Director, Michelle and David Baldacci Initiative on Civil Discourse

Core Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain LVA’s program on civil discourse initiatives, aligning with the pillars (experiential learning, curriculum integration, and public programming).
• Serve as LVA’s principal on the collaboration with VCU’s College of Humanities & Sciences and related units, coordinating governance, shared workplans, and joint communications.
• Establish nonpartisan principles, risk management practices, and guidelines for issue selection and moderation.
• Create experiential learning offerings (e.g., civic simulations, facilitated deliberations, scenario labs); integrate primary sources from LVA collections and archives to ground discussions in Virginia history.
• Produce flagship public programs at LVA (e.g., lecture series, moderated forums, symposia) and statewide roadshows hosted by partner libraries and community venues.
• Co-develop curriculum-aligned activities with VCU faculty and instructional designers; support educator toolkits that connect civil collaboration skills to secondary and postsecondary learning outcomes.
• Build and sustain partnerships with public libraries, academic libraries, K–12 school librarians, museums, civic nonprofits, and community mediators to expand reach across urban, suburban, and rural localities.
• Advise local libraries, civic nonprofits, and community mediators on hosting civic engagement forums (space setup, topic framing, facilitator selection, and contingency planning).
• Implement a measurement framework (attendance, demographic diversity, pre/post sentiment, skills acquisition, longitudinal impact).
• Conduct program evaluations, share findings with LVA leadership, advisory boards, and funders; Use data to iterate formats, topics, and facilitation techniques; steward a repository of case studies that draw on LVA collections.
• Serve as a public spokesperson for LVA’s civil discourse initiatives work; prepare remarks, talking points, and media responses.
• Oversee editorial standards for event pages, guides, and social content to maintain nonpartisanship and clarity.
• Cook up with LVA/VCU communications on press releases and media features related to the Baldacci collaboration.
• Manage budgets, contracts, and grants tied to civil discourse programming, ensuring fiscal stewardship and alignment with funder intent.
• Ensure compliance with applicable laws and policies (e.g., Virginia FOIA considerations for public events, records retention).
• Oversee logistics (venues, hybrid tech, event staffing, accessibility services, and contingency planning).

Minimum Qualifications

• Extensive experience designing and leading public programs in libraries, higher education, civic institutions, or related domains.
• Demonstrated expertise in facilitation and experience with de-escalation and conflict management.
• Excellent communication skills (written, spoken), with comfort presenting to diverse audiences and media.

Additional Considerations

• Master’s degree (Public Policy, Political Science, Education, Communications, or related field) or equivalent experience.
• Experience collaborating with academic partners on curriculum-connected engagement.
• Familiarity with Virginia history and primary sources; ability to embed archival materials into civic learning.
• Training in mediation, restorative practices, or deliberative democracy models.