movement and voter registration. Her accomplished, decades-spanning career has encompassed her interests in helping people, governments, civil society organizations, and journalists—as well as pushing her philosophy that dealing with conflict, animosities, and lack of justice without the use of violence is possible.

Equipped with a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Ohio Wesleyan University, Dr. King worked as a communications officer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Atlanta, Georgia from 1963 to 1965 and organized the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party’s challenge to the Democratic Party at the 1964 national convention. She was subsequently active as a program officer for the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity, deputy director of ACTION in Washington, D.C., an independent international consultant, and an executive director at Young Ideas, Inc. She was active in the Jimmy Carter presidential administration, where she was responsible for the Peace Corps and Volunteers in Service to America. Later, in 1984, she found success as a special adviser for President Jimmy Carter, a position and friendship she maintains to this day.

In the midst of this role, Dr. King was a consultant director at the United States-Iraq Business Forum in Washington, D.C., an expert consultant for the ABC London News Bureau for BBC London, and served as the president of Global Action, Inc. from 1992 to 2012. In the late 1990s, she launched her academic career as an adjunct professor in the International Peace and Conflict Resolution Division at American University’s School of International Service, where she was also active as a scholar-in-residence for nearly 20 years. She continued to teach as a professor of international politics at St. George’s University and ultimately, since 2001, she has been a Distinguished Rothermere American Institute Fellow at the University of Oxford, Britain, and a Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Un-Affiliated University for Peace in Costa Rica. Additionally, in 2017, she began her current post as the director of the James Lawson Institute for the Research and Study of Nonviolent Moments at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Outside of her primary endeavors, Dr. King has been involved in numerous civic and nonviolent-based organizations. She led workshops on nonviolent action in 22 countries in 2002 and 2003, was president and founder of the National Association of Women Business Owners in Washington, D.C., is a member of the board of directors for the Arca Foundation and AMIDEAST Educational and Testing Service, and the Albert Einstein Institution, and sat on the International Editorial Board for African-Centered Solutions for Peace and Security. A renowned voice in the field, she’s a lecturer and speaker and has authored a wide range of published works, including books on nonviolent struggle—“Sex and Caste: A Kind of Memo” in 1966; “Freedom Song: A Personal Story of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement” in 1987; “Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.: The Power of Nonviolent Action” in 1999—chapters, articles, and blogs.

As a testament to her achievements, Dr. King has been recognized with a Distinguished Achievement Award by the Women’s Equity Action League, a Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book Award for “Freedom Song,” an OWU Distinguished Achievement Award, a Jamnalal Bajaj International Award, and a James M. Lawson Nonviolent Achievement Award, among others. She was additionally a laureate for El-Hibri Peace Education Prize, a grantee for the U.S. Institute of Peace, and inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. She has maintained membership with the Authors Guild, Peace and Justice Studies Association, and Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development.

In the midst of her career, Dr. King bolstered her expertise by completing MBA coursework at Loyola University and attaining a Doctor of Philosophy in international politics from Aberystwyth University in 1999. In addition, she was recognized with an honorary Doctor of Laws from her alma mater Ohio Wesleyan University.