Noam Ebner is a professor of negotiation and conflict resolution at Creighton University.

Long before that, though, he was a kid in a movie theater watching a ship getting pulled in with a tractor beam.

Jen Reynolds is a law professor at the University of Oregon, teaching courses in civil procedure, conflict of laws, negotiation, and dispute systems design.

The Empire Strikes Back is her favorite movie of all time.

Joseph A. Allen is a professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of Utah. He directs the Center for Meeting Effectiveness, the premier scientific center for studying meetings across the galaxy, and those far, far away. His major areas of research include workplace meetings, volunteer and moisture collector management, and occupational safety.

Chad Austin has spent his professional life trying to bring balance to the Force. As a civilian professor of law at the United States Air Force Academy, he helps educate, train, and inspire Padawans to become officers of character. In his Jedi Knight role, he serves as a reserve colonel in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps. His destiny has taken him such faraway places as Iraq and as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Warsaw.

Danielle Blumenberg is owner of The Way Matters, a coaching and consulting company that works with businesses and individuals on collaboratively transforming conflict into opportunities for positive growth. She is a mediator and coach who believes dysfunctional communication is the real path to the dark side. Danielle lives in Florida with her family and two rescue Ewoks.

Adrian Borbély is an associate professor of negotiation at Emlyon Business School, in the Outer Rim. No one really knows where he came from and where he is headed. Like a Jedi, he studies the intricacies of negotiation and how to make the best use of the Force to build relationships and create value. He has been trained as a lawyer and mediator and now acts as a peacemaker and an instructor to whomever requests his assistance or his wisdom.

William Bottom is the Howard and Marilyn Wood Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. When possible, he looks to avoid the sand and find the high ground in his interdisciplinary research on judgment, decision making, and negotiation. His work has appeared in Academy of Management Annals, Administrative Science Quarterly, American Journal of Political Science, and other leading journals. His most recent project examines technology transfer in the social sciences.

Deborah A. Cai, Ph.D. (Michigan State University) is professor and senior associate dean in the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University, and she is a faculty member in the Media and Communication doctoral program and in the Department of Communication and Social Influence. She is an international researcher with scholarly and professional expertise in intercultural communication, negotiation and conflict management, and persuasion. Deborah is a Fellow in the International Academy of Intercultural Researchers and a Fellow and Past-President of the International Association for Conflict Management.

Emily A. Cai, M.A. (Sciences Po) has a master’s degree in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action from the Paris School of International Affairs, with concentrations in Diplomacy and Global Risks. She has previously worked to fight against extreme human rights abuses, including the U.S. death penalty and the practice of lethal injection. Emily was a recipient of the Chinese Government Scholarship-Bilateral Program and a participant in the Federal Volunteer Service program of the German government. She has an undergraduate degree from Temple University where she studied theater, French, and Chinese.

Katherine Castro is a PhD student and graduate research assistant at the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Utah. After receiving her Master's in Public Health, she discovered poor labor practices among stormtroopers and decided to dedicate herself to improving occupational conditions for those in all galaxies even those far, far away.

Noam Ebner was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, he became a lawyer. Reprogrammed like IG-11, he is now a professor of negotiation and conflict resolution at Creighton University, where he teaches that wars not make one great. Noam lives in New Dagobah with his wife and their four younglings. He swears by the Maker that everything in this bio is literally true.

Emilee Eden is a rebel MPH who works in the Center for Meeting Effectiveness located at the University of Utah. She is a research manager who oversees operations for student rebel teams who conduct research on occupational and environmental health. Several of her projects include evidence-based occupational treatment guidelines, epidemiological study coordination, and hanging out with Ewoks.

Deborah Thompson Eisenberg is a professor and associate dean at the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. She teaches and writes about dispute resolution, employment law, and civil procedure. She is a mediator and recognized expert in equal pay law. She is the proud mother of two Jedi daughters who will use the force for good and improve the world.

