The campus network is headed up by young people who are passionate about enabling students to change their campuses and solve community problems.

Amy Lazarus is the first Executive Director of Sustained Dialogue Campus Network (SDCN), an organization whose mission is to develop everyday leaders who engage differences as strengths to improve campuses, workplaces and communities. SDCN is comprised of students from colleges and universities around the country who are using dialogue to alleviate their campus' social tensions and make their communities more cohesive.

Amy brings a passion for - and over 10 years of experience working with - individuals and organizations to create inclusive environments. As an undergraduate at Duke University, Amy co-founded the student-run Center for Race Relations and the Common Ground diversity immersion retreat to create safe spaces for meaningful interaction. 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 has focused on both best practices for training change agents in inclusion and 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.

Amy is a 2010 Recipient of USA Network's "Characters Unite Award," which recognizes extraordinary individuals who have made significant efforts to fight prejudice and discrimination, while increasing tolerance, respect, and acceptance. In 2011 she received the Upstander Award by Facing History and Ourselves for individuals who have taken up the challenge to speak out, do the right thing, and make decisions that help create positive change in the world. Amy is a 2011 American Express NGen Fellow recognizing individuals who have demonstrated exemplary leadership and a passionate commitment to advancing the common good. Prior to joining the SDCN team, Amy worked at ICF International, consulting for federal agencies on diversity, inclusion and leadership development. In high school in Shaker Heights, OH, she was the head of her school’s Student Group on Race Relations. Amy lives in Washington, DC, is a board member of Operation Understanding DC, and has sung backup to Aretha Franklin with the Let Freedom Choir.

Rhonda’s role focuses on shaping the student experience of Sustained Dialogue. She has worked to develop leadership & training materials, provide students with useful evaluative tools, and to inspire students to organize and moderate Sustained Dialogue since joining the SDCN team. She became involved in SD during her freshman year at Princeton University, where she majored in Sociology. She credits her time as a participant and moderator of SD with teaching her the unwritten complexities of community relationships and empowering her to challenge norms surrounding them. She is currently helping to support the formation of a student-led SD initiative in Addis Ababa. Rhonda is from the South Jersey shore, and now lives in Washington, D.C. where she enjoys cooking and book club meetings.

Sasha works closely with students to organize and moderate Sustained Dialogue on their campuses. She graduated from  Duke University in 2011 with a major in Psychology and a minor in Neuroscience. At Duke, Sasha was involved with the Center for Race Relations, an organization that, like SDCN, promotes engagement across lines of difference.  Sasha also interned with SDCN in the summer of 2010 before becoming a program director in June, 2011. She is extremely excited to join the team and to work with students to improve the social climates of their communities through Sustained Dialogue. Sasha is a native Washingtonian and enjoys playing the Dhol, a traditional drum, at Indian weddings in her free time.

Mariah is thrilled to be joining the SDCN team as an associate this year. She is currently a senior at the George Washington University majoring in International Affairs with a concentration in Conflict Resolution and the Middle East. Mariah is the director of the Speaking Across the Divide project, which she founded in April, 2010. The project aims to design and market a website to facilitate activism and dialogue among youth. In her spare time, Mariah likes to read poetry on the steps of the Lincoln memorial (her favorite is the Sufi poet Rumi), experiment with vegetarian cooking and argue for the GW debate team. She is excited to be joining SDCN this year!