Dr. Kara Dillard, Executive Director
Dr. Kara Dillard is an accomplished scholar-practitioner-administrator and faculty member at James Madison University, where she serves as Executive Director of the Madison Center for Civic Engagement and Assistant Professor in the School of Communication Studies. She also directs the Civic Leadership minor housed within the College of Arts and Letters. With 15 years of teaching, research, and practical experience in deliberative democracy and public engagement, Dr. Dillard has positioned JMU as the nation's leading institution for civic discourse and democratic education.
Under Dr. Dillard's leadership, the Madison Center has innovated the nation's leading campuswide civic discourse program, Better Conversations Together. Reaching all first-year students and beyond, the program builds civic discourse skills through multiple meaningful opportunities across the student's academic career at JMU. With innovative and rigorous assessment uniquely designed to meet JMU's needs, the program demonstrates strong ability to move the needle on affective polarization, intellectual humility, listening and finding shared solutions across lines of difference.
Dr. Dillard is a proven fundraiser, grant writer, and industry thought leader. Most recently, Dr. Dillard and the Madison Center secured two competitively selected U.S. Department of Education grants totaling nearly $5 million in support of expanding JMU's civic discourse and civic education programming to K-12 schools and other universities and colleges nationwide. Over the past two years, individual donations and amounts donated to the Madison Center have doubled. Dr. Dillard is leading a major strategic initiative, launching a $10 million endowment campaign to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Madison Center's civic engagement programs.
A scholar-practitioner, Dr. Dillard brings a blend of academic expertise and practical innovation to civic engagement. Her research explores innovations in civic-oriented digital technology, examining how facilitated public deliberation in online spaces shapes civic attitudes and behaviors. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Applied Communication Research, Journal of Political Science Education, and International Journal of Communication. She has delivered invited talks on facilitation, deliberation, and civic discourse assessment for Campus Compact, the International Association for Public Participation, American Association for Colleges and Universities, the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation, and the international podcast Facilitating Public Deliberations. She recently designed large-scale data visualizations for the City of Harrisonburg's $23 million pandemic relief fund public input process, making civic engagement data transparent and actionable.
As an executive-level leader, Dr. Dillard has forged partnerships with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions nationwide. In 2026, she will serve as a Visiting Fellow with the Interactivity Foundation, where she currently serves as a curriculum program coach and assessment designer for their Collaborative Discussion certificate program. She previously chaired the Board of Directors for the National Issues Forums Institute, the nation's oldest deliberative democracy operating foundation, leading NIFI through executive level hiring, a new strategic plan, mission and vision, and fundraising.
Dr. Dillard is currently serving on the search committee for the JMU's new Vice President for Communications and Marketing, the university's strategic planning visioning team for student learning success and is a faculty advisor to the Student Government Association, ensuring JMU will be the model of an engaged, ambitious university well into the future.
Dr. Dillard holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in communication studies and a Ph.D. in political and rural sociology from Kansas State University. Outside of work, Kara is an avid runner, baseball enthusiast, occasional cyclist, and mom to two kids and a dog. She moved to Harrisonburg after spending most of her life west of the Rocky Mountains.
Angelina Clapp, Associate Director
Angelina has extensive experience in nonpartisan civic engagement and education, voting rights, election administration, and civic technology and policy. Most notably, she worked at the Center for Civic Engagement as an undergraduate and graduate student, where she led multiple programs, events, and contributed to impactful communication campaigns aimed at increasing civic participation on campus. Thanks to her unwavering efforts and commitment to nonpartisan civic engagement, James Madison University saw over a 20% increase in the student voter turnout rate during her time as a student. After she graduated from JMU, she worked for nonpartisan pro-election related groups in Washington D.C.. Her work focused on strengthening the public’s trust and knowledge in our election administration system, including fostering and growing multiple coalitions of election administrators and Chief Election Officials from across the country.
Angelina has also contributed to multiple presentations, publications, and has won awards for her work, including presentations at the Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement conference about her work on civic learning and fostering deliberative dialogues to bridge political divides and differences and at conferences for election administration officials. Her work on fostering student participation in election administration has been published in Political Science Today.
