Website: https://www.timothyjshaffer.com

Publications: https://udel.academia.edu/TimothyShaffer

Full CV: https://udel.academia.edu/TimothyShaffer/CurriculumVitae 

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Short Bio

As an interdisciplinary scholar and practitioner of deliberative democracy, civic education, and group communication, Dr. Timothy J. Shaffer focuses on the advancement of democratic practices by focusing on the role of civic professionals in institutional settings such as higher education, local government, and non-governmental organizations in relationship with diverse communities. 

Dr. Shaffer is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Chair of Civil Discourse and director of the SNF Ithaca Initiative in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware. He is also director of civic engagement and deliberative democracy with the National Institute for Civil Discourse at the University of Arizona. Shaffer is author or coeditor of seven books including Deliberative Pedagogy: Teaching and Learning for Democratic Engagement, Creating Space for Democracy: A Primer on Dialogue and Deliberation in Higher Education, and the latest book, Teaching Public Affairs Students to Serve With the People: Findings and Reflections from Diverse Course Designs with Thomas Andrew Bryer from Routledge. He earned his PhD from Cornell University.  

Long Bio

As an interdisciplinary scholar and practitioner of deliberative democracy, civic education, and group communication, Dr. Timothy J. Shaffer focuses on the advancement of democratic practices by focusing on the role of civic professionals in institutional settings such as higher education, local government, and non-governmental organizations in relationship with diverse communities. 

Dr. Shaffer is the editor of Deliberative Pedagogy: Teaching and Learning for Democratic Engagement (Michigan State University Press, 2017), Jumping into Civic Life: Stories of Public Work from Extension Professionals (Kettering Foundation Press, 2018), Agri-Culture and Future of Farming: An Interactivity Foundation Discussion Guidebook (Interactivity Foundation, 2018), A Crisis of Civility?  Political Discourse and Its Discontents (Routledge, 2019), Creating Space for Democracy: A Primer on Dialogue and Deliberation in Higher Education (Stylus, 2019), Grassroots Engagement and Social Justice Through Cooperative Extension (Michigan State University Press, 2022), Teaching Public Affairs Students to Serve With the People: Findings and Reflections from Diverse Course Designs (Routledge, 2023) and author of Small Group Discussion Methods (New Prairie Press, 2021).

He has published dozens of articles and book chapters in academic publications; presents and engages diverse public audiences through radio, TV, and print; and offers workshops and training to professionals in universities, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and with legislative bodies.

Dr. Shaffer currently serves as the inaugural Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Chair of Civil Discourse and director of the SNF Ithaca Initiative at the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy & Administration at the University of Delaware. He is also director of Civic Engagement and Deliberative Democracy with the National Institute for Civil Discourse at the University of Arizona. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University.  

Connected to these efforts, Shaffer serves as the associate editor of the Journal of Deliberative Democracy and as a country expert on deliberative democracy in the United States with the Varieties of Democracy project based at the University of Gothenburg. His research centers on the advancement of democratic practices through deliberative politics and civic engagement in higher education and other institutional and community settings. He received his B.A. in Theology and Philosophy from St. Bonaventure University, Master’s in Theology and Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Dayton, and his Ph.D. in Education (Adult and Extension Education, City and Regional Planning, and Community-Based Natural Resource Management) from Cornell University.