Introducing Nora Tavana M.S. Program Coordinator At Heravi Peace Institute
Nora Tavana is the new Program Coordinator at the Heravi Peace Institute. Originally from Tehran, Iran, Tavana has also lived in Toronto, Canada, and moved to California with her family over a decade ago.
In Iran, she attended the National Organization for Developing Exceptional Talents (NODET), a prestigious secondary school, where she honed her skills in English and mathematics. After moving to the U.S., Tavana studied at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where she shifted her focus from Mathematics to Speculative Design—an interdisciplinary program bridging STEM and the Visual Arts.
Tavana emphasized on Systems Design and Urban Ecology during her studies, where she discovered a passion for community work and environmental justice. In the spring of 2019, the UCSD Center on Global Justice recruited her to lead a project she had conceptualized in a class led by Professor Edwin Cruz, addressing issues at the U.S.-Mexico border. The project involved creating a sustainable educational-upcycling program that repurposed UCSD’s used computers for community centers in Tijuana, Mexico, providing computer literacy classes and volunteer opportunities for university students. Tavana was awarded the Russell Foundation grant to launch the initiative, which included developing lesson plans and creating local job opportunities.
In the 2022, Tavana began her graduate studies at the University of San Diego’s Kroc School of Peace and Justice. Her studies coincided with the worldwide protests against the Islamic Republic regime in Iran, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini. This period deepened Tavana’s commitment to peacebuilding and inspired her to apply her multidisciplinary background in the field of conflict resolution.
Tavana completed her Master of Science in Conflict Management and Resolution while working closely with the Kroc Peace Institute on initiatives like the Women Peacebuilders Fellowship. She also studied the aftermath of conflict resolution in Northern Ireland and led a graduate-level intervention design project on prison labor oversight and its impact on ethical consumerism in the U.S.
Her passion for advocacy led to a role as a Community Organizing Coordinator with Amnesty International USA, where she co-founded the San Diego Refugee and Migration Rights Taskforce. She has also participated in national organizing trainings and collaborated on major projects like the Amal Project in 2023.
Now residing in Utah, Tavana enjoys hiking, biking, and exploring the natural beauty of her new surroundings. She plans to visit all continents, all U.S. states, and is determined to master a third language.