Angelina received her B.A. in Political Science and her Master of Public Administration from James Madison University. During her time in graduate school, she was awarded the Public Service Student Leadership Award and the Outstanding Student Award, both a demonstration of her high academic achievements and her legacy and leadership in advancing the public good by creating opportunities for campus and community civic participation.
In her free time, Angelina enjoys reading, gardening, trying new recipes, and exploring her home state of Virginia with her dog and family.
Logan Zeigler, Program Coordinator
Logan is the program coordinator for the Madison Center where she supports the mission and programming of the department. She is a graduate of Mary Baldwin College (now University) where she studied International Relations. Logan previously worked in JMU Student Affairs within the University Career Center (UCC), where she provided guidance on recruiting best practices to students and employers. During her time at the Madison Center, Logan has been vital in developing highly effective administrative processes for the Better Conversations Together initiative and the Institute for Civic Studies and Learning for Democracy international summit, media strategies for telling the Madison Center's story, and programming related to asking all 22,000 JMU students to register and vote. Logan is an advocate for accessible and inclusive practices at JMU. She received the College of Arts and Letters Staff Recognition Award in spring 2022.
Aidan Heitt, Better Conversations Program Director
As the Better Conversations Together Program Director, Aidan Heitt supports the Madison Center in advancing civic learning and civil discourse initiatives that foster a campus culture of thoughtful engagement across differences. He plays a central role in coordinating the Better Conversations Together Deliberation program, helping new JMU students develop skills and habits for navigating complex conversations across academic, civic, and professional settings.
In addition to program coordination, Aidan works closely with undergraduate Democracy Fellows, supporting their growth as civic leaders and training them to facilitate deliberative conversations. His work emphasizes evidence-based facilitation practices and the creation of learning environments where students feel supported in sharing their perspectives while remaining open to listening to others.
Aidan earned his B.S. in Communication Studies from James Madison University with a concentration in Advocacy Studies and a minor in Political Communication. He received the 2024 Outstanding Student in Advocacy Studies Award in recognition of both his academic work and his contributions as a Democracy Fellow with the Madison Center and Campus Vote Project.
Emma Williamson, Program Assistant
A recent graduate from James Madison University with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a minor in Civic Leadership, Emma displays a strong passion for policy analysis, civic engagement, and sustainability. As Program Assistant, Emma works directly on civic engagement initiatives on campus. She will lead the Dukes Vote team, JMU’s student voting campaign, by organizing events like voter registration tabling, classroom visits, and election week programming. Emma will also be collaborating with our Democracy Fellows to help students stay informed and engaged in the democratic process.
Regan Elmore, Presidential Engagement Fellow
Regan Elmore is the Presidential Engagement Fellow for the Madison Center for Civic Engagement. She graduated in May 2025 from James Madison University with a B.A in Independent Scholars, with a concentration in East Asian Studies, as well as minors in Anthropology, Asian Studies and Honors Interdisciplinary Studies. Her focus this year is to inform, connect and help the JMU community to be educated on the work the Madison Center does in the form of high-quality social media posts, stories and videos. She looks forward to working closely with the undergraduates in her media team, gaining more experience with graphic design, and developing her leadership skills throughout the year in the various roles she is assigned.
Kristina Nano, Graduate Assistant
Kristina Nano is an International Ph.D. Student in Strategic Leadership Studies at James Madison University and the Senior Democracy Fellow at JMU’s Madison Center for Civic Engagement. Kristina received her Bachelor’s degree in Economy and her Master’s degree in Economic Development and International Economy. She also has experience in civic engagement and leadership within the nonprofit sector. Kristina has been serving as Executive Director of the Forum for Democracy and Ethics (FDE) in her country Albania, leading initiatives that have worked tirelessly for the advocacy and promotion of democracy, ethics and active citizenship across political and community divides.
Kristina’s doctoral research centers on transformational leadership in post-communist, post-war, and post-colonial contexts, with a particular focus on Albania. She is especially looking forward to digging even deeper into her research, engaging students and communities through the Madison Center’s programming and collaborative civic initiatives, and assisting in building the capacity for stronger democratic practices both at home and abroad this year.
