Oliver Markley, Ph.D., P.E., having taken early retirement in 2000, is Professor Emeritus and former Chair of the graduate program in Studies of the Future at the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL)—a program that has subsequently moved and renamed itself as a “Program in Foresight” at the main campus of the University of Houston. My career began as a design engineer but quickly shifted to social psychology and proactive policy research on possible/probable/preferable alternative futures — ultimately specializing in development of intuition-based visioning methods for proactive insight, foresight and wise-choosing in order to help people to realize the futures they aspire to.
Before UHCL, I was a principal investigator and consultant with the Management and Social Systems Group at the Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International), where, among other research studies, I led the pioneering “Societal Consequences of Changing Images of Man” project with Willis Harman, the mythologist Joseph Campbell, Duane Elgin and others.
Until early 2020, I have maintained a part-time research and consulting practice, currently focusing on forecasting of disruptive change and on social and psychospiritual components of deep resilience for thriving with sustainable well-being in spite of uniquely challenging times. In the spring of 2014 I was a visiting fellow of the Centre of Excellence in National Security, teaching its graduate course in Strategic Foresight for the S. Rajaratnam School of International Relations, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
I am member emeritus of the Association of Professional Futurists, a fellow emeritus of the World Futures Studies Federation, a past member of the World Future Society and past president of its Central Texas Chapter.
I am a former consultant for dozens of organizations, both in the U.S. and abroad, and the author or co-author of dozens of publications including four books:
- Changing Images of Man (1982)
- Information and the Future: A Handbook of Sources and Strategies (1988)
- America Beyond 2001: Opposing Viewpoints (1995)
- Twenty First Century Earth: Opposing Viewpoints (1996).
For full resume, please click Resume of Oliver Markley 12-1-2019
For COVID-19 contact tracing resume, please click Resume of Oliver Markley for Covid-19 Contact Tracing