Dennis Stolle (JD '96, MA '97, PhD '98) has been named the Law-Psychology Program's 2025 Distinguished Alumni. An event celebrating his accomplishments will be held on September 11 at 4:00 p.m. in 80 Burnett Hall.
Stolle is the Head of Applied Psychology at the American Psychological Association. He is a proud graduate of the University of Nebraska’s Law/Psychology Program, where he earned both his PhD in social and personality psychology and his law degree. While at Nebraska, Stolle conducted research with Dr. Steven Penrod and served as a research assistant at the Center on Children, Families, and the Law. He also served as Research Editor of the Nebraska Law Review and, following his graduation from law school, taught legal research and writing at the Nebraska College of Law. Stolle began his research career as an undergraduate at Saint Louis University, where he worked in Dr. Richard Wiener’s lab — an experience that sparked his lifelong interest in the intersection of psychology and law.
Following the Nebraska Program, Stolle co-founded and served as president of ThemeVision LLC, a national consulting firm where he applied psychological science to advise corporate clients on strategies for resolving complex legal disputes. He also became a capital partner at Barnes & Thornburg LLP, one of the largest U.S.-based law firms. During his legal consulting career, he worked on some of the nation’s highest-profile cases, including the federal multidistrict National Opioid Litigation, the investigation of the Virginia Military Institute, and the federal multidistrict National Hip Replacement Litigation.
Stolle has published widely on the application of psychological science to real-world problems, including the book Practicing Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Law as a Helping Profession (with David Wexler and Bruce Winnick). At APA, he oversees initiatives focused on legal psychology, human-technology interaction, environmental sustainability, and workplace psychology, while also serving as a national spokesperson for the organization.
A frequent commentator on applied psychology, Stolle is often featured in major media outlets, including NBC News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time, People Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Financial Times, Fortune, and many others.
