Political and Civic Engagement (PACE)

Lisa-Marie Napoli, Ph.D., received her M.P.A. in Public Policy and Management from The Ohio State University and her doctoral degree in Public Affairs at Indiana University. She currently is Director and Senior Lecturer in the PACE program. With a passion to bridge conflicting perspectives for greater understanding, she specializes in mediation and facilitation services, conflict management research,  leadership and public policy education, civic skills development, community engaged learning implementation, and capacity-building practices to support deliberative democracy to impact policies. She joined the PACE program at its inception in 2009, led the curricular content development for the core PACE courses, and continues to serve the program in a multitude of ways. A few outstanding contributions to the program include her roles as Founder of Voices for Democracy and Civility and Chair of the Big Ten Voting Challenge, both campus and community-wide initiatives to enhance a positive political climate. 

Lisa-Marie is committed to finding new ways to constructively deal with public tensions. In an ever-changing world of ideas, ways of connecting, and notions of what democracy should be. She is deeply motivated to listen to and respond to community needs, engage with students, explore possibilities, establish networks of innovation, and apply knowledge to create an awareness, a collective empathy, and a path for moving forward. She has worked extensively and been inspired by colleagues at the Kettering Foundation, in particular the Practices of Democratic Initiatives and the National Issues Forum Institute, the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation, Campus Compact, and the Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement communities. Much of her work focuses on leadership, college students and politics, educating for democracy, climate change, restorative justice, community health, public voice, and  many other social issues. She has over 20 years of experience as a group facilitator, interpersonal mediator, conflict coach, and workshop trainer. She is active in the city of Bloomington community as a public engagement consultant and organizer.