Vivie Nguyen is the daughter of Vietnamese refugees who instilled in her a strong work ethic and the importance of identity, culture, and collectivism. She received her B.A. in Cognitive Psychology with a Minor in Biological Sciences, summa cum laude at the University of California, Santa Barbara and went on to obtain her M.A. in Counseling Psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Vivie served as the Director for the Cultural Resource Centers and Coordinator of LGBT Services at DePauw University for a number of years prior to arriving at the University of Puget Sound in 2016.