In her day job, Hillary Anger Elfenbein is the John and Ellen Wallace Distinguished Professor at the Olin School of Washington University. She holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior, a Master’s in Statistics, and undergraduate degrees in Physics and Sanskrit, all from Harvard University, which makes her just eclectic enough for this book. Her research examines interpersonal processes such as negotiation and emotion in the workplace. In 2019 she was a semifinalist in the St. Louis Funniest Person competition.

Thomas Freeman is a business law professor at Creighton University. He has published articles in the William & Mary Business Law Review the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy. Professor Freeman is also a practicing attorney. His research interests center on the intersection of law and technology, and he presented recently at SXSW EDU. In his spare time, he trains negotiators across the galaxy to help them resolve Imperial entanglements.

Bruno André Giraudon (aka “BAG”) is a French trade unionist, consultant, and negotiation teacher. He has been nicknamed JABBAG, as he shares with the Hutt his love for smoking exotic products. From his cave, he inspired an original negotiation method, now taught by a growing army of instructors on Tatooine and neighboring systems. An unpredictable negotiator, he equally enjoys competition and cooperation. Freedom is his goal, so do not expect him to put any princesses or others in chains.

Sherrill Hayes is a professor of conflict management and Director of the School of Data Science and Analytics at Kennesaw State University, where he can often be heard muttering “it’s not my fault” from behind his console. He was apprenticed to Jedi Masters in the US and the UK and became a Jedi Knight (PhD) in 2005 at Newcastle University. His missions have included mediation in domestic disputes, in refugee communities, and in family enterprises. Despite his often being found in the company of statisticians, never tell him the odds.

Jason A. Kaufman is a professor of educational leadership and the director of the institutional review board at Minnesota State University, Mankato. He is also a licensed psychologist. His teaching uses a lean and lab-rich approach to promote scientific thinking. His research explores how nature-based and mind-body interventions can promote human functioning and academic success. An aspiring Jedi, he is a co-host of the Dice in Mind podcast.

Gert-Jan Lelieveld is an assistant professor at the Social, Economic and Organisational Psychology department of Leiden University in the Netherlands. Even though Jedi are often taught to control their emotions, his work shows that experiencing and expressing emotions in many different ways can positively affect social interactions. Besides inundating his three daughters and wife with Star Wars facts, in his spare time he loves to play racket sports, using his blaster shots to defeat his opponents.

C. Scott Maravilla is an administrative judge with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and an adjunct professor of law at American University Washington College of Law. Judge Maravilla received his JD from Georgetown University Law Center and is a member of the American Law Institute. His work has appeared in Tulane Journal of International and Comparative Law, The Ohio State Journal of Dispute Resolution, and The University of Baltimore Law Review. Many Bothans died to bring us this information.

Welmer Molenmaker is an assistant professor of social, economic, and organizational psychology. At Leiden University, located near the Tatooine-like Dune Sea of the Netherlands, he studies when and how the will of the light side of the Force triumphs over the will of the dark side in social interactions. In his spare time, Welmer likes riding his leg-propelled speeder bike through the forest moon.

Aaron M. Peterson is an active researcher and most recently was an assistant professor of educational leadership as well as higher education and student affairs leadership at Minnesota State University-Moorhead. His research explores conflict engagement best practices for higher educational leaders, students and also the private sector. He and his family enjoy taking vacation on Naboo and Batuu.

Jennifer Wenska Reynolds is an award-winning professor and associate dean at the University of Oregon School of Law, located on the forest moon of Endor. She has written and published extensively on alternative dispute resolution, and she is dedicated to training legal Padawans to become wise and thoughtful leaders. Jen believes that helping each other is the solution to the biggest problems in the universe.

Tariel Sikharulidze is an associate professor at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia. He is also an associate expert of ESSEC Business School's Institute for Research on Negotiation (ESSEC-IRENE) and an invited associate professor at Cyprus International Institute of Management. An expert in mediation and negotiation, Tariel travels across galaxies to coach, train, and teach the wisdom of conflict resolution to inhabitants of different planets. On his home planet, Tariel mediates to bring peace and harmony to his peers, although he's not above the occasional lightsaber duel. Never will droids replace mediators.

