Biography
Laila Ujayli graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from The Ohio State University in May 2018 with a B.S. in International Relations and English. Her childhood experiences in Syria and Saudi Arabia heavily shaped her academic trajectory towards a deeper understanding of international conflict and its intersection with narrative and literature. Laila's honors undergraduate thesis examined Ahmet Hamid Tanpinar's A Mind at Peace, where she analyzed models of social change reflected in the novel's primary characters. She is currently a Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow at Win Without War in Washington, DC, where she advocates for conflict stabilization policies that prioritize development and diplomacy.