Adjunct Professorial Lecturer in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program at American University
Degrees
PhD, American University, 2014 MA, American University, 2013 BA, Indiana University, 2007
Bio
~ Please note: Dr. Irvine is located in Columbia, SC. She teaches onlines classes at AU ~
Dr. Mahri Irvine is an educator and researcher whose interests include the cultural causes of gender-based violence; physical and psychological harms caused by violence; motivations and attitudes of perpetrators; and best practices for violence prevention and culture change. Involved in the movement to end men’s violence against women and children since 2001, Dr. Irvine has academically studied gender-based violence, worked directly with survivors, and provided countless hours of guidance and assistance to professional service providers. Dr. Irvine earned her doctorate in Anthropology from American University in 2014. She is formally trained in anthropology and qualitative research methods, and she values a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to research and teaching. Dr. Irvine’s professional and academic work focuses on gender-based violence in the United States. Her first major research study examined the impact of sexual victimization on women’s pathways to crime and prison, and she has conducted numerous trainings about this topic for professionals in counseling, nursing, law enforcement, and advocacy. Dr. Irvine currently serves as the Sexual Violence Services Program Coordinator for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC); she manages contracts and grants and provides assistance to SC’s fifteen rape crisis centers and state coalition. Previously, Dr. Irvine held two other statewide positions, working as the Director of Campus Initiatives for the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault (ICESA), and Indiana University’s Statewide Sexual Assault Education and Prevention Specialist. Dr. Irvine is also an adjunct faculty member at American University; since 2011, she has regularly designed and taught courses focusing on gender, violence, and culture. In addition to academically studying gender-based violence, Dr. Irvine has four years of volunteer experience working directly with survivors of sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and stalking. She facilitated a support group for female survivors of violence at a prison reentry organization in Washington, DC, served for three years as a rape crisis counselor and supervisor at the DC Rape Crisis Center in Washington, DC, and served for one year as a rape crisis counselor with Rape Victim Advocates in Chicago. She also served for six years as a volunteer at the Indiana Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Dr. Irvine’s experiences working with rape survivors in Chicago profoundly affected her personal and professional outlook on the world, and launched her career as an anthropologist. Dr. Irvine is the founder of THRIVE Research and Education, LLC, a consulting agency for gender-based violence response and prevention.
