SDCN Hires First Executive Director
Friday, October 2, 2009
(Sustained Dialogue Campus Network)The International Institute for
Sustained Dialogue (IISD) announced today that
on September 21, Amy Lazarus joined its team as
the first Executive Director of the Sustained
Dialogue Campus Network (SDCN), an initiative
supporting Sustained Dialogue programs on 15
campuses across the country. Amy brings over 10
years of experience working with individuals
and organizations to create inclusive
environments. As Executive Director, Amy will
have responsibility for organizational and
program strategy, operations, resource
development, financial management, and external
relationships as SDCN pursues new partnerships
and growth.
Support from the W. K.
Kellogg Foundation and the Foundation for
Global Community has made it possible for SDCN
to recruit Amy Lazarus as its first Executive
Director. “We are very pleased to have Amy on
board. Her dynamism and track record as a
leader made her an especially strong candidate
for the ED position. With Amy heading our
efforts, SDCN has an opportunity to become the
preeminent organization equipping campus
leaders with the tools to make better
communities,” says SDCN Advisory Board Chair
David Tukey. A neuroscientist at the NYU
Langone Medical Center, Dr. Tukey co-founded
the first campus Sustained Dialogue program at
Princeton University in 1999. IISD Founder and
President Hal Saunders echoes David’s
remarks: “Amy is an outstanding person and
professional with considerable achievement and
tremendous potential, taking account of both
performance and initiative. Along with her
passion for Sustained Dialogue, she has proven
herself to be a true social
entrepreneur.”
Prior to joining SDCN,
Amy worked at ICF International in Washington,
DC, consulting for federal agencies on
diversity, inclusion and leadership
development. After participating in the Coro
Fellowship in Public Affairs in Pittsburgh, Amy
earned a Master of Science in Public Policy and
Management at Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz School,
where she received the Dean’s Diversity
Fellowship and Dean’s Leadership Fellowship.
Amy's research focuses on best practices for
training change agents in inclusion, and on the
relationship between social entrepreneurship
and economic development. She has presented
internationally on social entrepreneurship, and
has developed and conducted diversity trainings
and strategy sessions for clients in the
nonprofit, public, and private sectors. As a
Duke University undergraduate, Amy co-founded
the student-run Center for Race Relations and
the Common Ground diversity immersion retreat
to create safe spaces for meaningful
interaction. Amy hales from Shaker Heights, OH
and is a board member of Operation
Understanding DC.
“What stood
out about Amy is her personal experience with
diverse communities. A lot of people talk about
diversity in terms of what they’ve learned in
class. Amy has that ability from her diversity
training background and master’s degree. But
her lived experience is what’s exceptional.
It makes for a really strong candidate for the
Executive Director position,” says LaForce
Baker, a senior at Denison University in
Granville, OH and President of Denison’s SD
initiative.
Amy will be located at
SDCN's headquarters in Washington, DC. If you
would like more information on Amy Lazarus’s
appointment, please contact SDCN Deputy
Executive Director Christina Kelleher.
About
the Sustained Dialogue Campus
Network
The Sustained Dialogue
Campus Network (SDCN) trains, mentors, and
connects student leaders who initiate and
sustain dialogues to build cohesive, engaged,
and diverse campus communities, thereby
preparing the next generation of civic leaders.
SDCN is an initiative of the International
Institute for Sustained Dialogue, which is a
501(c)(3) organization, formed in collaboration
with the Kettering Foundation, that promotes
the process of Sustained Dialogue for
transforming racial, ethnic, and other
deep-rooted conflicts in the United States and
abroad. SDCN receives generous support from the
W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Foundation for
Global Community, and its Institutional
Members.