Department: Communication Studies

Areas of expertise:

• Dialogue and Deliberation in public and organizational settings 
• Facilitative Leadership
• Helping communities and organizations deal with challenging issues productively 

Lori Britt is a professor of organizational communication in the Department of Communication Studies, where she teaches courses in organizational communication, leadership, dialogue and deliberation, and design and facilitation of processes for productive talk at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She is also the director of the Institute for Constructive Advocacy and Dialogue whose aim is to shape conversations that impact individuals, organizations, and communities.

Her teaching and work with ICAD is infused with a passion for training students to be able to design and facilitate conversations where people can tackle the challenging issues that face our communities and that impede organizations from reaching their full potential. Well designed and facilitated talk can keep people at the table even when the issues are difficult, and this offers more opportunity to collaboratively find solutions.

Britt works with the Kettering Foundation of Dayton, Ohio, and the Interactivity Foundation, both of which help advance the study and practice of democratic talk and practice, as well as collaborative discussion skills. She also serves as the Board Chair of the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation, a vibrant national network of innovators who bring people together across divides to discuss, decide, and take action together effectively on today’s toughest issues. 

She is originally from Pennsylvania, and received a doctorate in communication from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 2010, a master's in communication from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro in 2006, and her bachelor's in mass communication and journalism from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in 1985. Prior to returning to graduate school, Britt had a 20-plus year career in nonprofit and organizational communication, work that took her to 48 of 50 states, and she finally visited the last two in 2022.

Media contact: Eric Gorton, gortonej@jmu.edu