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Dr. Lori L. Britt is an associate professor at JMU’s School of Communication and is the director of the Institute for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue. Dr. Britt’s research focuses on understanding how communities and organizations go about charting future courses of action and how different structures and practices can aid in making those plans more inclusive. She has experience facilitating deliberation, dialogue and visioning processes for governmental and non-profit agencies.
The executive director of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center at University of Virginia, Dr. Andrea Douglas holds an MA and PhD in art history from the University of Virginia and an MBA in arts management and finance from Binghamton University, New York. She has participated in the Getty’s Leadership Institute, and presently serves on Monticello’s Advisory Committee on African American Affairs. She was recently appointed co-chair of the next President’s Commission, which will explore the university’s post-Emancipation history. Dr. Douglas also sits on the boards of the Miller School of Albemarle and the Emily Couric Leadership Forum.
Meg Heubeck currently serves as the Director of Instruction at the University of Virginia Center for Politics. In this role Meg is responsible for providing educational materials for the Youth Leadership Initiative (YLI) and the Global Perspectives on Democracy (GPD) programs. This includes creating educational materials, managing simulations and leading instruction in leadership and civic engagement for teachers, youth and international visitors.
Meg received a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in History from Randolph-Macon College, a Master of Arts degree in urban education from Towson University, and a Master of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Virginia in 2013. She was a participant in the 2015 Sorensen Institute’s Political Leaders Program (PLP). Meg has travelled to Sri Lanka and Afghanistan on behalf of the GPD program to follow up and deliver civic engagement curriculum for the United States Department of State. In addition Meg has assisted in planning and implementing leadership programs for countries such as Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru. Currently Ms. Heubeck has been working with young professionals from Mongolia and the Middle East and North Africa helping them to develop civic action plans.
Stephanie Roark Keener is director at the Small Business Development Center, Lynchburg Region. She came to the Small Business Development Center from Lynchburg’s Virginia Main Street Program where she developed and directed marketing and events for Downtown Lynchburg, including the James River Batteau Festival, Friday Cheers and Get! Downtown. She has an MA in Appalachian Studies from Appalachian State University and BA in history and political science from the University of Kentucky.
The Salon Series was developed to offer a place for people to discuss their differences of opinion in an open and civil way, and to help to come to an understanding about the issues our nation faces today. Poplar Forest patterned the Salon Series on the 18th-century Enlightenment salons—fostering discussion and debate on topics ranging from politics, to art and literature, to science, philosophy and morality—that Jefferson himself attended while serving as American ambassador to France, and are designed to encourage an exchange of ideas on issues that were of interest or a challenge to Jefferson in his time, and why they continue to matter today.
“In stating prudential rules for our government in society, I must not omit the important one of never entering into dispute or argument with another. I never yet saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument. I have seen many of their getting warm, becoming rude, & shooting one another.”
—Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, November 24, 1808