Sara Cobb

Dr. Sara Cobb, (Ph.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst) is Professor Emerita at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University, where she was also the Director for 8 years. In this context she teaches and conducts research on the relationship between narrative and violent conflict; she is also the Director of the Center for the Study of Narrative and Conflict Resolution at the Carter School that provides a hub for scholarship on narrative approaches to conflict analysis and resolution. Formerly, she was the Director of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and has held positions at a variety of tier one research institutions such as University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Connecticut, and more recently at the University of Amsterdam. She has also consulted to and/or conducted training for a host of public and private organizations, including UN High Commission on Refugees, UNDP, La Caxia Bank, and Exxon, the American Bar Association, Fox Learning Academy as well as a number of universities in Europe and Latin America. Dr. Cobb is widely published. Her book, Speaking of Violence: The Politics and Poetics of Narrative in Conflict Resolution offers a narrative perspective on both conflict analysis and conflict resolution. She has been a leader in the fields of negotiation and conflict resolution studies, conducting research on the practice of neutrality, as well as the production of “turning points” and “critical moments” in negotiation processes. Some of this research is based on case studies from her field research in Guatemala, Chile, Rwanda and the Netherlands. The blend of academic research, program development, and practice enables Dr. Cobb to develop research projects that can yield practical understanding and generate effective interventions.

Honors and Awards

• Psychotherapy with Women Award, American Psychological Association

Affiliations

• Member of Global Advisory Board at Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies
• Associate at the Taos Institute
• Honorary Fellow at the American College of Civil Trial Mediators

Media Appearances

• ABC 7 News The ISIS Narrative: A long term strategy for peace
  November 22, 2015
• Medium Dr. Sara Cobb and the Narrative Practice
  November 10, 2015

In the News

• 12th Annual Communication and Social Action Conference to ‘Reframe Blame’ Next Week
  Published on March 14, 2011
  Full article
• Washington Post Features ICAR Director Sara Cobb and Point of View
  Published on November 14, 2017
  Full article

Degrees

• PhD, Communication, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
• MEd, Counseling, University of Puget Sound
• BA, English (Honors), Albertus Magnus College