Helping people grow, lead, and make change

About Amanda Shaffer

My Washington DC-based practice serves higher education and mission-driven organizations and is known for coaching that is thoughtful, strategic, and grounded in both human complexity and institutional reality.

With 35+ years of experience in higher education, the arts, nonprofit management, and social justice, I am equally comfortable working with scientists, artists, nonprofit leaders, and activists. Whatever your field, I meet you where you are, immerse myself in your specific obstacles, challenges, and opportunities, and work alongside you as a guide and partner.

My professional background includes leadership roles in faculty development and diversity education, extensive work with NSF ADVANCE initiatives, and deep experience helping individuals and institutions create conditions where people can contribute, grow, and thrive.

Prior to my career in academia, I was the founder and artistic director of the nonprofit Red Hen Productions Feminist Theatre, a founding member of The Working Theater, and Producing Director at Cleveland Public Theatre from 1986-1994. I was also a working actor and director until 2001.

An avid reader, I blend my interests in archetype psychology and enneagram, with philosophy and social justice. My insights and guidance always come with actionable steps (and sources cited!) I am relentlessly logical, practical and direct, as well as deeply empathetic and kind. I truly care about the outcomes of the people I work with.

Whether coaching or volunteering, my work is always defined by my dedication to equity, inclusion, and social progress. In my free time I visit museums, coffee shops, book stores, and spend time with family and friends visiting the Washington DC area.

Credentials reflect my training and the standards I follow, but they don’t show you what I do with it. Below are some artifacts to provide context for my experience and interests.

Education, Certification & Additional Training

  • M.A. & B.A., Philosophy (Ancient Greek & Feminist Epistemology), Cleveland State University, OH

  • Gestalt Professional Certified Coach (GPCC), Gestalt Institute of Cleveland

  • International Coaching Federation (ICF), ACC certified

  • iEQ9 Integrative Enneagram, Certified Practitioner

  • Constructive Dialogue Institute, Certified Facilitator

  • 360 Emotional Social Competency Inventory (ESCI), Certified Practitioner

  • Women in Leadership Certificate, Weatherhead School of Management

  • Public Narrative Training, Leading Change Academy

  • Critical Race Theory Summer School, African American Policy Forum

  • Advanced Facilitation and Mindful Facilitation & Cultural Competency Training, StirFry Consulting

  • Bystander Intervention in STEM, ADVANCE Geo Partnership

  • Negotiation and Mediation, Center for Dispute Resolution, Capital University

  • Appreciative Inquiry, Weatherhead School of Management

  • Ombudsman Certificate training, International Ombudsman Association

  • Bullying & Mobbing in the Workplace, International Ombudsman Association

  • Mental Health First Aid

  • Lead Diversity, The Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio

Nonprofit Professional Experience

  • Founder and Artistic Director, Red Hen Productions Feminist Theatre, OH          

  • Director, OH/WV/Western PA Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC)

  • Executive Producer, Typhoid Mary AIDS Prevention Outreach

  • Project Director:

    • Summer Theatre Programs for At-Risk Youth, Housing Projects

    • Gang Taskforce Theatre Program for At-Risk Youth

  • Cleveland Public Theatre: Producing Director, Production Manager, Publicity Director, Stage Manager

  • Artist: Actor (30+ plays), Director (25 plays), Performance Art & Voice Poetry, Voiceover and Public Service Announcements, Play selection, Artist liaison

Nonprofit Board Service

  • Board Member: Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, Ben Lomond, CA

    • Vice Chair

    • Membership Committee

  • Board Member: Future Heights, Cleveland Hts., OH

  • Board Member and Governance Committee Chair, Preterm Clinic, Cleveland, OH

  • Board Member: Lake Erie Ink: A Writing Space for Youth, OH

  • Founding Board Member and Historian: Ohio Diversity Officers Collaboration, OH

  • Committee Service, Cleveland Heights City Government:

    • Housing Council, Planning & Development Committee

    • Citizens Advisory Committee, Community Block Grants (HUD)

Community Service

  • Worker Bee Volunteering!

  • Moderator: Indivisible Candidate Forum, Maryland Congressional District 04, MD

  • Facilitator: Voting Rights Coalition Cultural Competence

  • Facilitator: Racial Justice Series, YWCA Cleveland

    • It’s Time to Talk: A Forum about Race

    • Circle Conversations

    • Cleveland Racial Justice Forum

    • Race Across the Generations

    • Race: Are We So Different?

  • Moderator: Heights Community Congress, Cleveland Hts.

    • Reengaging the American Dream

    • Race and Class Across the Generational Divide

    • How Do We Talk About Race and Class in Our Community?

    • Different Cultures: Can we learn to accept? Should we have to?

Publications

To Tenure and Beyond: Building an Intentional Career in STEM (chapter)

Shaffer, Amanda & Friemark, S., 2015. In Mavriplis, C. & Heller, S. (Eds), Forward to Professorship: Academic Leadership Development in Science and Engineering. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier

Dispatches from the Rust Belt Anthology (essay)

I was pleased to have my essay “BUSING: A WHITE GIRL’S TALE” printed in the first Rust Belt Anthology. Books may be purchased on the Belt website. I was also featured in the CNN online story “When you’re the only white person in the room” by John Blake.