Who We Are.

Learn more about our founder and team, advisors, interns, and affiliated faculty.

Shira Hoffer

Founder and Executive Director

Jeremy Cronig

Director of Programming

Clayton Smith

Director of Outreach and Partnerships

Dane Mauer-Vakil

Director of Research and Evaluation

Jason Vadnos

Program Associate and Trainer

Anna Nelson

Program Associate

Shira is the founder and Executive Director of the Institute for Multipartisan Education. A senior at Harvard College studying Social Studies and Religion, she served on Harvard Dean Rakesh Khurana’s Intellectual Vitality Committee for two years, advising and presenting on new strategies for promoting curious and constructive disagreement inside and out of Harvard’s classrooms. She is a former fellow and research assistant at the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Ethics’ Intercollegiate Civil Disagreement Program, and a practicing mediator in Massachusetts courts. She has experience in interfaith and Israel/Palestine dialogue, and is particularly passionate about helping schools with issues related to religion and substantial political disagreement.

Jeremy is a pro-democracy advocate with a background in policy and organizing. He recently graduated from UC San Diego's Global Policy School with a master's in international affairs. Previously, Jeremy worked in multiple roles in the American voting/civics space, building and launching multiple national programs on college campuses to enable students to more effectively create change in their community.

He has spent the past few years deeply immersed in literature, academic studies, and news about the global recession of democracy. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Jeremy loves passionately discussing the challenges and opportunities for democracy with friends and strangers alike.

Clayton is a senior at the Columbia School of General Studies majoring in Political Science. He is one of the leaders of the Heterodox Academy Columbia Campus Community (Columbia HxA), an organization that seeks to advance open inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and constructive disagreement on campuses around the world. Clayton also produces and co-hosts The Columbia HxA Podcast, where he and his fellow host interview students, academics, and authors alike. Additionally, he is a staff writer at Sundial. His writing covers various events and issues at Columbia, and ranges from opinion to in-depth reporting. Before pursuing his degree Clayton served in the United States Air Force for six years.

Dane is a PhD Candidate in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. His research experience, while primarily focused on mental health services and policies, range across subtopics including for example tobacco control policy and smoking cessation program evaluation. Dane’s methodological expertise lies in comparative health systems and policies using a mixed methods approach. More specifically, he employs implementation science and program evaluation techniques. Currently, Dane is leading a research team on the project ‘Evaluating the impact of an online tool for fostering constructive dialogue in the classroom.’ Here, the Constructive Dialogue Institute’s ‘Perspectives’ module is being investigated regarding its utility in helping students to cultivate intellectual humility, explore diverse perspectives/worldviews, and manage emotions in difficult conversations. Dane holds a Bachelor’s degree in Kinesiology and a Master of Science in Health Policy both from the University of Toronto.

Jason is a rising sophomore at Vanderbilt University majoring in Human & Organizational Development and Culture, Advocacy, & Leadership. On campus, Jason is a Dialogue Vanderbilt Student Ambassador, where he works closely with the university community to develop freedom of expression policies and programming which centers respectful, evidence-based, and open-minded cross-partisan conversation. Additionally, Jason is a Research Assistant at Vanderbilt's Civil Discourse Education Lab, where he teaches students how to communicate meaningfully across divides and effectively advocate for themselves at the personal, community, and policy level. More broadly, Jason is working with various nonprofit organizations to establish a national network of university administrators and educators who collaborate, inform, and guide one another in their efforts to instill the principles of civic engagement and civil discourse among the next generation.

Anna is a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin - Madison. There she studied political philosophy, philosophy of education and gender studies. Her undergraduate thesis focuses on pedagogical methods of improving disagreement in the gender studies classroom. Her interest in pedagogy stemmed from her experience as an intern at the Center for Ethics and Education where she created curriculum and audio content. At Wisconsin, she also restarted an abolitionist collective and publication, The Madison Journal of Literary Criticism where she facilitated discussion on the carceral state and oversaw the magazine’s production as Co Editor in Chief. She is now living Des Moines, Iowa building her writing portfolio, catching up on her backlog of reading lists and enjoying a rest from school.

Board of Directors

  • David Seibel

  • Mónica Guzmán

  • Ned Hall

  • David Hamburger

  • Angela Orlando

Advisory Committee.

  • Nadine Strossen

    Constitutional Law

  • Dr. Avé Luke-Simpson

    Education

  • Sam Pratt

    Psychology

  • Christian Carmody

    Teaching

  • Dr. Tatiana Geron

    Pedagogy

  • Dr. Annie Rappeport

    Peacebulding

  • Daniel Hart

    Development

  • Rob Friedman

    Operations

Affiliated Faculty.

  • Edward Remus

    Northeastern Illinois University

  • Simon Cullen

    Carnegie Mellon University

  • Yehudah Potok

    Facing History and Ourselves

  • Anthony Laden

    University of Illinois Chicago

  • Josh Salzmann

    Northeastern Illinois University

  • Scot Wilson

    Close Up

With thanks to our Summer 2024 Interns:

Theo Tobel | Psychology Research Team | Harvard Class of 2027

Cheryl Zhang | Psychology Research Team | Case Western Reserve University Class of 2027

Anthony Rispo | Psychology Research Team | Columbia University Class of 2024

MZ Morgenstern | Pedagogy Research Team | 1.5 years completed at Johns Hopkins University

Dane Mauer-Vakil Psychology Research Team | PhD Candidate in Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo

Christian Carmody Pedagogy Research Team | PhD Candidate in Education, University of New Hampshire

Jeremy Cronig | Disagreement Research | MA, International Relations and Affairs, UC San Diego; BS, Public Policy Analysis, The Ohio State University Class of 2019

Erin Shaw | Diversity in the University Research | MA, Sustainable International Development & MS Global Health Policy and Management, Brandeis University; BA, International Studies, University of North Carolina at Asheville.