Elizabeth Spradley, Ph.D. (Texas A&M University), is an associate professor at Stephen F. Austin State University and co-author of the top article for 2021 in the Journal of Communication Pedagogy. Elizabeth researches health communication and storytelling while flying from Naboo and Endor with Ty in her recently purchased star fighter the Ghost. A little-known fact about Elizabeth is she hit an Endorian ant off a blumfruit with a DL-18 blaster pistol from 250 yards away.

R. Tyler Spradley, Ph.D. (Texas A&M University), is a professor at Stephen F. Austin State University and co-author of the top article for 2021 in the Journal of Communication Pedagogy. Ty’s primary research examines conflict and crisis communication in extreme contexts. A master of the advanced arts of the Force, he frequently shows his four Padawans there is more than one way to skin a womp rat.

Imre Szalai is a professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, where he trains Padawans in dispute resolution. You can often find him trying to paddle away from reptilian beasts in a swampy, Dagobahian bayou where he was born and raised and where he still lives with his family.

Rachel Viscomi is a clinical professor at Harvard Law School where she works with the rebel alliance to build dispute systems that further justice. She trains Jedi how to avoid answering power with power to guard against the danger of losing who we are. In her free time, she studies the energetic dynamics of health and conflict, using the power of the Force to bring balance to the universe.

Joshua Weiss, Ph.D. is the co-founder of the Global Negotiation Initiative at Harvard University and a senior fellow at the Harvard Negotiation Project. He is also the director of the master’s program in Leadership and Negotiation at Bay Path University. He lives with his wife and three female Ewoks in the Western Part of Endor where he rides his 74-Z speeder bike around town.

Amber Hill Anderson, MA, works with rebels and the Empire to find solutions as the owner and mediator at Hilltop Mediation LLC. Amber also teaches conflict resolution, communication, and negotiation classes with Padawans at University College at the University of Denver. In the classroom and at the mediation table, she keeps a little optimism.

Danielle Blumenberg is owner of The Way Matters, a coaching and consulting company that works with businesses and individuals to collaboratively transform conflicts into positive growth opportunities. She is a mediator and coach who believes dysfunctional communication is the real path to the dark side. Danielle lives in Florida with her family and two rescue Ewoks.

Alon Burstein is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California Irvine. His research, focusing primarily on terrorism, political violence, and insurgent mobilization, stems from one unanswered question he had as a teenager: why do we implicitly accept the certain point of view that the Empire is “evil” and the rebels are “good”? His work on religious terrorism, White Supremacy terrorism, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been published in journals ranging from Terrorism and Political Violence to Studies in Conflict & Terrorism to Israel Studies—but he has yet to grow strong enough with the Force to answer that question.

Deborah A. Cai, PhD (Michigan State University), is professor and senior associate dean in the Klein College of Media and Communication at Temple University, and she is a faculty member in the Media and Communication doctoral program and in the Department of Communication and Social Influence. She is an international researcher with scholarly and professional expertise in intercultural communication, negotiation and conflict management, and persuasion. Deborah is a Fellow in the International Academy of Intercultural Researchers and a Fellow and Past-President of the International Association for Conflict Management.

Emily A. Cai, MA (Sciences Po), is a farmer working to mitigate the climate crisis and promote food access efforts. They have a master’s degree in Human Rights and Humanitarian Action from the Paris School of International Affairs, with concentrations in Diplomacy and Global Risks. Emily has previously worked to fight against extreme human rights abuses, including the U.S. death penalty and the practice of lethal injection. Emily formerly studied in Beijing, where they were a recipient of the Chinese Government Scholarship-Bilateral Program. Emily has an undergraduate degree from Temple University where they studied theater, French, and Chinese. They currently reside in Vermont.

Jeroen Camps is a lecturer in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management (HRM) at Thomas More University of Applied Sciences. He also teaches at the University of Fribourg on topics like organizational justice and negotiations. In addition to his academic work, he works for the Police Department of Antwerp as advisor on leadership and evidence-based HRM. He eagerly awaits the day that he will finally succeed at lifting objects with the Force.

