Mehdi Heravi was raised by a prominent family in Tehran, Iran. His father, A. A. Hervavi, was a professor of agriculture at the University of Tehran. Heravi attended English boarding schools at a young age, and came to Logan, Utah to finish high school at age 16. After Logan High, he attended Utah State University, graduating in 1963 with a degree in Business and Social Science and a master’s in political science in 1964. He received a Ph.D. from American University’s School of International Service in 1967. After teaching at Tennessee Technological University for six years, he returned to Iran where he was the Vice President at the National University of Iran. After the fall of the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and the start of the Islamic Republic, he returned to America where he became a provost at American University. Heravi has been very active with various philanthropic endeavors. He has funded an orphanage in Iran, as well as Cerebral Palsy research. At USU he has funded numerous scholarships, the A. A. Heravi Atrium, and the Mehdi Heravi Faculty Seminar Room in the Merrill-Cazier Library. Most recently he funded the construction of a new building on campus, the Mehdi Heravi Global Teaching and Learner Center. Heravi has received numerous accolades over the years. He was the 2015 American University Alumnus of the year, and he received an honorary degree from USU in 2019.

Dr. Heravi has published five books: Concise Encyclopedia of the Middle East; Dynamics of International Relations; Iranian-American Diplomacy; Marxism, The Tudeh Party and the Left in Iran; and The Qajars (Qajarieh).