Mirela Oliva, Ph.D., is a tenured Professor and the Rudman Chair of Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas. She was a visiting professor and researcher at Harvard University, the University of Oxford (UK), the University of Cagliari (Italy), the University of Vienna (Austria), and the University of Cologne (Germany). Her research is primarily in philosophy of religion, philosophy of science, and ethics. She published a book on mental language and divine mind and is now writing a book on the meaning of life. Her recent articles explore realist meaning, narrative meaning, the purpose of life, special divine action, prophecy, and existential questions in science (evolution and meaning, the fine-tuning of the universe for life, Aristotelian biology).

She currently serves as the Director of the Educating for Purpose program. She previously served as the National Secretary of the American Catholic Philosophical Association (2014-2018).

She is a member of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) and of the Institute of Medieval Studies at the University of Navarra, Spain.