Michael T. Colatrella Jr. is the inaugural Tracy A. Eglet Chair in Alternative Dispute Resolution and Professor of Law at McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. He teaches and writes in the areas of negotiation, mediation, and conflict management. He is also a mediator. Although Michael dreams of traveling to distant galaxies to resolve intergalactic disputes, thus far he has been content traveling throughout California in his gently used land-schlepper assisting various humanoid species to work through their conflicts productively. In these pursuits, he is often accompanied by his golden retriever, Leo—whose long golden fur, prodigious strength, and appetite for adventure leads Michael to suspect that Leo is at least half Wookiee.

Noam Ebner was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, he became a lawyer. Reprogrammed like IG-11, he is now a professor of negotiation and conflict resolution at Creighton University, where he teaches that wars not make one great. Noam lives in New Dagobah with his wife and their four younglings. He swears by the Maker that everything in this bio is literally true.

Maja Graso researches the impact of visible and invisible harms in social settings. She investigates how different threats, whether a visible crisis like a fire or invisible issues like workplace conflicts and Covid-19, are perceived and addressed. These invisible harms often lead to division due to their ambiguous nature. Maja approaches her research from a perspective that there is no dark side of the Force, really.

Sherrill W. Hayes is a professor of conflict management and an Assistant Vice Provost at Kennesaw State University, where he can often be heard muttering “it’s not my fault” from behind his console. He was apprenticed to Jedi Masters in the US and the UK and successfully faced the trials to receive his PhD from Newcastle University in 2005. His missions have since included practicing conflict resolution with families, businesses, refugee communities, and in higher education. Although his office has been called a Star Wars museum, what he really loves is playing music and is still waiting on a call from Max Rebo.

Olivia Hernandez-Pozas is an enthusiastic apprentice of Jedi Master Yoda. She truly believes that “when in a dark place we find ourselves, a little more knowledge lights our way.” Thus, she spends most of her time producing new knowledge by doing research at the Institute for the Future of Education of Tecnologico de Monterrey. As an associate professor, she unlocks her Padawans’ full connection to the Force at the School of Business in the same university. Olivia recently served as research coordinator for the Management Education and Development Division of the Academy of Management and as advisor for Blue5PL, an innovative start up in cross-border logistics and transportation.

Kimberly Y.W. Holst was raised on a family farm in Tatooine and is now a Clinical Professor of Law and Dean’s Innovation Fellow at Arizona State University, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. She teaches Legal Writing, Feminist Judgments, and legal skills courses. She is the mother of three daughters and looks forward to seeing them develop into the princesses, Jedi, or warriors they need to be in order to lead future rebellions with wisdom and hope.

Dr. Orlando R. Kelm is an Associate Professor of Hispanic Linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches courses focusing on business language and the cultural aspects of international business communication. He serves as the Director of the Portuguese Language Flagship Program, sponsored by the National Security Education Program (NSEP) of the Department of Defense. Upon retirement in 2024, his plan is to do a Kessel Run, hopefully taking the longer and more scenic 20 parsecs route to get there.

John Martin, Esq., MBA, MSCM, is a successful attorney, mediator and arbitrator concentrating in commercial and family conflict resolution with practices in Georgia and Louisiana. John earned a MS in Conflict Management from Kennesaw State University’s School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding, and Development, and serves as a primary trainer of Domestic Relations mediation at the KSU Conflict Management Center. In addition, John is an adjunct instructor at Johnson University, teaching business law and ethics to young eager minds in the BS and MBA programs. Happily married with three teenage children, John bleeds LSU purple and gold, is passionate about singing despite his family begging him to stop since he doesn’t know the words, and loves all things chocolate.

Avideh K. Mayville, PhD, is no Jedi. She is a nonprofit leader with experience in the peacebuilding, veteran reintegration, and climate transformation realms. With a background in Sociology and International Peace and Conflict Resolution, she has spent her career as a Force wielder seeking balance within the practitioner and scholarly dimensions of the social sector. She currently oversees a squadron of Program Operations Managers and Leads at RMI, driving the implementation of global energy system transformation programs. Avideh’s scholarly background is at the intersection of violent conflict and international aid, specifically the multilateral and bilateral capacity development of conflict zones.

