Larry Schooler
Senior Fellow
Dr. Larry Schooler is a Senior Director at Kearns & West, where he provides mediation, facilitation, consensus-building, and public engagement consulting to local, state, and federal agencies and nonprofit organizations. He is also a member of the faculty at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches courses in conflict resolution and facilitative leadership. He is also a senior fellow at the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life at the University of Texas.
Until May, 2017, Larry Schooler managed public engagement and alternative dispute resolution for the City of Austin, Texas, where he launched the City’s public engagement division in 2009. He has served as president of the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2-USA) and is now a board member of the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation.
Larry’s work has been featured by a variety of organizations and publications, including Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and the National League of Cities. Larry recently accepted the position of local board chair for Generation Citizen in Central Texas. He has served on the board of Interfaith Action of Central Texas (iACT) and hosted interfaith dialogue for the organization. He has also mediated disputes between military personnel and civilian employers for the U.S. Department of Defense.
Larry holds a doctoral degree in conflict analysis and resolution, along with a bachelor's degree in history. He is the author "The 'Public' in Public Policy: Keys to a Successful Community Meeting" and a forthcoming book on the first Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the United States. In his prior career, Larry was an award-winning reporter and anchor for National Public Radio and Voice of America. He is married with two children and lives in Austin.
