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Stephan Schaffrath

Following a national search, Stephan Schaffrath, who has nearly three decades of experience in higher education, has been selected to serve as the director of ¹û¶³´«Ã½’s Center for Civic Dialogue.

Schaffrath, of Indiana, will begin his work as director of the Center for Civic Dialogue on July 13.

In January, ¹û¶³´«Ã½ received $2,295,315 from the United States Department of Education to create the Center for Civic Dialogue, which will serve as both physical and intellectual headquarters for civic dialogue and innovation at ¹û¶³´«Ã½.

“I am very pleased with Dr. Schaffrath’s selection as director of the Center for Civic Dialogue, and with the ongoing progress of the work and plans for the project,” ¹û¶³´«Ã½ President Michael Driscoll said.

“Preparing our students with the skills to speak civilly and to live and work with people with whom they disagree, and to have a campus where people respectfully engage with one another, is a responsibility that we take very seriously,” he said. “¹û¶³´«Ã½ remains very grateful to the federal Department of Education for this grant funding and the opportunity to establish this program that it provides.”

As the Center for Civic Dialogue director, Schaffrath will be responsible for leadership and implementation of center programming.

“In my many years as a postsecondary instructor, I have benefitted immensely and learned so much from working with students from many different backgrounds,” Schaffrath said.

“As an immigrant to this country, I am well attuned to the importance of people’s unique identities. One thing I have always appreciated about ¹û¶³´«Ã½ is the cultural richness among both students and employees. I am honored to be selected for this important role with the Center for Civic Dialogue and am excited to be part of the university’s work to serve our students and our wonderful learning community at large by fostering civic engagement across and beyond campus.”

“I feel that people often underestimate how much ¹û¶³´«Ã½ already contributes and how it could further contribute to our region and our amazing commonwealth. This generous support by the US Department of Education presents a wonderful opportunity to further build on that success,” Schaffrath said.

He has been a seminar instructor for ¹û¶³´«Ã½’s Fulbright Distinguished Awards Program and worked as a teacher for the American Language Institute and as a temporary faculty member and academic adviser in the Department of Developmental Studies, and was a temporary faculty member for the English Department and the French and German Department at ¹û¶³´«Ã½.  

He was the Title III Grant Program coordinator for the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ University College and was a summer 2025 program manager of the Career and Leadership Skills Academy offered through the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Career and Professional Development Center. He worked as a grant specialist for the Office of Sponsored Research and the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Research Institute and was briefly a translator for ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Translation Services.

He is a former member of various committees in the College of Education and Communications (now the College of Education and Human Services) dedicated to student success and fostering a learning community that welcomes all students. He served on the Middle State Accreditation Committee, the Multicultural Organizational Development work group for the Office of Social Equity, and the Reflective Practice Language Teaching Circle. He has been a member of the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Safe Zone since 2004.

He worked as a long-term temporary substitute teacher for English and German in the Indiana Area School District; an adjunct online instructor for the American Military University; as a temporary full-time faculty member at Slippery Rock University, where he was active in several committees; an adjunct faculty member at Pennsylvania State University at Altoona; and as an adjunct faculty at Eastern Kentucky University and as a writing and ESL tutor there. He has also worked as a clinical and corporate contracts officer for the Office of Research at the University of Pittsburgh.

From 2018 to 2022 and again since 2025, he has served as a member of the board of directors, Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Organization for Student Success.

He has edited journal articles and helped to edit ¹û¶³´«Ã½ professor Erin Conlin’s history textbook, authored book chapters, and been an invited presenter for many conferences and panels, and he produces an educational YouTube channel about the German language. Schaffrath’s peer-reviewed publications cover a broad range of comparative literary interests, such as violence-induced trauma in non-fiction, fiction, and TV, truth-finding methodologies, Bakhtin’s concept of architectonics, and vampirism.

Schaffrath has a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in Spanish and a master’s degree in English, both from Eastern Kentucky University. He earned his PhD in literature and criticism from ¹û¶³´«Ã½ in 2004. He also holds a certification as a developmental education specialist from the Kellogg Institute, National Center for Developmental Education, Appalachian State University.

He is active in the Indiana community, including as a long-time member of the board of directors of “Indikids” Indiana County Child Day Care.

Schaffrath will work closely with the executive leadership team of the Center for Civic Dialogue:

• ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Chief Compliance Officer Elise Glenn, who will focus on integrating constructive dialogue practices into campus processes for conflict resolution, bridging differences, organizational effectiveness, and supporting ¹û¶³´«Ã½’s commitment to Civil Rights.

• ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Dean of Students Adam Jones, who will work to advance the project by embedding constructive dialogue practices into student services, community standards, and campus activities.

• Courtney Leone, director of ¹û¶³´«Ã½’s School Psychology doctoral program, who serves as the program evaluator.

• Gwen Torges, associate professor of political science in ¹û¶³´«Ã½’s Department of History, Philosophy, Political Science, and Religious Studies and director of ¹û¶³´«Ã½’s Pre-Law program, a Constitutional law scholar who was a key coordinator of ¹û¶³´«Ã½’s Free Speech Project, will provide oversight and leadership of the development of the project and provide scholarly subject matter expertise for all project activities. Torges led the development of the Center for Civic Dialogue grant proposal.

The grant for the Center for Civic Dialogue, which extends through December 2029, funds both the physical establishment of the Center for Civic Dialogue, to be initially sited in 311 , and outreach activities.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Dr. Schaffrath as the Center for Civic Dialogue’s first director,” Torges said. “Throughout the search process, he impressed us with his thoughtfulness, collaborative spirit, and genuine commitment to students. The executive leadership team is excited to work alongside him as we build the Center for Civic Dialogue together,” Torges said.

“The Center for Civic Dialogue is really about creating more opportunities for students, faculty, and staff to practice the habits of constructive dialogue,” she said. “We’ll do that in a variety of ways—from classroom partnerships and student dialogue programs to campus events, workshops, speaker series, and moderated conversations. Together, those efforts will help strengthen ¹û¶³´«Ã½’s culture of civic engagement and respectful dialogue.”

As part of the initiative, ¹û¶³´«Ã½ will partner with the nonprofit and nonpartisan Constructive Dialogue Institute to implement a campus-wide educational and culture-change initiative grounded in behavioral science.

“President Driscoll has made student-centeredness a hallmark of ¹û¶³´«Ã½,” Torges said. “The Center for Civic Dialogue fits naturally within that commitment. When faculty and staff encourage students to participate, we hope they’ll see the Center for Civic Dialogue as another place where they can grow, build relationships, and develop the skills they’ll need as citizens, professionals, and community members.”

Outreach to support personnel and faculty will begin in the fall semester, continuing through the 2026–27 academic year with introductory events to encourage students and employees to come and hear about the opportunities the project presents.

During the first and second years of the grant, Center for Civic Dialogue leadership will employ the train-the-trainer model to ensure that employees have the professional development necessary to effectively support this project.

In the second, third, and fourth years of the program, programming will be expanded to deepen faculty engagement, integrate lessons from evaluation data, and institutionalize practices that ensure long-term equitable access and participation.

By the end of the second year of the program, it is anticipated that the Center for Civic Dialogue will be physically established and staffed, have branding and communication materials, and will host at least eight campus-wide events annually.

By the end of year four, at least 40 faculty, staff, and administrators will complete CDI-aligned training in constructive dialogue, with at least five individuals trained each academic term; at least 20 faculty across multiple departments will embed at least one CDI-informed dialogue module, assignment, or facilitation practice into their courses; the Student Dialogue Fellows Program will train at least 40 Fellows who will facilitate a minimum of 100 peer-led dialogue sessions cumulatively; and at least 1,000 unique students will participate in civil discourse learning activities hosted by the Center for Civic Dialogue.

Torges recognized several initiatives at ¹û¶³´«Ã½ that have, or will continue to support, the Center for Civic Dialogue: the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Center for Teaching Excellence, the Difficult Dialogues Project, the ¹û¶³´«Ã½ Free Speech Project, Torges’s Civics Savvy class, and Constitution Day programming.

In addition, as ¹û¶³´«Ã½’s Center for Civic Dialogue program gets underway, the team plans a number of communication strategies about its work to statewide and regional networks, national associations, and academic conferences and publications, with the intention that its successes can become a model for implementation to other institutions.

Since its founding in 1875, ¹û¶³´«Ã½ has evolved from a teacher-training institution into a doctoral research university recognized for its commitment to student success and achievement. ¹û¶³´«Ã½’s Impact 150 comprehensive campaign is designed to honor a legacy of educational excellence while looking toward a future of innovation, public service, and leadership in healthcare education, including the first college of osteopathic medicine at a public university in Pennsylvania.