Amanda Reinke is an associate professor at the Kennesaw State University School of Conflict Management, Peacebuilding, and Development, and Director of its MS in Conflict Management degree. Like Kylo Ren turned Matt the radar technician, Amanda enjoys the immersive experience of ethnographic work in bureaucratic environments to better understand the dynamics of everyday forms of violence and resistance. In her spare time, she makes special modifications to her galactic hunk of junk and backpacks in nature with her furry Ewok friends.

Josefina M. Rendón has been a judge in Texas for over forty years. Long, long ago, at the request of a prosecutor, she referred an assault case to a rather new concept called mediation. After seeing the parties’ creative agreement, she soon became a mediator herself and began teaching about dispute resolution to many groups including the U.S. military. Luckier than Chewbacca, she has received many recognitions for her work in the field of Alternative Dispute Resolution. She has also been President of Texas Association of Mediators and editor of The Texas Mediator.

Jennifer Wenska Reynolds is an award-winning professor at the University of Oregon School of Law, located on the forest moon of Endor. She has written and published extensively on alternative dispute resolution, and she is dedicated to training legal Padawans to become wise and thoughtful leaders. Jen believes that helping each other is the solution to the biggest problems in the universe.

Jan Smolinski is a lifelong Star Wars fan and a Padawan at Copenhagen Business School. He is pursuing his master’s degree in Innovation and Business Development and works at the university’s student union to improve the Jedi Academy for future students.

Remi Smolinski is a negotiation professor at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management and the Academic Director of the Center on International— um, Intergalactic Negotiation, where he has mentored numerous Padawans and instructed them in the art of negotiation, helping them bring peace to the galaxy. Return of the Jedi was the very first movie he watched in a theater, and it was there that the Force bestowed its presence upon him, remaining with him ever since.

Troy Stearns was a Padawan to Professor Noam Ebner at Creighton University’s MS in Negotiation and Dispute Resolution program. Troy started off as a scruffy-looking nerf herder and eventually earned his Doctor of Education degree in Interdisciplinary Leadership, later becoming a Special Faculty member working alongside Professor Ebner at Creighton University before departing through Mos Eisley’s spaceport. He currently teaches conflict resolution at the Doctorate of Education Program for Concordia University Texas, and he also uses his conflict resolution skills within the biotechnology industry.

Paul Story is an associate professor of psychology at Kennesaw State University. When he isn’t arguing with his nephew about who is the real chosen one (it’s Matt BTW), he is teaching undergraduates about the dark side of the Force (statistics) and collaborating with them on research projects. Paul enjoys exposing anyone he can to the benefits of positive psychology and how it can help them have happier and healthier lives.

Jill S. Tanz has been a mediator, mediation trainer, and adjunct professor at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago. She has been speaking and writing about mediation and neuroscience since 2014 and has lived with a Star Wars-obsessed husband since 1977. She hopes to emulate Jedi calm in her retirement. She regularly rides her new e-speeder along the Chicago lakefront.

Robert R. Tanz, Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, is one with the Force and the Force is with him. The rumble of the Imperial Star Destroyer passing overhead as it fired on Princess Leia’s starship after the opening text crawl in 1977 released cortisol and adrenaline (also dopamine and serotonin) into his system, and it still does today. Although retired, he supervises and teaches pediatric Padawans several times each month. He has never treated a patient with a wound from a lightsaber or blaster.

Zach Ulrich has mediated disputes both galactic and domestic. He is a former research fellow at Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, situated on the ice planet Hoth, and has published numerous survey studies on mediation and arbitration. Zach is currently in 2-1B training and plans to open a therapy practice. He enjoys riding his tauntaun through the ice fields around his settlement and training his dogs to sniff out any wampas lurking about.

Rachel Viscomi is a clinical professor at Harvard Law School where she works with the Rebel Alliance to build dispute systems that further justice. She trains Jedi how to avoid answering power with power, and to guard against the danger of losing who we are. In her free time, she studies the energetic dynamics of health
and conflict, using the power of the Force to bring balance to the universe.