Susan M. St. Ville

Susan St. Ville has directed the Master’s Program in International Peace Studies at the Kroc Institute since 2012. Within the Keough School, she directed the concentration in International Peace Studies within the Master in Global Affairs until 2023.

St. Ville holds a Ph.D. in systematic theology (1986) and a master’s degree in social work (2002) from the University of Chicago. Her research and clinical interests focus on trauma, healing, gender issues in war and peace, and the psychological effects of violence.

At Notre Dame, St. Ville teaches courses in Gender and Peace Studies and Trauma and Peacebuilding. She also has served as a lecturer in theology and coordinator of the university’s Gender Studies Program. She also has been a lecturer in social work at Saint Mary’s College.

St. Ville has conducted several training workshops internationally on trauma healing in post-conflict settings. Since 2002 she has worked as a clinician in the South Bend area, focusing on issues of sexual violence and trauma healing.

Her publications include Bodily Citations: Religionists Engage Judith Butler, co-edited with Ellen Armour (Columbia University Press, 2006), Transfigurations: Theology and the French Feminists, co-edited with C.W. Kim and Susan Simonaitis (Fortress Press, 1992) as well as articles in journals such as Concilium: International Journal of Theology and Criterion.